Web Offset Printing in Europe

We work with a number of large printers around Europe. Many of these have web offset printing machines capable of large scale print projects for higher print runs.

In comparison with sheet fed machines the rotary web printers use paper which is supplied on rolls. The larger machines can print up to 64 x A4 pages at a time and they can run these sections at rates of up to 65,000 sections per hour once running at full speed!

For special sizes on larger print runs, paper can be ordered at size so as to reduce wastage. This is not generally a cost effective option on smaller print runs where the additional costs of paper production outweigh the savings due to reduced paper wastage.

Generally, web offset printing becomes cost effective on print runs of over 10,000 copies of a brochure or magazine and, at much higher print runs, the savings can become significant. In addition, the turnaround times can also be reduced in most cases.

For the largest print projects paper will need to be ordered in the required volume – and this should be borne in mind when considering the timeline. Whilst printers do keep substantial stocks of the most common paper, a very large print run, and/or one which requires a non-standard paper size, will need to be ordered and will generally take an approximate 20 days production time which needs to be added to the production schedule.

These large print projects also impact on the delivery costs. Larger volumes require larger transport solutions and for this reason we will generally compare prices across Europe to find the best price to include delivery. We have delivered to just about every corner of Europe and beyond, and are very used to balancing the production costs and timelines with the delivery costs and what this might add to the schedule.

With these larger projects the sooner you contact us for a quotation, the sooner we will be able to give you a clear indication of not only how much your project is likely to cost, but how long we will need to meet your deadlines with certainty.