Japan Printing and Graphics provides high quality, gang run printing in NYC with many different styles and finishes to meet your business needs. Gang run printing is a printing method in which two or more projects are printed together on either the same sheet of paper, or the same press run. By using this technique, the production costs are split amongst multiple projects, which reduces the unit cost. Gang run printing requires that the ink formatting is the same for all projects that are part of the same run. In most cases, a four color process is used (CMYK).
Typically, gang run printing is done with an offset press. Although it is possible to use this technique on a high volume digital press, the cost savings are not as significant. The strengths and weaknesses of offset printing were the driving factors that influenced the creation of gang run printing. With offset printing, setting up the press for production requires considerable labor. For small to medium sized runs, the setup process requires more time than the actual production run. However, once the press is configured and running, it is very efficient and fast. Gang run printing takes advantage of these characteristics by grouping multiple projects together. By doing so, the setup and production costs are split across many projects, which dramatically reduces the overall unit cost.
When utilizing gang run printing, the ink colors must not change throughout the course of the production run. Due to the nature of offset printing, changing the ink in a press would require the same amount of labor as setting up the press from scratch. For this reason, CMYK color is typically used. CMYK color can be configured to match almost any desired color. The key benefit of using CMYK is that the press never needs to change those four colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). As a result, the setup is only done once, at the very beginning of the production run.
The main drawback of gang run printing is its lack of flexibility. It requires that the color formatting and paper be the same for all projects involved in the gang run. Due to this fact, many print designs are not candidates for gang run printing. For example, business cards that are printed with Pantone color cannot be included in a gang run that uses CMYK color. Another example would be business cards that use a specialized stock, while the gang run uses a different stock. If the papers don’t match, the design is not a candidate for that particular gang run.
The main advantages of gang run printing are its low production costs and high quality prints. Since an offset press is typically used, the average quality of the prints is higher than what most digital presses can offer. Furthermore, the costs continue to improve as the total run size increases.
