Commercial Lithographic Printing Services 

Commercial lithographic printing services are a form of offset printing technique that involves a natural phenomenon which occurs each time two distinct surfaces are brought together. Commercial lithographic printing services are appropriate for printing both text and illustrations in short to medium length runs. In commercial lithographic printing, ink is not directly applied from the printing plate to the substrate. Ink is applied to the printing plate to form the image and then transferred to a rubber blanket. The image on the blanket is then transferred to the substrate to produce the printed product. Because of the resilience of the rubber blanket, it is possible to use offset lithography printing on a wide variety of surfaces and for large quantities. Both spot colors and CMKY colors can be used with this process.

Commercial lithographic printing services use planographic plates. This picturization process is used mainly in the reproduction of fine illustrations or scientific subject matter which requires detail accuracy. Image areas are photographically transferred to thin metal plates which are treated chemically to accept oil-based ink but repel water on the image areas. On the other hand, non-image areas accept water but repel the oil-based ink. A plate first contacts rollers of a clean solution or water and then is inked by other rollers. The oil-based ink sticks to the image area. The inked image is then transferred from the plate to a rubber blanket. The rubber blanket then transfers the image onto the paper's surface.

Whether a commercial printer produces postcards, catalogs, greeting cards, or business cards, preparing a printing surface so that ink will adhere only to parts of it are standards for commercial lithographic printing services. In addition, commercial lithographic printing services, through many technical enhancements, make possible increased production speeds, improved quality in the reproduction of fine tones, and a substantial reduction in the number of impressions required to reproduce any type of commercial printing.

Commercial lithographic printing services can accommodate a variety of jobs from single to full color as the job indicates. Commercial lithographic printing services can also produce high quality, finely detailed impressions; reproducing any material that can be photographed in the plate-making process. Commercial lithographic printing services now accounts for more than forty percent of all printing, publishing and packaging; more than twice the percentage produced by any other single printing process.