In today’s era of complete textile equipment, printing has become an essential finishing process. More and more orders require printing, and with the development of technology, traditional printing has long been subverted by digital printing, which dominates the printing market.
From the beginning to the present, the most obvious change in digital printing is the price. When digital printing first became popular in the market, it was considered “noble” and the processing fee could reach 35 yuan per meter. At that time, perhaps only fabrics used in high-end garment production could be digitally printed. Not long after it came out, the technology has just been developed, so the pricing will be quite high in terms of cost and technology. With the improvement of the times, technology and machines are becoming more and more mature, and the cost is getting lower and lower. Nowadays, the processing fee can be settled at 5-6 yuan. With the price reduction, digital printing is becoming more and more common. The number of factories is increasing year by year, and the processing fee is also decreasing year by year. In just one year, the processing fee for polyester digital printing has dropped by 1-2 yuan/meter from last year to this year.
For polyester fabrics, there is nothing wrong with digital printing except that the processing fee is more expensive. Why do you say that?
The color effect is obvious
First of all, the color fastness of digital printing on polyester cloth is not only higher than that of traditional printing, but also the three-dimensional effect of printing is better than that of traditional printing. , this is the most significant advantage of digital printing technology. From a color perspective, since the color gamut of the paste used in traditional printing is wider than the color gamut of digital printing ink, the color effect produced by using a digital printing machine cannot be achieved.
Low proofing cost
For The most difficult problem to solve with traditional proofing is the cost of proofing. Traditional printing and proofing requires several processes, which require expensive printing plate making fees. Digital printing and proofing can fundamentally solve this problem. New pattern printing does not require plate making, and printing is not subject to color registration restrictions, so printing costs can be significantly reduced. Therefore, it is suitable for small batch orders, and even one meter can be sampled.
Fast sample production
The sampling cycle of traditional flat screen and rotary screen printing is very long, and the cost is also high. Using digital printing for proofing, the sample production process is short and fast, which shortens the time for merchants to get window samples by more than 60%. Generally, samples can be obtained within one working day, which allows foreign trade companies to obtain more and more timely samples. Good orders provide a strong guarantee.
However, behind the many advantages of digital printing, there are also some disadvantages hidden.
The accuracy of nylon digital printing is low
The pain point of printing has always been printing on nylon fabrics. Due to its special properties, nylon has very high technical requirements. Traditional high-temperature printing cannot be used on nylon fabrics. Although digital printing can be used for low-temperature printing, its color fastness and accuracy are still very low and unsatisfactory. Effect. Therefore, in terms of nylon printing technology, digital printing still needs to be improved.
The printing speed is slow
Efficiency is money, and the speed of printing greatly affects the efficiency of the enterprise. Currently, the fastest digital inkjet printing machine has a printing speed of up to 150m^2/h, but compared with traditional printing machines, it is still far behind and needs to be further improved.
Every cloth boss who is doing printing business or opening a printing factory in Shengze should have a deep understanding of the situation in the past few years. Printing is done based on kilometers, and now it has become measured in hundreds of meters. The emergence of digital printing has diverted away many customers with small orders. Assuming that digital printing has kept up with the speed and prices have become more affordable, is there still room for traditional thermal transfer printing to survive?
The author personally believes that digital printing is a useful supplement to traditional printing, and both have their own significance. Traditional printing is aimed at large-scale, batch orders, while digital printing is mainly for small batches, multiple colors, and short-cycle orders. The two complement each other. But digital printing is the future development trend. Whether it is environmental protection or industrial upgrading, digital printing has more advantages. From a cost perspective, current digital printing machines can already produce 70 meters per minute, but cost has still become a bottleneck for its development. In the next few years, digital printing and traditional printing may be evenly divided and complement each other. But in the long run, traditional printing will gradually be compressed. Currently, the dividing line between digital printing and transfer printing is 3,000 meters. As the cost of paper and ink consumables decreases and printing machines are updated, the cost of digital printing will further decrease. , then the balance point between the two may rise to 5,000 meters or higher. </p
