Services

Prepress

Prepress refers to the process of creating a print layout and performing all the steps that lead to the final print project. A digital prepress machine accepts information electronically and transforms the data onto a printing plate which is ultimately used to transfer files onto paper while on press.

Typesetting

Typesetting is the process of arranging the text and images in a page, in order to prepare them for printing. This includes selecting the most adequate style, size and composition of each and every text chain, photograph and design element.

CTP

When the design of the job is ready, plates of each colour (CMYK) or a spot colour are required before the job can be printed. The Computer to plate system is a fast, cheap and efficient technique, where the plate is inserted in the CTP Machine and imaging of the plate takes place. When the imaging is done it heads off to the printing section where the plate is placed in a printing unit for printing of the colour. The digital file is sent to The CTP before imaging commences.

The printing department is responsible for the printing of the paper it is the most important department in the press. The printer feeds the paper to the machine loads the plates and the ink in the machine and checks that the printer is up to standard and of good quality. This Department is divided into two sections offset and digital.

Offset Printing

Offset printing technology uses plates, usually made from aluminium, which are used to transfer an image onto a rubber “blanket”, and then roll that image onto a sheet of paper. It is referred to as offset because the ink is not transferred directly onto the paper. Because offset presses run so efficiently once they are set up, offset printing is the best choice when larger quantities are needed, and provides accurate colour reproduction, and crisp, clean professional-looking printing. The Government Printing Press has plans to invest in state-of-the-art technology to ensure better output, increased capacity and stricter deadlines.

Digital Printing

Digital printing is the process of printing digital-based images directly onto a variety of media substrates. … Digital files such as PDFs or desktop publishing files can be sent directly to the digital printing press to print on paper, photo paper, canvas, fabric, synthetics, cardstock and other substrates.

  1. Digital printing enables additional advantages, including:
  2. Personalized, variable data printing (VDP)
  3. Print-on-demand
  4. Cost-effective short runs
  5. Fast turnarounds

The Postpress department is responsible for finishing, packing, and delivering the printed job. It is divided into two sections these being: the delivery section and the finishing section. The finishing section concludes the job with a number of processes including cutting, folding, creasing, laminating etc. The delivery section packs and stores the job and delivers the final printed product.

The GPP offers additional methods of printing other than paper print. These include stickers and labels for different materials such as glass, wood, etc. There are multiple sticker and label materials available depending on their use. The GPP is currently providing large-format printing services to a number of Government Departments and will be setting up a fully-fledged department in this sector to meet the ever-increasing demand.

The Delivery section is responsible for Packing and delivering the job to the client. It is the final stage of the job where the job is checked, counted and packed then delivered to the customer or picked up by the customer.

The Government Printing Press recently invested in a Folding and inserting machine – this being a mechanical device used to fold paper and automatically insert the folded paper into envelopes. Furthermore, this machine seals the envelopes guaranteeing security and reducing the possibility of human error.

Folding and Creasing

With the explosion of digital printing comes an ever-growing need for creasing. For years, with offset printing, ink soaks into paper so although fibres may be cracking when the sheet is folded, the end product still looked great because there was no break in colour. In today’s world of digital printing, in which toner lies on the surface, we have to take a more aggressive approach to preparing the sheet for folding. This is where the paper creasing and folding machine became necessary. Creasing implied the use of a dedicated creasing matrix with a channel and dye. The two sandwich the sheet and create a strong crease in the sheet so that fibres do not break during folding.

Hard Casing

A soft non-edge cover of a single-piece paper board is produced very similarly to a perfect bound book cover — the paper board is trimmed to a particular format, but the book block is bound with end-leaf papers glued on. In another case, a single piece of binding material is glued on a piece of paper board and then trimmed to a particular format. Only then is the book block bound.

Perfect Binding

Perfect Binding is a widely used soft-cover book binding method. With this binding method, the pages and cover are glued together at the spine with a strong yet flexible thermal glue. The other three sides of the book are then trimmed as needed to give them clean “perfect” edges.

Saddle Stich Binding

A saddle stitch is when single sheets of paper are printed on both sides, collated in page number order, folded in half and then stapled through the fold by a saddle stitch stapler. Saddle stitch binding is one of the most common binding methods for booklet manufacturing.

Spiral Binding

The Government Printing Press offers an additional method of binding – this being Spiral Binding where the pages are fastened together by a spiral of wire or plastic that coils through a series of holes punched along one side of each page and the front and back covers.

Side Stitch

A side stitch is when a book or magazine is stapled on the left-hand side of the book multiple times. Usually, it is stapled twice on the edge of the book, magazine or brochure.

Lamination

There are multiple lamination processes in the GPP. Pouch, Hot Reel and Loose are used to laminate plastic to paper. Lamination is used to Protect, stabilise and strengthen the paper. It is also used to improve the appearance of the job. Lamination processes use heat and pressure for the plastic to stick to the paper permanently.

Hot Foil Stamping

Hot Foil Stamping is a method of printing where the foil is transferred to a surface in hot temperatures. There are a variety of processes that use this method. At the GPP we provide both Digital Stamp Foiling and Traditional Stamp Foiling.

Numbering

Numbering is the process of creating consecutive numbers for every single page in a particular job. Each page usually has a number incremented by one.

Perforation

Perforation is a process in the printing industry where a series of small cuts are inserted in the paper thereby making it easy for the user to cut by hand. This is a finishing process.

Cutting

In any printing press cutting of paper to specific sizes is essential. There are multiple machines at the GPP that do this job including dye cutting and guillotine. Dye cutting is a process to cut paper in certain shapes. A guillotine is used to cut paper to a specific size but only in two shapes, Square and