A SURVEY OF AUTOMATION TECHNIQUES COMING FORTH IN SHEET-FED OFFSET PRINTING ORGANIZATIONS

Sheet-Fed offset is one of the premier processes in India as well as abroad. To cope up with customers large quantity demands automation has become mandatory. From prepress to post press a wide range of automation techniques exist and coming forth for sheet fed offset presses. Objective of this paper is to throw light on various sheet-fed offset automation techniques existing today and their futuristic implications. The data related to automation was collected with the help of survey conducted in 15 printing organizations situated at Delhi NCR and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) region. The data was collected with help of questionnaire consisting of 9 questions. Results indicated that in prepress the DI (Direct Imaging) presses can be the future. Drip-off, spot UV (Ultra Violet) effects job, UV double cotter machines, PDCS(Palomar distant cluster survey) automatic density measuring system, latest rotary machines, ACME folders and gluers and photopolymer plate for online spot UV are another few automation techniques which can play a big role in sheet-fed offset printing industry market.