3. Offset Printing | v.20210625

LongPack uses offset printing, which is a common, large scale commercial printing process. By combining just four colors of ink; cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK), millions of hues can be achieved. Offset printing produces colors accurately and fast and can handle extremely large print runs.

Printing wells

An offset printing press has “wells” that hold the four ink colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). A fifth well can hold a spot color, metallic ink, or even another black ink.

When preparing for offset printing, the print file is separated into individual CMYK colors. Each different color for the final image is applied to a metal plate. The plates are loaded into the press where an inked image is transferred (offset) from the metal plate to a rubber mat, and then onto the printed surface. Individual sheets are run through the press at a speed of 8K-12K sheets an hour.