Short-run print is booming, bringing ever-greater demands for fast turnaround, better and more consistent quality and increasingly sophisticated personalisation. Fujifilm has a growing range of products and technologies for both digital and litho applications to meet these challenges.

At some point in the next decade, digital print will become the dominant printing method. According to the recently-published Digital Printing Directions Insight Report conducted by Professor Emeritus Frank Romano of the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Print Media, digital will account for 40 per cent of all print volumes by 2010, rising to 60 per cent by 2020, compared to some 10 to 15 per cent now.

Even by 2010 it's expected that 40 per cent of press runs will be under 2000 copies. This explosion in short-run print is driven by a number of factors: the cost-effectiveness of on-demand printing; the ability to more accurately target consumers via variable data printing, increasing marketers' return on investment; the dramatic increase in web2print applications; and the continuing quality and reliability improvements in digital print technologies. 

It's already happening - large book sellers like Amazon are investing seriously in print-on-demand equipment and even major newspaper publishers such as News International are looking into printing at multiple sites to reduce distribution costs and offer geographically targeted local editions.

Although for many, short-run is synonymous with digital, advances in press make-ready and prepress production such as processless CTP mean that the ‘breakeven' quantity at which offset competes with digital alternatives is much lower than it used to be. Meanwhile, digital press quality - both toner and inkjet-based - continues to improve, producing an ever-better match to offset litho. Fujifilm offers a variety of products and technologies to help every stage in the process, whether you're working with litho or digital presses, from job receipt to completed products coming off the finishing line.

Starting out right

The first stage is the workflow. Once standard tasks like pre-flighting are complete, how long does it take to get a job ready for output? Do you have to run separate workflows for digital and offset? How quickly could you move a job from one type of press to another?

Fujifilm's answer is XMF 2.0, the latest version of its cross-media workflow, which received its official UK launch at Total Print! Expo in October. Because XMF is built around JDF (Job Definition Format) technology, it can impose and re-impose jobs for different sizes or types of press at the click of a mouse. Its support for both CTP and digital press output means you don't even have to decide which type of press to use when the job is received - you can route the job to whichever press is available first, improving job turnaround, or to whichever printing process provides the quality and finishing options the job requires.

Jobs can be hard- or soft-proofed, with the ability to inspect RIPped data online via XMF Remote so you can be sure you're seeing exactly what's going to print.

You might even split a job between digital and offset, or perhaps produce a digital reprint of an offset job at short notice. Fujifilm's advanced colour management technology built into XMF enables the best possible colour matching between types of press output, improving quality all round.

Faster plate production

Improvements in press efficiency and reduced make-ready times, together with more rapid plate production, can make offset litho much more competitive for short-runs, particularly when quality is paramount. A good workflow and powerful RIP will be able to keep your platesetter running at its rated speed, especially if, like Fujifilm XMF, it's based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE), which handles native PDF without requiring internal conversion to PostScript. This provides dramatic performance improvements compared to previous generations of RIP technology, as well as more reliable rendering of jobs. Version 2 of APPE, announced at drupa, adds support for variable data and a variety of performance enhancements for digital press output.

Once the plates are imaged, plate processing is a potential bottleneck, but processless plates such as Fujifilm's Brillia HD PRO-T dispense with the processing stage entirely, getting the plates on the press faster. PRO-T provides image quality, fine-screening support and run-length to match its processed counterparts but without any compromise in productivity, so that the considerable time-saving and efficiency boost of processless working are fully realised.

Digital family

When digital is the best option, because of extremely low print runs or because personalisation or other variable data is required, Fujifilm offers the extensive family of Xerox digital presses, from the recently introduced Xerox 700 digital press through the DocuColor range right up to the new iGen4 high volume production model. Complemented by Fujifilm's ability to supply and support XMPie variable data composition software for text and images, these digital presses offer productivity options from a cost-effective entry level unit at 3000 A4 pages an hour up to 6600 pages an hour on the iGen4, on stocks ranging from 60 to 350 gsm, and are suitable for monthly volumes from 20,000 to around four million sheets.

You can still benefit from the strengths of Fujifilm XMF workflow in a fully digital print environment because XMF 2.0 is optimised to drive Xerox digital presses directly. In addition, Fujifilm's Toner Quality Control profiling service improves the print quality obtainable from these presses, helping to meet the demand for higher quality.

Photo opportunity

One group of applications that lends itself perfectly to one-off digital print is photo gifts - books, calendars and other added value photo printing services. This sector is booming on the back of consumer digital camera sales and provides an excellent high-margin business opportunity.

Through its acquisition of IP Labs at the beginning of this year, Fujifilm can offer PhotoBook Web-based composition software for photo books.  This software allows a print service provider or retail outlet to create a branded Web store via which customers can upload their photos, choose book or other product designs and manipulate layouts before handing the job off for digital output.

Because the formats are fixed and only the content varies, photo books lend themselves to a highly automated workflow and experience has shown that they tend to generate a high volume of repeat orders. The software also has functionality to provide 3D previews of calendars, mouse mats and the like, with customers' images rendered onto them, so there is considerable potential for add-on photo related sales.

Going large

Large format work is generally short-run, with print runs in single figures the rule rather than the exception. But that doesn't mean that productivity doesn't matter. Fujifilm's range of wide format inkjet presses encompasses both market-leading flatbed and roll-fed models, covering a variety of formats to suit virtually all point-of-sale, display and signage production requirements.  Productivity levels range from 15 m2/hr in quality mode on the new Acuity Advance to an industry-leading 600 m2/hr with the Inca Onset. All Fujifilm flatbed models support UV-cured inks from the Fujifilm Sericol range, which give vibrant, wide gamut colours plus extended durability and the benefits of ‘instantly dry' UV curing.

These are complemented by high performance media, such as Fujifilm Excellight, a dedicated film for night and day display use that gives photographic quality with environmental benefits.

Start here

Whether you need to compete with digitally-equipped competitors who are snapping up short-run work, or want to expand your business into new and complementary areas, Fujifilm has an impressive portfolio of short-run solutions, from hardware and software to knowledgeable support and first class service. What are you waiting for?