A Brief History Of Printing Services

By Sam Smith

When it comes to spreading info to a large number of people, print is one of the most popular media. With the passing of time the printing services industry has grown vastly and has evolved to its present form of a varied industry. Today it addresses a wide range of needs of clients, which goes much beyond printing.

Large volume printing services through relief printing technology started during the--00's when the world's very first printing press was invented by Gutenberg. In this style of printing the printed image appears elevated from the background of the material, as it is in a rubber stamp. These days relief printing is not as popular and has very restricted uses.

The industry has seen radical transformation in the printing techniques used, and these changes were usually driven by progress in technology. Modern printing techniques have developed to a great extent, and each method has its own uses. The sheer variety of available choices in printing techniques in fact greatly confuses the customers.

Offset printing is a popular printing technique favoured by most printers these days. In this method, limited ink is used to print the matter, which is first put on metal plates and is then transferred onto paper. This method is most suitable for bulk printing, as it is both faster and cheaper than other methods in the market.

Other printing methods that have come up with advancements in technology are electrostatic printing, which resembles photocopying, and thermal printing, which uses a system of selective heating of layered thermal paper.

However, digital printing is the newest printing technique that is getting a lot of popularity. As is clear from its name it makes use of a computer to develop an image, which is then previewed and if found to be accurate, printed onto paper. But this fast and reliable method works best in cases where only a few prints are needed. As this method allows every single print to be customized it has resulted in some innovative uses like computer form printing, where documents like bills and receipts are printed on a standard format but with differing contents for each client.

The use of the internet in printing has been another huge leap for the industry. There are a lot of companies in the market now, who permit you to place orders and modify prints straight through their websites, which is offering great convenience to the customers.

Printing has always taken quantum leaps whenever there has been a technological innovation. The best thing about this trend is that it will continue well into the future and keep improving the performance and cost effectiveness of printing services.

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