I write this from a press conference at Ipex at which Presstek has unveiled (and is showing elsewhere on the show floor) the new Presstek 75DI Direct Imaging press. The new press, designed for short-run offset color printing and to bridge the gap between offset and digital printing, is said to offer as little as six-minute job turnover. As Jeff Jacobson, Chairman, President, and CEO of Presstek, previous announcements had given the makeready time of the 75DI press at eight minutes, Since then, they have shaved an additional two minutes off job turnaround.

With an optimal run length of jobs in the 500 to 20,000 range, the new DI, like other Direct Imaging presses, images plates directly on press, and is headed toward Presstek’s goal of making the printing press “a computer peripheral.”

During the press conference, Jacobson outlined Presstek’s strategy for the future, including the company’s desire to manufacture plates open to all platemakers. They are also seeking to grow beyond Presstek’s core market of 1–9-employee print shops and expand to shops of all sizes, evidenced by “the 52DI aqueous coater bought by the second biggest printer in the world, Quad/Graphics.”

“DI was ahead of its time,” said Jacobson, “80% of all four-color jobs are less than 5,000 impressions.”

“I believe with the advent of inkjet, electrophotographic missed an opportunity.” Jacobson sees shops with three basic equipment rosters: inkjet for short-run, variable printers; offset for long-run printing, and a DI press for the “doughnut hole” between those two technologies’ run-length characteristics.

More information to come, including video.