What is the difference between digital printing presses and traditional printing presses?

There are obvious differences between digital printing machines and traditional printing machines in many aspects, as follows:
Printing principle
Digital printing machine: Directly drive the printing equipment through electronic files, and use electrostatic imaging, inkjet imaging and other technologies to transfer graphic information to the substrate. For example, electrostatic imaging technology first forms an electrostatic latent image, and then absorbs toner to form an image; inkjet imaging technology is that the nozzle sprays ink on the surface of the substrate as needed to form images.
Traditional printing machine: Usually it is necessary to make a printing plate first, such as transferring the graphic information to the printing plate through processes such as plate exposure, and then using pressure to transfer the ink on the printing plate to the substrate. Common methods include lithography, letterpress printing, gravure printing and stencil printing. The printing plate structure and ink transfer principle of each method are different.
Printing process
Digital printing machine: The process is simple. You only need to input the electronic file into the digital printing machine. After being processed by RIP (raster image processor), it can be printed directly. There is no need for intermediate links such as plate making, and it can quickly realize the transformation from file to finished product.
Traditional printing press: The process is relatively complicated, generally including multiple links such as manuscript design, plate making, printing, binding, etc. The plate making process requires professional equipment and technicians, and once the plate making is completed, if you want to modify the graphic content, you need to make the plate again, which is time-consuming.
Printing quality
Digital printing press: There has been a great improvement in image resolution and color reproduction, which can meet most daily printing needs, but in some printing scenes with extremely high precision requirements, such as high-precision art albums, banknote printing, etc., it may be slightly inferior to traditional printing presses.
Traditional printing press: It can achieve very high printing accuracy and rich color performance, especially when printing high-quality color images, fine lines and large areas of solid color blocks, it can present a more delicate and uniform effect, and the printing quality is relatively stable.
Production efficiency
Digital printing press: It is suitable for short-run printing and personalized printing. It has advantages in small-batch and multi-variety printing tasks, and can quickly switch printing content, but the printing speed is relatively slow, especially when dealing with a large number of printing tasks. The efficiency is low.
Traditional printing press: It is more efficient when printing large quantities of products of the same specifications, such as newspaper printing, large-scale book printing, etc. It has a fast printing speed and can complete a large number of printing tasks in a short time. However, when switching printing varieties, it is necessary to replace the printing plate, etc., and the preparation time is long.
Cost investment
Digital printing press: The equipment procurement cost is relatively low, and no plate making is required, which saves the plate making cost. The cost advantage is obvious when printing in short runs, but as the number of prints increases, the cost of single printing will gradually increase.
Traditional printing press: The equipment price is relatively high, and the plate making cost is also relatively high. The cost is high when printing in small batches, but when the number of prints reaches a certain scale, the cost of single printing will drop significantly, with economies of scale.
Scope of application
Digital printing press: It is suitable for personalized printing, such as personalized business cards, invitations, photo books, etc.; it is also suitable for small batches and short-cycle printed products, such as advertising leaflets, corporate brochures, etc., as well as on-demand books, variable data printing and other fields.
Traditional printing press: suitable for products with high requirements on printing quality and batch size, such as high-end picture albums, periodicals, magazines, packaging cartons, etc. It has irreplaceable advantages in some printing fields that require large-scale and standardized production.