While expenses on consumables are unavoidable, keeping the cost down by way of buying cheaper products is an option that is very tempting. However, according to GATF, the blanket is the soul of printing. At the end of the day, blankets transfer the printing dot on the paper and the quality of printing blanket you use determines the quality of your print.

Faheem Agboatwala, managing director at Hi-Tech Printing Services, defines blanket as a medium that transfers the right reading image from plate to paper or substrate that is being printed. “Blanket has a direct impact on print quality, hence it is important to choose the correct blanket,” he says.

Melville D’Souza, chief operations officer-blanket division at  Alpap Barring Technology, representing German blanket company Phoenix, says, “Printing blankets are responsible for the last ink film split in the printing press and have a tremendous impact on the quality of the final print.”

KJ Paul, director at Reprographic System & Supplies, the Indian representative for Conti blankets, says, many printers are conscious of the quality of ink, paper, but ignore blankets. “Ordinary quality blankets sink quickly in comparison to the high quality blankets. In such case, you are not printing on paper but painting on paper. During various trade shows, we are at pain to get buyers to understand this concept, and it can be quite difficult,” he says.

When PrintWeek India spoke to Rupesh Sawant, managing director of Mumbai-based Superlekha, he agreed that he did not bother too much about blanket supply, and believed his vendor supplied the best blankets, till he faced a problem with print. “The barring for blankets are done by a close associate, Chandan Agencies. The last lot turned out to be a nightmare. All the bars were slipping out. This was never the case in the last ten years,” he says. “I enquired with the agency, and to my embarrassment, I was informed that I had changed the brand of blanket this month, and the blankets had a coating, which did not allow the bars to have the required grip.”

Sawant realises that though not most talked about thing in the offset printing requirements, blanket plays a critical role in the business line. “It can wreck a job, and with it the client’s patronage.”

The size and type
Rohit Madan of RM Associates, the dealer for Meiji blankets, says, it is difficult to estimate the consumption of blankets since it depends on the size of the printing machine, types of jobs and printing substrates being used. “Besides, there are no actual import figures available. However, an indicative figure, that a Heidelberg CD-102/4C will consume a minimum of 50 sq/mtrs and similarly a CD-74/4C would consume a minimum of 25 sq/mtrs in a year.”

But Vishal Group’s director Vishal Laddha says the present consumption of blankets in India would be about 2,25,000 sq/meter per annum. “This includes all types of blankets available for specific purposes – conventional, UV, combi, high-speed web, metal-back, no pack blankets for double-width machines, heatset, coldset, continuous stationery and majorly second choice.”

Suresh Shah, director at Nulith Graphics and Ashish Sharma, director at Aarushi Agencies put that number at 2,50,000 sq/meters per annum. Shah adds, “The Indian market is divided into two parts, the organised and unorganised sectors. The dominant one, unorganised is around 1,40,000-plus sq/meters, while the organised is about 1,00,000-plus sq/meters supplied by reputed manufacturers from Europe, USA and Japan, and used by newspapers houses, leading packaging houses and quality conscious commercial printers.”

Nulith represents Trelleborg’s Rollin blankets, while Aarushi represents Novurania. 

Blankets are classified into two parts – compressible and conventional.

Blankets at first were manufactured only as conventional type. The construction of this type had only fabric layers laminated together and rubber spread on the laminated fabric. The thickness used to be determined by the number of fabrics laminated together, that is, three fabrics laminated together would be called a three-ply blanket whose thickness would be 1.68mm and four fabrics put together would be called a four-ply blanket whose thickness would be 1.95mm. These blankets would normally be harder and the vulcanised rubber surface would determine the hardness of the construction.

As times changed, one saw faster presses, a wide variety and thickness of substrate available, a more resilient blanket was the need of the hour. Manufacturers then started incorporating a sponge layer under the first top fabric which we call the compressible layer.

Compressible blankets nowadays are built with three or four fabrics depending on the thickness of the compressible layer and the application. These blankets are 1.96mm thick in three-ply and four-ply construction. 1.68mm blanket is only available in three-ply construction.

