What Is a Digital Printing Press?

A digital printing press is a large appliance that combines aspects of a copy machine and a printer to act as a single device for just about all printing needs. This type of machine is intended for businesses or organizations that print out hundreds of thousands or millions of pages of material each month. They can often produce more than 100 pages of printed material per minute, and are typically designed to either print in color or in black and white. This type of device can also include a number of secondary features like finishing options, such as booklet making, folding, and binding.

The major difference between a digital printing press and a standard digital printer or copier is the volume that a press can handle within a given time frame. Standard desktop printers can often print four or five pages per minute, and expensive copy machines can print dozens of pages each minute. A digital printing press, however, is typically designed to print more than 100 pages per minute, providing a commercial printer with a fast and efficient way to satisfy large orders. Businesses that need to print large orders on a regular basis, such as major corporations that print advertisements and training materials, can also utilize the potential of this type of machine.

A digital printing press is essentially designed as the digital equivalent of older printing presses, which were used to produce large amounts of printed materials in a relatively short amount of time. Rather than physically impacting ink onto a page, as older presses did, digital presses use either inkjet or laser printing methods to create printed images. These methods use ink or toner that is applied to the page, usually as a fine spray, and then typically apply heat or ultraviolet (UV) curing to ensure the medium properly adheres to the page. Since a digital printing press is designed to print millions of pages each month, it also typically has a large paper storage capacity with multiple trays for paper.

There are also a number of extra features that can be included in this machine to better streamline the process of printing materials. Some of these machines include computer terminals built into the machine itself, allowing editing and cropping of materials prior to printing. Finishing services can also be built into the machine, which can make it easier for the printer to collate printed pages. Other finishing services that can be provided by a digital printing press include binding of pages in a number of different methods, stapling, and cutting and folding.