An invaluable addition to the Imperial Finishing Department’s arsenal of tools, the Blanker – Scrapper machine automates the process of cutting and eliminating waste from die cut sheets. The resulting increase in production efficiencies yields gains in productivity as well as delivering a higher level of service to our customer base.
The following brief video showcases the machine and how it can benefit your customer experience.
PEWAUKEE, WI — The Great Lakes Graphics Association (GLGA) held its annual Graphics Excellence Awards (GEAs) Celebrations on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The Celebration was the culmination of the annual GEA competition, which recognizes companies throughout Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin for superb craftsmanship in the design, creation and production of outstanding printed projects they produce for their customers.
Imperial Lithographing garnered five “Best of Categories” awards and a prestigious Second Runner-Up Award for the Prosecco Point-of-Purchase Counter/Shelf display.
Digital Printing͛ refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. Although most commonly experienced when using a personal printer at home for printing out simple documents or family pictures from a computer, it usually refers to professional, industrial level printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other computer controlled digital sources are printed using large format or high-volume laser, LED, or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even modifications to the image (variable data) used for each impression. The savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses means that digital printing is reaching the point where it can match or supersede offset printing technology’s ability to produce larger print runs of several thousand sheets at a low price.
Imperial Litho possesses advanced digital printing capabilities in the form of a Xerox Iridesse® Production Press which delivers more “wow” impact per printed page through digital specialty enhancements. Consisting of six inline print stations, the Iridesse can print in a single pass, at rated speed, with spot on color-to-color registration. (Click here to view the Xerox Iridesse video)
Additionally, Imperial offers our customers output on the Inca Onset; an Ultra-Grand Format UV inkjet printer which can print on virtually any media up to 2″ thick and measuring 60″ x 120″. (Click here to see the Inca Onset Video)
The history of printing starts as early as 3000 BC, when the proto-Elamite and Sumerian civilizations used cylinder seals to certify documents written in clay tablets. Other early forms include block seals, hammered coinage, pottery imprints, and cloth printing. Initially a method of printing patterns on cloth such as silk, woodblock printing for texts on paper originated in China by the 7th century during the Tang dynasty, leading to the spread of book production and woodblock printing in other parts of Asia such as Korea and Japan. The Chinese Buddhist Diamond Sutra, printed by woodblock on 11 May 868, is the earliest known printed book with a precise publishing date. Movable type was invented by Chinese artisan Bi Sheng in the 11th century during the Song dynasty, but it received limited use compared to woodblock printing. Nevertheless, the technology spread outside China, as the oldest printed book using metal movable type was the Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377 during the Goryeo era.
Woodblock printing was also used in Europe until the mid-15th century. Late medieval German inventor Johannes Gutenberg created the first printing press based on previously known mechanical presses and a process for mass-producing metal type. By the end of the 15th century his invention and widescale circulation of the Gutenberg Bible became responsible for a burgeoning economical book publishing industry across Renaissance Europe and eventually among the colonial publishers and printers that emerged in the British-American colonies. This industry enabled the communication of ideas and sharing of knowledge on an unprecedented scale, leading to the global spread of the printing press during the early modern period. Alongside the development of text printing, new and lower-cost methods of image reproduction were developed, including lithography, screen printing and photocopying.