In an article last week in the UK publication PrintWeek, it was predicted that in the UK we are already seeing the demise of the standard four-color offset press. The article stated that because of competitive pressures, presses only printing four colors (CMYK) were no longer being purchased. In the UK today the minimum configuration for most offset color presses is a five-unit press allowing for four colors plus a sealant. Market pressures for very fast turnaround of work have shown that there is no longer time for the ink to dry before printing the second side or finishing the work. This is seen as the pressure coming from digital printing.

Pressure on turnaround has meant that jobs need to be sealed before printing the second side or finishing rather than waiting for the ink to dry. This means having either a four-color press with coater or a five-unit press where the fifth unit could print a sealant.

The following quotes come from the PrintWeek article. Philip Dunn, director of marketing for Komori UK, stated, “The UK has moved on from four-color presses. We sell as many five- and six-color machines, with or without coaters than we do just plain four-color Lithrones these days.” Richard Bradley, head of small format presses at Heidelberg UK, agreed. “Since about the turn of the millennium we’ve been seeing steadily decreasing numbers of four-color presses. There is a swap-over point on my historical sales chart that happened at the end of 2001, where the number of five-color presses we sold overtook the number of four-colors, and we’ve sold fewer four-colors each year since then.” Gary Doman, head of sheetfed sales at MAN Roland GB, added, “There is little future in the UK for four-color presses.”