Abstract: In a printing method, an electrically encoded image to be transferred to a printing substrate during a printing process is provided in an electronic memory. A flexible carrier web is attached under tension to a cutting cylinder with an adjustable diameter. The cutting cylinder is adjusted to have a diameter which matches the diameter of a blanket or printing cylinder of a printing machine. The length of the cutting cylinder is at least as great as the length of the blanket or printing cylinder. The carrier web is cut automatically in accordance with the electrically encoded image after attachment of the carrier web to the adjusted cutting cylinder.

Abstract: In a printing method, an electrically encoded image to be transferred to a printing substrate during a printing process is provided in an electronic memory. A flexible carrier web is attached under tension to a cutting cylinder identical in dimensions to a blanket or printing cylinder of a printing machine. The curing cylinder may be a blanket or printing cylinder in a printing machine or a dedicated support cylinder in a stand-alone cutting assembly. The carrier web is cut automatically in accordance with the electrically encoded image after attachment of the carrier web to the cutting cylinder. Subsequently, sections of the carrier web are removed therefrom along cut lines made in the carrier web during the cutting thereof.