Compressible blankets have air pockets or layers within the structure which are cushion-like. These air pockets or layers give blankets the flexibility to return to their original shape after coming in contact with the media being printed. “These are the kind of blankets that are good for printers using a range of varying thickness papers because they can withstand duress delivered from such papers,” says Nitin Ahuja, director of AND Systems, the representative for Kinyo, MagicPrint, Tru Air blankets in India.

Conventional blankets are hard but with a smooth surface and are sometimes used with a support-packaging to raise them to the required thickness. Ahuja says, “These blankets offer exceptional ink release from the blanket surface to the sheet, and are ideal for higher quality FM screen and halftones.”

Nitin Ahuja adds, at times in both, the blankets could witness low spot (while manufacturing and then while printing) or smash when it is pushed beyond its limit. “The chances are greater in conventional or hard surface blankets.”

Popular blankets
Among blankets, the popular ones are Deco (Cow), Meiji, Kinyo, Trelleborg (Rollin, Vulcan), and Phoenix. Every blanket has its niche market depending on service, quality, and availability.

About three decades ago, there used to be Cow blankets which were considered to be the most popular blankets. Laddha says, “With no established players in India, there was no competition to Cow. Plus there was no competition in prices too.”

Blankets from China are also penetrating the Indian market, plus European and Japanese blanket makers are setting up a blanket plant in India. “This is mainly for cost reduction purposes,” says Madan.

Blanket selection
Sometimes harder stock with hard surface conventional blanket can lead to low spots much quicker than the compressible blanket, while on the other hand printing a high-screen halftone with a compressible blanket could produce the undesired quality of dots.

“A good quality blanket will always make life easier for the printer and also productive,” says Sharma of Aarushi. “Printers must look for blankets which offer stable fabric which forms the bulk of the blanket apart from a perfect gauge, excellent quick-release properties and recommended finish for different printing jobs.”

Shah of Nulith says printers should look for blankets that produce best dot reproduction, are release and smash resistant, while Paul of Reprographics, says, look for extended life span. “Accurate registry and resistance to edge-cutting are often the most important factors to be considered,” says Paul.

PrintWeek India spoke to few printers to find out how they decide that the blanket they use are the right ones? What do they look for in blankets?

Ram Milan Sahu, deputy general manager for production at TCPL, Haridwar, says, “We look for quality of the dot and ink transfer as also how the quality behaves at high-speed at longer lengths.”

For Saeesh Dhond, director at Impression Group in Belgaum, things that define an ideal blanket are - ink transferring capability throughout the run length, compressible layer for higher pressure resistance and ultimately, the number of impressions the blanket can give. “A sharp printed dot delivers high quality, but at the same time, a longer life and durability are essentials.”

Agboatwala says, for him it’s print consistency, while Manu Choudhury, director at CDC Printers, says, “Dot reproduction is most important, cleaning time and effort for blankets during job change over, and flexibility of blankets, are things that we look for.”

Quality of barring
Choudhury also says that quality of barring is one of the things he looks for. That, and cutting of the blankets. “Poor cutting and substandard barring will result in multiple problems while printing,” says Sharma of Aarushi.

Vishal Laddha of Vishal Group, emphasises why barring is an integral part of the blanket business. “It doesn’t matter how good a blanket you use. Until the bars are fixed in the right manner, your blanket is no good. Barring is a very precise art and it takes a lot of experience and understanding.”

D’Souza of Alpap, explains, “A barred blanket consists of a steel or aluminium bar fitted on either sides of the blanket for mounting on the blanket cylinder. The advantages of using barred blankets with accurate bar specifications helps the printer to mount the blankets faster, thus reducing press downtime.”

Laddha adds, “If you are a cautious customer, make sure you or your representative audit your vendor’s facility and check on the parameters they have set. This will give you a fair idea about their ability and capability.”

