Development of CTP Technology and Its Influence on Publishing and Distribution (II)

Third, the impact of the development of OTP technology on China's publishing industry

CTP technology has been an important period in China's publishing industry since its introduction into China and gradually matured into the present 20 years. It is an important period for China's publishing industry to devote itself to reform and opening up and gradually to the world. Many new technologies and equipment have been used in the publishing industry, greatly promoting With the development of the publishing industry, CTP technology is no exception. We may wish to compare the relevant data:

Through the comparison and analysis of the above several charts, we know that CTP technology has gradually matured from the CTP technology in the 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, and the number of books published in China, the total number of books and the total sales of books have been maintained. The relatively rapid growth momentum has been repeated in 1986, 1998, and 2000 due to factors such as socio-economic changes and market adjustments, but overall it is more than the number of books in the 1970s. Prints and total sales have greatly improved. However, on the other hand, as the investment in new technologies and new equipment has increased the production costs of books, the increase in book prices is also high. The chart below shows the growth of book prices in the past 20 years:

In the past 30 years, the prices of books have continued to rise. In 2000, the average price of each book increased by nearly 28 times than in 1970. Although there are many reasons for the rise in book prices, the increase in costs caused by the introduction and investment of CTP technology and equipment is one of the factors that we cannot ignore.

Fourth, the development prospects of China's CTP technology

According to the statistics of the relevant associations of the United States, by 2001, the installed capacity of global CTP equipment was about 8,500 units. According to the statistics of the "Printing Technology" magazine, as of September 2002, China's CTP equipment market has only 143 units. Moreover, the CTP system and technology have been listed as a development direction of China's printing and publishing industry, and have been included in the key technology projects of the National Ninth Five-Year Plan. It is a new high-tech, high-growth, high-return technology-intensive industry. Therefore, CTP technology also has great market potential in China.

According to the above analysis, CTP technology has many advantages, but why is it that China's CTP equipment installation and CTP technology are still only a few publishing companies in the situation where overseas CTP applications are becoming increasingly popular? The following will use CTP technology in China. The challenges and countermeasures are analyzed.

4.1 The Challenges of Adopting CTP Technology in China

4.1.1 The price of equipment is high and the investment capacity is insufficient

At present, China's CTP platesetters and CTP plates are mostly imported and expensive. Although the price of CTP equipment has dropped significantly within five years (at present, the 8 power supply has been reduced from the previous $400,000 to between $150,000 and $200,000, and the boot type has also dropped to approximately $400,000). The average price of Taiwanese CTP platesetters is also around 2 million yuan. Coupled with the cost of supporting equipment, many small and medium-sized printing companies are unable to introduce them. Even if some printing companies have introduced CTP equipment, the price of the digital plates they support is much higher than that of traditional plates, causing most printing companies to buy but they cannot afford to use them. Not used for actual production.

4.1.2 lack of supporting management system, superiority is difficult to play

At this stage, most of the printing companies in China adopt the traditional printing production mode, and the supporting digital workflow is not perfect. Due to the lack of a digital process management system suitable for printing and publishing, a semi-analog semi-digital method is implemented in actual production, which makes the back-end advanced hardware devices unable to fully exert their due efficiencies, and the printing quality can hardly be guaranteed. Naturally, such a production process cannot be integrated with the enterprise's digital management system, resulting in that the superiority of the CTP technology cannot be fully reflected and it cannot exert its due efficiency.

4.1.3 Staff quality needs to be improved

CTP technology simplifies the process, and also improves the overall quality of the operator. They must not only understand the basic knowledge of printing, but also understand the operation of computer and CTP equipment and maintenance knowledge. In China, the overall quality of practitioners in the publishing and printing industry is relatively low, and even the view that “printing is only a technical activity and junior high school students are competent” is a view that such a work force cannot adapt to a digital production model. Even if the equipment is available, there will be enough plates, but no one will operate, and the previous investment will be nothing more than a waste of money.

4.2 Countermeasures

4.2.1 In view of the problem of excessive investment in high prices, the first thing we must do is to increase the production level of domestic CTP equipment and improve the performance and output of domestically produced plates.

In the production and construction process of domestic CTP equipment, we should learn from and learn from foreign advanced technology and scientific practices, and increase the intensity and depth of research. The latest concise news shows that Agfa has invested and set up factories in Wuxi to produce digital plates. It is expected that the company will start trial production in the middle of this year, formally put into production next year and bring the products to the market; Kodak PolyStar is also scrambling in Tianjin. The CTP media production line will be ready for large-volume products next year. Prof. Chen Ping, an expert in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Photographic Institute, revealed that the second film factory of Lekai Group is also stepping up the development of the domestically produced CTP plate. The technology has matured and will be seen next year. In this way, the domestic brands of CTP will force Ocean CTP to cut prices in an all-round way, so that everyone can afford to use the popular consumption level. Coupled with China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the price of imported plates will have a greater room for decline, which also cleared the way for the application of CTP technology. Printing companies that have already invested in the introduction of CTP equipment must increase the utilization rate of equipment and make full use of the advantages of CTP technology to repeatedly use plate making.

4.2.2 Accelerate the pace of application of modern technology in the publishing and printing industry, and increase the digitization of the publishing and printing industry.

　　 While grasping the printing hardware equipment, it is necessary to pay more attention to the construction of soft environments such as digital production processes. This will require our printing companies to change their concepts, increase their investment in technology, and learn from the advanced printing companies at home and abroad. Can participate in some printing exhibitions, such as the more famous Drupa printing exhibition in the industry. The exhibition only shows the latest equipment, but also can communicate with the participants to the latest technology and ideas.

4.2.3 Printing companies should pay attention to the training or continuing education of relevant technical personnel.

At present, most printing companies in China basically have relatively rich experience in using electronic prepress systems, which lays a good foundation for enterprises to adjust and train after introducing CTP technology. Retraining employees who have experience with electronic prepress systems will quickly adapt to the needs of CTP applications. In addition, many colleges and universities in China have now set up printing professions, and companies can also directly introduce these colleges and universities. Talents with a complex knowledge structure and higher re-learning ability improve the quality of employees throughout the company.