Digital Dish: May 2019

Each Digital Dish features a new nugget to chew on and fuel your digital cravings. In continuation from last month's dish about maximizing the performance of your new digital press by selecting a suitable paper, this edition digs in further to the paper decision-making process. Now that your press is up and running, keep these tips in mind in order to increase your business and possibly your profitability.

1. Review Print Business

When making the decision on which paper(s) to run through your new inkjet press, remember that the Original Equipment Manufacturer's (OEM) list of recommended substrates is available and a great initial resource to review. Then, consider the type of work you will run on the press - Transactional, Black and White, Direct Mail, Trans-Promo and/or Marketing pieces - to determine the need for untreated vs. treated digital papers. The printer's opinion is important to the customer's decision on the best looking print quality for their piece, so use your sales personnel as the front line in helping with the right paper decision.

2. Select Untreated Papers

Untreated papers usually perform well for Transactional or Black and White work because it doesn't require major color and most end-use customers treat it as a throw-away piece. While these pieces may have a spot color, it usually is not full color, and some of the new inkjet presses and inks do well enough on untreated papers and stocks that a treated sheet isn't required. However, the color gamut on a treated sheet will be better than an untreated sheet.

3. Select Treated Papers

In the case of Direct Mail, Trans-Promo or Marketing pieces, most customers want a full color print and bleed, so your paper selection is critical. For pigment inks to pop with color, you need these water-based inks to sit on the surface of the sheet and the water to dissipate into the paper and dry. So, paper companies like Sylvamo produce treated papers and add the treatment during the paper making process at the mill, so it is throughout the fiber network. This results in great printability and thorough drying at full speed on the inkjet press. Using a treated paper can also decrease ink usage by 10-25% over an untreated sheet, resulting in higher profitability for the printer.

Tune Into Episode 2!

Episode 2 of our new digital printing video series, Master Class, reveals everything you need to know about Sylvamo newest Digital Inkjet Swatchbook, and you can see for yourself the difference in print quality between treated sheets and untreated sheets.

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If you have a topic you are hungry to learn more about, please email us at DYK@sylvamo.com!