Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Printing Services - Changes Through The Years

By Beth Smith

The popularity of print medium as an efficient way of spreading info to many various kinds of individuals is great & famous even in the present days. Over the years the printing services industry has grown immensely & has reached its present form of a diversified industry. Today it can address almost any need of the customers associated with printing and its ancillary requirements.

With the invention of the world's first printing press by Gutenberg in the--00's, mass printing services in the form of relief printing developed into a standard industrial service. In relief printing the printed matter appears elevated from the base, just as you see in a rubber stamp. Relief printing is rarely in use nowadays, though there are still some instances where it is used.

Printing techniques have changed radically down the years, and these transformations have been brought about by upcoming of latest technologies. Modern printing techniques are quite diverse and come to a variety of uses. The astounding variety of available choices in printing methods in fact greatly confuses the clients.

Of all printing methods in the market today, offset printing tops the list in popularity. In this technique, the image is transmitted onto paper from a metal plate on which the matter is first printed by the use of limited amount of ink. This method is most suitable for mass printing, as it is both quicker and lesser expensive than other methods in the market.

Development in printing technology has also given birth to other printing techniques like thermal printing, that involves heating of layered thermal paper, and electrostatic printing, that is similar to photocopying.

However, digital printing is the latest technological advancement in this field. As is clear from its name, it includes image development and editing on a computer, and then this computer generated image is finally printed after analysis. But this fast and trustworthy technique works best in cases where only a few prints are needed. As the printer can customize each print in this method, it can be employed for computer form printing, where documents such as receipts or bills can be printed for different customers, with each having an identical format but different contents.

Another significant evolution in printing has dawned with the arrival of the internet. Most printing firms run their own websites that permit clients to conveniently place orders and check out designs and templates, without them having to go all the way to the firm's premises for this reason.

Printing has always taken quantum evolutionary leaps with the progress in technology. The good news is that this trend of progress is going to continue unabated in the future too, ushering in favourable advancements to improve performance and lower costs.

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