Reprographics is an umbrella term comprising multiple methods of reproducing content. Some of the most common methods include digital & offset printing, scanning, photography and xerography, covering both physical (hard copy such as printing and paper) and digital (soft copy such as a pdf) reproductions of documents and images.
In this guide, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the most common reprography practices and how DMS can help your business.
Printing
Digital and Offset Print
Digital printing is the printing of a digital-based document or image from a device such as a computer, phone or flash drive. Once connected to the printer via a cable or wi-fi connection, you simply select the document or image you wish to print, click ‘Print’ and adjust the settings to your preference (e.g. double-sided, colour, paper size, paper type) and print it out.
One of the greatest advantages of digital printing is the ease of which you can customise the printing settings. Whilst many of us take it for granted nowadays, other printing methods, such as offset printing, can require lots of preparation even to make just the simplest of changes.
Offset printing is a more traditional method of printing that involves many more steps. First, an image is applied to a metal plate via a chemical reaction. Then, a water roller brushes the plate, placing water anywhere where there won’t be ink. An ink roller then appies ink to the plate, which is then placed against a rubber blanket that transfers the image. To prevent the ink from smudging, the paper is passed through an oven and the process is complete.
This method of printing is ideal for printing large quantities of documents or images at an incredibly high quality.
Digital Printing Press
A digital printing press is a large printer that can produce large quantities of digitally printed colour documents, essentially combining digital and offset print. It’s ideal for businesses who wish to produce their own marketing materials as it offers the ease of digital printing with the high quality of offset printing.
Printing Formats
- Documents
- Posters
- Presentation boards
- Folders, books and cases
- Signage
- Letterheads
- Compliment slips
- Business cards
- Leaflets and flyers
- CAD drawing and plan printing
Production Print with DMS
At DMS, our reputation as a leading provider of digital and production print systems is built on the outstanding quality of service we provide to our clients. We have a dedicated team of production print specialists with the expertise and experience to deliver a superior level of service.
Our Technology
Cut Sheet Colour & Mono Digital Presses
Inkjet & Toner based Systems available in B2, B3 & SRA3 Formats
Cut sheet printers use single sheets of paper that are bundled into a ream. They can produce up to 130 pages per minute and have a print quality of up to 48000 dots per inch.
Continuous Feed Colour & Mono Digital Presses
For offset to digital migration, transactional print & trans-promotional printing applications.
Continuous feed printers use sheets of paper that are connected by a perforated edge. They can produce up to 1716 pages per minute and have a print quality of up to 1200 dots per inch.
Graphic Arts Printers
Graphic arts printers are designed to meet the needs of the graphic arts and creative industries looking to print vibrant, high-quality colour printing on a wide range of media, including gloss paper, film, transfer paper and waterproof paper.
Wide Format
Wide-format printers are designed to print large sizes such as banners, posters, wallpaper, murals, vehicle image wraps, architectural drawings, construction plans, backdrops for theatrical and media sets, and any other large format.
Roll to Cut Sheet, Roll to Roll, Flatbed & hybrid systems available to meet an infinitely diverse range of applications.
Print Finishing
Industry leading solutions from market leading manufacturers to support our full range of digital printing technology
Software
Our digital printing software portfolio covers preparation, production, efficiency, automation & revenue generation in a scalable platform
Managed Print Service
A managed print service includes print hardware, software, service including consumables and support all under a single easy to manage contract. DMS offers comprehensive yet flexible Managed Print Services (MPS), built around the specific needs of your business. We do everything we can to ensure your business has an effective MPS that benefits your business every day and we’re always on hand to help when you need us.
Our experts conduct an independent and thorough investigation of your existing print infrastructure. We analyse the usage and cost of every device and calculate precisely what you spend on paper, consumables and power.
Photocopying and Scanning
Photocopying and scanning are processes that copy a physical document or image. They both have the same initial process, where a physical image or document is placed on the platen, or glass surface, on top the device or document feeder and the machine acquires a digital image of the document.
From this point, a photocopier simply prints out this copy to your desired settings and quantity, whereas a scanner stores a digital copy of the image and transmits it to a memory card or a computer via email or network.
Nowadays, many printers have a scanning feature built in which gives you the option to send the copy to a device or email address or print it straight away.
Photocopying produces lower quality prints compared to scanning, however, they tend to be more affordable and efficient for businesses looking to reproduce documents in large quantities that do not require a high quality.
Scanning and printing produces much higher quality documents and images, though they tend to be less quick and more expensive when producing high quantities of copies.
Photography
Digital photography uses a digital camera. Like other cameras, a digital camera has a lens, aperture, and shutter. The photograph the lens makes is recorded by a light-sensitive electronic sensor. Digital photographs are stored in storage devices such as SD cards or to the cloud on mobile phones.
In order to print these images, you would have to connect the camera or phone to a computer to upload the images and then print them via a connected printer. Alternatively, some printers have wireless printing features and images can be printed from the camera or phone via wi-fi.
For more advice and information, why not check out some of our other helpful guides or contact us to discuss what our services can do for you.