Compressible or hybrid blanket
An excellent compressible layer is a must for a good printing blanket. It helps in elimination of the “bulge” in printing zones. Ahuja says, “This allows the use of relatively high packing levels for good solids without causing undue dot gain, increased smash resistance, quick gauge recovery, increased packing latitude. A good compressible layer helps in fast recovery from smashes.”   

In this day, 99.5% blankets are compressible, says Ahuja.

But due to the fact that UV inks are becoming aggressive, hybrid blankets come into play. “I would recommend it when you have only 25% to 30% UV printing jobs (not running at a stretch) which could be run without a change of blankets to save time. This also requires hybrid rollers for the ink.”

Laddha says the question should be, why use a hybrid or combi blanket.

“If a printer does both conventional and UV printing then it is advisable to use a combi or hybrid blanket. Because a single combi blanket can serve both the purpose and a printer can save cost in maintaining inventory for different types of blankets.”

Demand and availability
“The Indian market is no different than most markets in an upcoming country – everyone wants the best at the lowest price,” says Ahuja.

India by far is the largest market for printing consumables, says Laddha. “Large market means a large number of buyers having different needs. To cater to this huge requirement many competing blankets have come into play.”

Ahuja adds, “The only worry is that the Indian market starts believing that they are being offered the best option in the price range they are looking for.”

The biggest threat, therefore, comes in the form of counterfeit, seconds and stock lots blanket. Madan of RM Associates, the dealer for Meiji blankets, says, “There are certain importing dealers who only import such blankets and sell at 50% of the cost of prime blankets to the sub-dealers. This confuses the customer tremendously due to the price difference until he faces a quality issue.”

Second choice blankets
Production of printing blankets at a high quality is a very challenging task and there are many parameters which have to be considered. It is sometimes very difficult to control that it is almost impossible to avoid some material which is not 100% within the tolerance. “Of course using such material on printing presses will lead to a lower or bad quality, shorter lifetime, registry problems, etc,” says Paul.

According to Shah, such lots are cleared once or twice in a year even by reputed manufacturers. But these blankets are mainly used for coating purposes. “India is an overly price-conscious market, and such second choice blankets are also used for printing. Actually, the cost of the blanket is very low but everyone tries to save and use such shortcuts, leading to poor blanket performance.”

It’s completely bizarre for the blankets market and a moment of truth for the printer’s that more than 60% of the blankets that they use are the second choice. Knowingly or unknowingly these blankets are dumped into the market at first choice price.

“You can imagine the level of fraudulent and unethical practice that’s going around,” says Laddha. He says, “Flint Group has taken a step to stop this malpractice. They have paused selling Q2/second choice in the Indian market. They are also taking strict action on the companies importing and selling counterfeit blankets.”

Laddha says, there are three things a printer can do to save from being cheated. “One, know your supplier/vendor thoroughly; two, understand the aesthetics. Every brand has its logo, batch number and unique identity mark on the fabric side of the blanket. So make sure that every piece you receive has it all; and finally, each blanket roll comes with a road map which has all the details mentioned on it. So ask for a copy with every supply.”But lately, customers are getting aware of this practice and have started demanding first-grade materials from authentic channel partners and suppliers, which is an encouraging trend, says Sharma of Aarushi. “Printers have started realising the benefits of using high-quality printing blankets.”

Maintaining blankets
The basic rule is – handle blankets carefully. Ensure that there are no sharp edges or objects that touch the blankets including the bars fitted on the blanket, they can destroy the surface if the bars touch or scratch the surface.

The maintenance and taking care starts from step one of storing. It should be stored rubber face to rubber face and during handling care should be taken as it is a flexible material and the finishing on the rubber surface is by grinding.

“It is recommended to clean the blankets with water before printing,” says Sharma. “Blanket must maintain constant gauge and must ensure quick release effect of the printed material. Blankets must not result in excessive swelling in case of UV printing.”

Ahuja says, India is a big country, and different parts have different types of water. “If it is possible, use treated water. It is most important to remove the indissolvable particles like calcium from the water which settle onto the blanket transferred from the plate.”