When you have a large printing job, offset printing is often the best way to get the best results. Thomas Group Printing is a highly-experienced commercial printer, handling jobs for some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies. We’ve been operating since 1912, and while offset or lithographic printing has been around even longer, it remains a great choice for high-quality, sharp printing at large volumes.

Fast, High Quality Offset Printing For San Francisco

Whether you need a large print run of brochures for a tech conference in Silicon Valley or thousands of booklets for a local arts festival, Thomas Group Printing is here to meet all of San Francisco’s offset printing needs with quality, professionalism, and free delivery.

Instead of digital printing, which is perfect for smaller projects, offset lets us run thousands of pages in one printing. Plus, it makes large print runs much more affordable since the cost per piece decreases as you print more.

There is an initial cost associated with creating printing plates and setting up an offset press, but that cost spreads out over the number of prints made. Once you reach a certain volume — which will vary depending on the nature of the product and the complexity of the print — costs go down sharply in comparison to digital printing, which typically costs the same for the thousandth print as it does for the first one.

In general, when you’re printing thousands of copies of a resource, offset printing is a much more cost-effective method than digital. If you’re curious about which option is best for you, our experienced press team can help.

How Does Offset Printing Work?

The process, sometimes called lithography, works by transferring the image to be printed directly onto a printing plate from the image file. This method is called direct-to-plate or computer-to-plate offset printing, in contrast to the older method of developing film negatives with the images, then transferring the negatives to the plate.

The plates are typically separated into CMYK colors or can be just done in black. That means we’d prefer to receive your image files for offset jobs in CMYK format as well — get in touch with our press team for details.

From the printing plates, it’s transferred to a flexible rubber sheet on the press, which then rolls ink onto the paper to create the image.

It may sound complex, but it produces clear, defined images at high volume and speed in a way that digital printing can’t match, and modern methods of offset printing now rival digital printing in flexibility and precision.

Products That Work With Offset Printing

Offset printing can be used for any job needing a high volume of print products. That can include reports, catalogs, magazines, posters, and even books.

In general, any order that’s higher than 2,500 pieces or so is a great candidate for using offset printing. We often use offset printing for annual reports, brochures, booklets, and other large jobs.

The large paper sheets used in this printing process also mean our customers aren’t limited by size when they need larger products done. We can print full color, spot color, and even add coatings to protect the quality of the final product, and many paper choices are available.

Finishing options after the prints come off the press can be customized to your needs, such as saddle-stitching a booklet, folding a brochure, or binding a report. There’s more information about our binding offerings available here.

Examples of Offset Printing Projects We’ve Done:

For more printing inspiration, check out Thomas Group’s Inspiration blog, a collection of the many creative projects rolling off of our presses to help you gather ideas and get inspired for your own book printing project.

Read Reviews From Real Customers:

“We have been working with the Thomas Group now for a year […] The full offset printing of our annual report turned out perfectly. The team there is reliable, professional and a real joy. I can’t recommend a better printer. These guys are the best!” – Alex S.

“The team at Thomas Group was prompt, polite, and hardworking. They worked day and night with my team to ensure that we received our books on time, the day before our event. Not only that – the print quality was phenomenal and the color was vibrant!” Richard H.

We Deliver Quality Offset Jobs Fast

With many offset printing companies, you have to schedule work months in advance. Thomas Group Printing is different.

Our unique business model helps us produce large offset jobs quickly. From there, we offer fast, free shipping to any business or home address in San Francisco. We advise customers to plan to receive their print job within 9-11 days of placing an order.

We encourage customers to place their order as soon as possible to allow for additional time to correct any potential artwork or file issues our team might catch in the pre-production.

Your Trusted Partner for San Francisco Offset Printing

We know printing needs don’t always conform to a set schedule, and we always deliver your project as quickly as possible with an eye on exceptional quality.

Thomas Group Printing is a fourth-generation, family-owned printer, and that shapes the way we do business. With a solid foundation of tradition, we’ve built a company that adapts to the newest print technologies and market needs.

There’s not a printing project out there we haven’t had experience with, and we’re here to bring that experience to you with fast, free shipping.

Thomas Group Printing’s mission is to give our customers the best quality offset printing, service, and overall experience. Contact us to start your offset printing journey and experience the commitment to excellence that Thomas Group Printing offers.