2008 Beijing Printing Guide

Off-Site (Decentralized) Printing

　　The advancement of network technology allows various types of electronic documents transmitted through internet to any place in the world at high speed and low cost. The integration of internet and digital printing technologies has gradually changed the practice of dispatching small quantity of paper documents or printed matters to other places �?from previously “first print then distribute�?to currently “first distribute then print�?
　　The prosper i t y of internet communi cat ion enables us to ar range vast quant i ty of design and

print-ready electronic documents transmitted to recipients in other places for digi tal
printing. If the software versions and fonts ins tal led in computer s and pr inter s of
receiving parties are not compatible with the transmitting ones, the original documents can firstly be converted into multi-platform compatible Adobe PDF format before proceeding to offsite printing.
　　Large-scale enterprises normally have numerous branches throughout China.
When the headquarter need to distribute document stoother branches, their
electronic version can be transmitted via internet to receiving branches for printing
by digital printers installed in local offices, so as to save delivery time and cost for
distribution and transportation. If it is an assignment with large print volume of the
same content, the electronic documents can be firstly sent via internet to traditional
printing house near the local branch for plate-making and massive offset printing. If it is an assignment with vast print quantity involving personal ized or var iable data application, the electronic documents can be transmitted to digital print shop near the local branch for massive laser printing before dispatch to the designated place.
　　For those urgent offsite printing assignment fulfilled by digital print shop,
the completion of document printing and binding is normal ly fol lowed by cour ier
service to ensure the finished documents can be delivered to receivers within the
shor test t ime. As individual customers are not always within the neighbourhood
of the fast pr int shops, �?fast pr int �?and �?fast del ivery�?services are quite of ten
inseparable. The merging of Federal Express and Kinko’s Print Shops in the U.S.
in 2004 has reflected the close relationship between ‘Print�?and ‘Distribute�?in today’s digital printing industry.
　　Owing to economics driven by networking scale, internat ional digi tal pr int shop chain normal ly has more competitive advantages than non-international ones in executing offsite printing assignments. Nevertheless, currently there are some internat ional network pr int ing al l iances or associat ions establ ished in Europe and the U.S. , such as GlobalgrafixNet —www.globalgrafixnet.com and International Printers Network �?www.ipn.cc are two relatively distinguished ones. Digital print shops in Beijing can join these associations and enjoy networking with other members of print shops around the world, Network members are also entitled the preferential recommendation or arrangement by the associations in taking offsite printing orders sent from foreign customers for local delivery in Beijing. By the same token, domestic customers can also send elect ronic documents to members of these associations in countries/cities of the recipients and request these pr int shops to dist r ibute the f inished documents to recipients after completion of offsite printing in their shops.