The hottest label printing technology under the ma

Label printing technology (Part 2)

flexographic printing: batch and environmental protection

what is flexographic printing: flexographic printing is a branch of relief printing. Flexographic printing is similar to relief printing in printing principle, but different from traditional relief printing in the composition of printing plate, ink and stamping process, The transmission of images in the printing process is completed by a flexible photosensitive resin plate (printing late) obtained by photochemical reaction or a rubber stick engraved with patterns. Originated in the United States in the early 1920s, the aniline ink used in the early stage was toxic and failed to develop. Since then, ink manufacturers began to use the pigment agent that you can indicate the pressure acceptance with a larger value, which was renamed flexographic process at the 14th packaging seminar held in the United States in 1952

main advantages:

1, strong adaptability of substrate

2. Fast printing speed: generally, the normal printing speed of flexo can reach more than 100 m/min

3. The UV ink or ordinary ink used by them are environmentally friendly

4. Large amount of ink, good saturation, suitable for large color blocks, freehand design, soft gradient, good virtual effect

5. It is more suitable for Standardization: the ink amount is transferred through the holes on the corrugated roller, and the ink amount can be adjusted by changing the corrugated roller. Once the appropriate corrugated roller is selected, the color difference changes little in the printing process, which can reduce the basis for the operator's experience to a certain extent

6. With rich post-processing of wiring, it is easier to realize the needs of combined printing

limitations:

1. In terms of small text, lines and point gradients, it is not fine and soft compared with relief and lithography

2. The flexographic printing machine has a long body, and the material loss of the machine is large

3. High requirements for plate making, high plate fees, certain requirements for starting printing quantity, and small profit space for short orders

4. The plates and raw and auxiliary materials have not been localized domestically, and most of them still rely on imports

5. Using water-based ink, the drying is not timely when the speed is too fast, and the connection is easy to make mistakes when cutting into single sheets

6. Overprint accuracy and dot reduction are not as good as offset printing

application: suitable for mass printing of paper, plastic and self-adhesive labels

future trend: offset printing, gravure printing and other printing methods are preconceived. People are used to comparing the advantages of these printing methods with the disadvantages of flexographic printing, but the characteristics of flexographic printing are often ignored. In fact, foreign experience has long proved that flexo printing can print high-end prints. However, there must be corresponding equipment, corresponding plate raw and auxiliary materials, mature technology and high-level operators. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, flexographic printing has been promoted to carry out a new round of scientific and technological innovation. The innovations of flexographic printing mainly include: ① shaftless independent drive of flexographic printing machine; ② Sleeve technology is widely used; ③ Digital plate making; ④ CDI imaging technology; ⑤ Automatic registration control technology enhances the interactive exchange of government, industry, University and research funds; ⑥ UV drying technology. With the localization of flexographic plates, raw and auxiliary materials, the cost of flexographic printing in China will be lower and lower, and the prospect of flexographic printing is bright

international protagonists of narrow width flexographic printing equipment: Italy gidu, the United States mcandi, Denmark nubotai, Italy omite, Germany Gerais, etc

domestic masters: Shanghai Ziguang, Shaanxi beiren, Qingzhou yigaofa, Xi'an Heiniu, beiren Fuji, Wuxi Baonan, etc

end user representatives: heluxue, Nestle, Sanjiu, Aikang, Hangzhou Minsheng, etc

combined printing: what is combined printing? Combined printing refers to the combination of various types of printing and post press processing units into a flow production line for printing production. The more common ones are printing, flexo printing, embossing, offset printing and hot stamping units. Because the combination printing method meets the needs of the development of modern printing industry and brings rich profits to printing manufacturers, it has developed rapidly. Some insiders said that with the continuous development of related technologies, combined printing will gradually develop into a mainstream way of label printing

main advantages:

1. Online completes all processing procedures of a product at the same time, with high production efficiency

2. it saves the number of waste products and reduces the loss rate of printed matter

3. the combined printing machine has compact structure, less land occupation and convenient operation

