Sheetfed Offset, Web Offset, Digital : Defining Crossover Points

As for Sandy Alexander, "We've gone as low as 150,000-300,000 pieces on our web offset presses that have in-line finishing capabilities, depending on the finishing," notes Emery. "Finishing on a simple direct mail piece might be a straightforward fold/score/glue, or it could be much more complex, e.g., a piece that folds out into multiple panels and may have a pop-up or card tipped into it. It all comes down to whether it's a format that can be done only that way. Otherwise, the piece has to be run on standard offset and hand-finished off-line."

The crossover discussion is simply the flip side of process selection, which aims to figure out which printing method can produce the work most efficiently based on product specifications. Finding the appropriate balance among "competing" technologies will permit print providers to offer the best service at the lowest feasible cost per page, drive volume, increase the return on their own and their customer's investment, and make more money as a result. PI