Basic Technologies

Letterpress printing was a state-of-the-art technology in Japan when DNP was originally founded as a letterpress printing firm. Since then, the company has branched out into various businesses by developing and applying printing technologies. The diverse technologies and expertise that underpin our wide range of printing operations and services are highlighted in the following pages through the example of the processes involved in printing a book.

DNP's Technologies Seen through the Printing Process

Printing Process

Technologies used at this stage of the printing process

  1. 1

    Project Planning
    Envisioning what output will be printed

    Project planning and designing

  2. 2

    Information Processing
    Preparing the manuscript for printing

    Information processing technologies

  3. 3

    Film and plate making
    Making a printing plate

    Micro fabrication technology

  4. 4

    Printing
    Transferring ink onto paper

    Precision Coating

    Printing is a process of uniformly transferring ink onto the paper, film and other substrates.
    There are four major printing methods; letterpress, lithographic (offset), gravure, and stencil printing. Different types of printing plates are used for each method.

    Conventional printing methods

    • Letterpress printing
      Ink is applied to the raised sections of the plate and directly transferred on the paper. This method is primarily used for printing books and comics.

      Printing Plate Paper (Substrate)

    • Offset printing
      The image is transferred to a temporary rubber blanket with oil-based ink and indirectly printed on the paper (substrate). The incompatible properties of oil and water are utilized in this method, which is primarily used for printing magazines, posters and other color prints.

      Blanket Paper

    • Gravure printing
      The printing elements are recessed. The gravure cylinder surface covered with ink and then pressed under a doctor blade which removed all the excessive ink, leaving ink only in the recesses. The printing materials is pressed onto the cylinder surface and takes up the ink from the recess.

      Printing Plate (Cylinder) Paper (Substrate)

    Technologies used at this stage of the printing process

    Precision Coating

    Precision coating is a technology that forms a coating film on a variety of materials, in either single or multilayer, in a homogenous and uniform manner on the surface of substrates, such as paper, resin, metal or glass. This technology derives from a technology in the basic printing process that applies ink to a printing plate in a thin and uniform manner, and then transfers the ink to substrates such as paper.

    • EB and UV curing technology

      Ellio steel plates

      A technology that instantly cures resin and coating film materials by exposing them to electron beam (EB) or ultraviolet light (UV). This technology has evolved as a technique designed to significantly shorten coating resin and ink drying time in the printing process. It is possible to achieve energy savings in the production process, CO2 reductions, solvent-free coating and facilitate clean coating processes with low environmental burdens.

    • Coating technology

      Dye sublimation thermal transfer printing media

      A process for applying ink in a thin, uniform fashion to the surface of the material substrate, including wet coating whereby coating resins or materials such as ink are coated, and dry coating, such as metal deposition. By combining this technology with design technology for the base material, it is possible to configure coatings with a variety of functions, including optical properties, barrier and heat resistance features.

    • Printing technology

      ARTTECH

      This is a general term for a process that applies ink to a printing plate prepared from manuscripts, including text and images, and transfers the ink to a substrate such as paper, facilitating the high-speed, and high-volume reproduction of manuscripts. Toner-based printing and ink jet printing which have developed in recent years do not require a printing plate, and by controlling the ink transfer volume, it is possible to print directly from manuscripts' digital data.

    • Vacuum film deposition (dry coating) technology

      Innovative Barrier (IB) film

      A technology for coating a super-thin film onto substrate such as plastic film by applying evaporated substances in a vacuum. With this technology, it became possible to manufacture high-precision glass/thin metal master plate required in the semiconductor manufacturing field.

  5. 5

    Binding and Post-processing
    Folding, gathering, and binding

    Post-processing technologies

Technologies that underpin the printing process