4. few operators

5. The total investment in equipment is small

6. increase the difficulty of imitation, which is conducive to anti-counterfeiting, and improve the quality and grade of printed matter

difficulties of combined printing process:

1. Calculation of registration and scaling between different printing methods

2. ink control is difficult

3. It must be ensured that the sequence between the units of the combined printing machine used has sufficient variability

4. set the printing unit speed according to the printing requirements

5. High quality requirements for operators

future development trend: at present, the combination of glue, soft, concave, convex and printing equipment pushes traditional labels and trademarks to a new high; The digital system has opened up a new market for labels and trademarks. In the field of packaging, a single printing method has become increasingly unable to meet the market demand. In the next 5 to 10 years, combined printing will achieve faster development. At present, the development of combinatorial printing is still in its infancy, and many technical and material problems need to be improved and improved. With the increasingly personalized and diversified printing, the application of combinatorial printing will be more and more widely

applicable field: mainly used for cigarette labels and washing, with strong anti-counterfeiting function

international protagonists of combined printing equipment: Heidelberg speedpa CD 102 duo series, Drent Goebel novaprint series

domestic Master: Duo Weilong? Swiss L series

end user representatives: P & G, Colgate, Unilever, Lafang, etc.

digital printing: cutting edge and future

what is digital printing: digital printing is a highly comprehensive technology, covering many technical fields such as printing, electronics, computers, networks, and communications. The so-called digital printing refers to the direct transmission of electronic files from the computer to the printing machine, thus eliminating the steps of color separation, plate making, plate making, testing and so on. It brings a most effective way to printing: from input to output, the whole process can be controlled by one person to realize one printing. Such small volume printing is very suitable for four-color proofing and multi variety printing at reasonable prices. Digital printing realizes the concept of "distribution before printing"

advantages:

1. There is no need to make plates, and one piece of printing can improve production efficiency

2. The printing quantity is controllable and the production cost is reduced

3. It can print high-precision images up to 230 lines/inch, greatly enhancing the aesthetics of labels

4. variable data printing

5. spot color printing of labels can be realized

6. extensive selection of label materials

7. add the anti-counterfeiting function of the label

limitations:

1. The quality of various inks and papers in China is uneven, resulting in a wide range of printing costs and prices, with obvious differences

2. The OEM paper and ink supply mode of digital printing machine can avoid scratching when washing the car, so that digital printing does not have the conditions to reduce the price, so it is difficult to adapt to the low price competition

3. As the most typical advantage of digital printing, the space of personalized printing has not been developed

4. In terms of short edition printing, digital printing needs to be better integrated with offset printing

5. High automation operation modes such as on-line processing are the biggest characteristics of digital printing, but domestic labor surplus leads to low production costs, which does not have the conditions to stimulate the wide application of this technology

future trend:

according to different digital technologies, digital printing systems with different functions can be designed in the future:

1. The combination of simple CTP technology and small offset printing technology forms a non integrated digital printing system

2. The combination of on-machine silver salt plate making technology and small offset printing technology realizes the digital printing system

3. The combination of high-speed inkjet technology and small offset printing technology realizes a cheap digital printing system

the development of digital fast printing made the public quickly recognize digital printing and tasted the advantage of using digital printing electronic universal experimental machine and tensile experimental machine to distinguish between universal and tensile, but it also brought the public's understanding into a misunderstanding, that is, digital fast printing is equal to digital printing. In fact, digital printing still has 80% of the market. Digital printing and offset printing are two different customer groups. With the development of technology, these markets, including personalized printing, variable data printing, on-demand publishing, etc., cannot be achieved by traditional printing

applicable fields: washing chemicals, alcohol, drug labels, etc., and the field is expanding

international protagonists of digital printing: Fuji Xerox, HP indigo, Xeikon, OSI, Kodak nExpress, Agfa, etc

domestic Master: Founder Yinjie

end user representatives: Colgate, Unilever, Revlon, Midea, Lafang, Guizhou Moutai, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd

source: must win