Inkjet & Digital Printing

Océ writes the book on digital printing with “Roll Over Gutenberg”

Monday 02. June 2008 - Automated production workflow merges color and black and white pagesto produce a fully finished book on the past, present, and future of the book

Océ announced that it will produce a fully-finished mixed black & white and color book live at the Océ drupa 2008 stand. The book, “Roll Over Gutenberg,” relates the fascinating history of books through the ages, chronicling the past, present and future of the book and the book industry.

The book illustrates milestones in printing, paper manufacture and publishing, exploring the changing book publishing business model. It traces the development of technologies that have driven the evolution of the book market, and resulting social and commercial implications. “Roll Over Gutenberg” examines traditional book printing and publishing models, highlighting how book printers, publishers and retailers are leveraging digital technology to rewrite the rules of book printing and publishing.

In the mid 1400s, an inventive German by the name of Johannes Gutenberg introduced a disruptive technology that displaced the existing practices of hand-copying and woodblock printing. With his revolutionary invention, “movable type”, text could be infinitely replicated, enabling the mass production of books. Before Gutenberg, only the elite, wealthy and scholarly had access to reading materials. With the ability to produce books in mass quantities, prices dropped dramatically and books became accessible to the masses, igniting a social, cultural and scientific revolution.

Fast-forward just over 500 years. Today, digital book printing technologies are revolutionizing the book supply chain once again. Today, companies like Océ offer a varied portfolio of advanced digital printing systems that bring more color, speed, and efficiency to the world of printing. Just as Gutenberg’s press enabled the mass production of books, digital technology is transforming the traditional book printing and publishing business model. Océ Vice President of Graphic Arts, Peter Wolff, suggests that digital book printing changes the supply chain in three ways. It enables book lifecycle management, where runs alternate between offset and digital based on the stage of a title’s lifecycle. It enables books to be printed on demand (sell first, then print in a quantity of one) and in short runs (print first, then sell in smaller runs). And it eliminates the traditional value chain, specifically the inventory function of wholesalers.

As a result, stakeholders across the supply chain, including book printers, publishers, sellers, authors, self-publishers and even consumers, are realizing the benefits of digital technology. With digital technology, printers and publishers no longer have to print long runs to reduce unit costs. They can print ultra-short runs profitably, reducing production and transaction costs while expanding market opportunity and improving margins.

By printing books on demand or in shorter, more frequent runs, publishers can reduce overruns, minimize risk, improve cash flow, breathe new life into backlist titles and print advance reader copies at a fair price, while minimizing environmental impact. Furthermore, they no longer have to maintain unwieldy inventories and can eliminate the costs of managing returns and write-downs. Booksellers can offer a larger catalog of books for immediate delivery, providing readers with more choice and authors and self-publishers with new opportunities to see their works published. In short, digital technology delivers quickly, with high quality and a relatively low unit cost and the benefit of reduced or no inventory.

As it explores the state of the art of book printing and publishing today, “Roll Over Gutenberg” touches on key trends and issues like these. From an examination of the impact on various stakeholders and case studies of book printers and publishers who are using digital technology to “green” book production and the democratization of the book, “Roll Over Gutenberg” provides a window into the opportunities made possible by digital technology today and a glimpse of emerging innovations for the future.

As both a thought and industry leader in the fast-developing field of digital book printing and publishing, Océ is demonstrating live production of “Roll Over Gutenberg” at drupa. The book is being produced in an automated digital production workflow that merges color and black and white pages inline from a cutsheet system. The book combines prints from two digital printing systems—the Océ VarioPrint 6250 single-pass duplex system and the Océ CS650 Pro color printer. The near-perfect registration of the Océ VarioPrint 6250 system delivers perfectly aligned text blocks on every page of the book, ensuring that quality standards are always met. The Océ CS650 Pro system is known for its outstanding color on a variety of media. The process is controlled by Océ PRISMAprepare, a software solution that enables end-to-end workflow management from pre-press to production. Océ PRISMAprepare software separates the monochrome and color sections of the book, ensuring that page data is routed to the appropriate printer. The software then controls the post-print merging to reassemble and finish the book.

A limited edition of the exclusive work, “Roll over Gutenberg” is being published for drupa 2008. Copies can be obtained at the Océ stand in PrintCity in Hall 6.