Quality Improvement in Offset Printing

Operations Management

This a Masters Business Administration (MBA) Paper Operations Management There a paper required, due parts. Each part a maximum 4 pages long , counting text exhibits, excluding bibliography references.

Current state

Offset and digital printing often faces quality issues related to several factors. The differences and similarities that exist between offset and digital print in the quality assurance process though the two methods share common demerits. Offset printing, which is applicable to a wide range of materials, produces more frequent quality issues than digital print, which has been referred to by White (1975) as sharper and suffering from less technical constraints such as resolution. However, for digital print, resolution also serves as an issue because where a lower-resolution design is used, the print quality suffers as well. Moreover, digital printers suffer from lack of digital printing standards which means providers who use digital print have few tools and standards than they need to address their quality-related problems compared to offset printers who have a multitude of tools and standards to work with.

For both offset and digital printing, the print production system is based on two components. These are the image generator and image reproducer. These two systems receive the digital files, process them and reproduce them on the paper or other material. Though this seems a lot simpler, the two components are more complex depending on the type of printing being used, as offset or digital.

In offset printing, the image generator receives the digital files, processes them to address issues such as imposition, pagination, and proofing then the job is sent for platemaking. The image reproducer then combines substrates and colorants under the nip of the printer. In this process, the pressman acts as the controller of the process and loads paper and ink to the right setting and adjusts the settings of the press to reproduce the image. The pressman would be directly involved in assuring print quality because he would need to visually inspect each print job for possible defects and would adjust the print setting based on the findings (Norberg, Westin, & Lindberg, 2001).

Digital printing, on the other hand, conducts image generation and reproduction in a different way. Image generation receives the digital files and depending on how they were designed may or may not need to further process these to address issues of pagination, proofing, and imposition. After this process, the print job is sent for hardcopy output, the only major difference between image generation in offset and digital printing. The image reproduction system uses substrates and colorants under the imaging nip. Here, the imaging or printing system controls the process and sets all print settings without any intervention from human beings. The pressman is only involved in loading the paper and clearing any paper jams where they exist. Therefore, digital printing uses a hands-off approach in quality assurance.

The major difference between how the two printing systems ensure the quality of the print lie in the process control. The offset printing system uses a hands-on approach whereby the pressman chooses the materials, substrates and colorants and chooses how these are managed to ensure the quality of the output. This brings about the issue of profit maximization since the pressman would ideally want to use the least expensive or least amount of inputs to maximize profit. In the digital printing system, the consumables and other technology for printing are inseparable from the printing machine provider. Therefore, the pressman has a limited choice of options and though may want to reduce cost of inputs, may not ultimately be able to limit production quality.

The quality assurance process for each of the two printing systems, offset and digital printing in terms of fulfilling customer needs for large print runs also differs considerably. Digital printing is often preferred for smaller print jobs of say 100 print runs and print jobs that include variable data. Offset printing is preferred for print jobs that are large such as 10,000 print runs, and where the job uses spot or process colors. This, together with the quality assurance issue related with offset printing creates significant issues since large print orders have the largest possibility of margin of error thus leading to larger number of print items with defects.

Offset printing also suffers another problem as a result of its reliance on human intervention for quality assurance. Since print companies often hold more than one print job at a time, they struggle with checking each individual item in the attempt to meet timelines. They thus, compromise quality for the sake of timeliness.

Importance of quality assurance

Quality assurance for the print companies is important because it is a source of competitive advantage. Companies that strive to ensure higher quality prints through continuous improvement of their printing processes often have greater market share compared to other companies. Quality assurance is also an integral element of the ISO 9000 Certification of Product or System. Therefore, print companies seeking to achieve ISO certification or working with companies that are ISO certified need to ensure the quality of their print job is high because the quality of print is an important element of ISO 9000 certification. As suggested by / / /, only the companies that are able to ensure high quality print jobs during the period of slow economic growth. Therefore, the value of quality printed items will be higher than the value of bulk printed items.