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A type of offset printing technology in which no printing plate is used for applying the image to the substrate. Some of the systems use lasers and a thermal ribbon to create images on removable cylinders. Each of the cylinders (one for each process color) is imaged in one step with a direct thermal transfer process. A thermal material, which becomes the image area, is transferred to the cylinder. A wetting agent keeps the non-image areas of the cylinder clean during the print run. A short run of 500 impressions can be produced immediately after imaging is complete. When a longer print run is required, the thermal material must be baked onto the cylinder, but this additional step requires only 2 minutes. A resolution of 3200 dpi can be achieved with this system. When the printing is complete, the thermal imaging material is automatically cleaned from the cylinder, which makes the cylinder ready for reimaging for the next job. The cylinders can be reimaged several hundred times before they require replacement. The entire process of imaging and cleaning requires less than 12 minutes.
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