As environmental slogans continue to ring around the world, people deeply understand the importance of environmental protection for human survival and sustainable development, which cannot be ignored. So it is urgent to vigorously launch green projects, develop green products, and adapt to environmental protection requirements. With the emergence of various green products, there is inevitably a demand for better green packaging, more suitable green printing materials, and corresponding printing methods. Flexographic printing perfectly meets the needs of this era and is increasingly becoming the preferred green printing method both domestically and internationally.
From the current market perspective, the key factor affecting the development of printing enterprises is still the printing equipment. From the current equipment demand in the printing industry, flexographic printing equipment has gradually replaced mechanical axis gravure printing equipment for the printing process, and the application of flexographic printing will have long-term development in China.
Currently, flexographic printing is considered the most environmentally friendly printing method, and among flexographic printing machines, the modular flexographic printing machine is one of the most important models.
The growth of China's daily chemical packaging market is on the rise, with strong momentum. At the same time, areas such as flexible packaging and pre printing of labels and cardboard boxes are also growing. To enter the hot packaging printing market, having a powerful tool is essential. The unit type flexographic printing machine can be said to be an all-around player in these printing markets - the unit is easy to install, the overprinting is precise, the technology is diverse, it can achieve double-sided printing, suitable for short form printing, etc.
Taking the latest MF series fully servo flexographic printing machine developed by Guangzhou Duoweilong Printing Machinery Co., Ltd. as an example, it adopts modular design and can flexibly replace flexographic printing units, gravure printing units, drum screen units, die-cutting units, slitting units, embossing units, etc; Double sided printing can be achieved by reversing the rack; The overlay device installed on the sliding guide rail can achieve film covering, cold pressing and other processes for any unit; The combination of fully servo driven mode and ultra short paper path design greatly reduces losses while saving a lot of time; There are multiple material collection methods available for the post-processing, such as roll up, single sheet collection, and folding.
Flexographic printing is a relatively environmentally friendly printing method. With the maturity of technology and the prevalence of environmental protection concepts, the future development of flexographic printing in the soft packaging industry will be immeasurable, and the main printing method in the soft packaging industry will also be flexographic printing. So, where is the value of flexographic printing reflected in flexographic packaging printing?
Most of the product packaging seen in the domestic market of the United States is almost flexographic printing products. According to statistics, currently in the United States, the market share of flexographic printing accounts for 70% in the field of flexible packaging printing; 85% in the field of label printing; 98% in the field of corrugated box printing; 25% in the field of paper box printing. In Europe, flexographic printing holds market shares of 60%, 35%, 85%, and 3% respectively in the aforementioned packaging fields. Even 20% of newspapers in the United States are printed using flexographic printing. This is enough to prove the vitality of flexographic printing, which has its own advantages - fast, environmentally friendly, and relatively fast supporting processes. In European and American countries, flexographic printing has already occupied the majority of the entire printing industry. It is reported that some customers in Europe, the United States, and Japan have requested that products exported from China use environmentally friendly printing methods. In the United States, flexographic printing has been widely used in various printing fields, especially in the packaging printing field, where flexographic printing accounts for a very large proportion. Flexographic printing will be the mainstream in the future printing field.
High resolution flexographic printing uses a flexible photosensitive resin plate, with raised relief graphics and text transferring ink onto the substrate. In recent years, flexographic printing has continuously made breakthroughs in printing quality and has become a major competitor to gravure printing in many printing fields. A series of technological advancements, including printing machine performance, web rollers, plate materials, dot shapes, and ink supply systems, lay the foundation for the implementation of a new generation of high-resolution flexographic printing technology. The advantages of high-resolution flexographic printing also include fuller texture, better ink transfer, softer highlight transition, better reproduction effect of high-quality images, and the ability to achieve reproduction with more than 175 lines per pixel.
Flexographic printing can undertake smaller orders because its printing plate cost is more economical compared to gravure cylinders and easier to replace. High resolution flexographic printing can achieve rapid replacement of printing jobs and shorten the time cycle from design to printing. These advantages provide packaging companies with more choices, especially in the current packaging market environment that emphasizes personalization, regionalization, and regular promotional activities. It can achieve printing of more complex colors, improve the realism of images, make color tones more attractive, vivid, and soft. Packaging managers can use flexographic printing technology to achieve more eye-catching product effects and enhance the contrast between products and background colors.
Structurally speaking, the entire structure of a flexographic printing machine is simple, using a mesh roller ink transfer system and a simple and convenient ink input device. Therefore, the flexographic printing machine is not only easy to operate, but also has good print quality and is easy to maintain.
It is precisely because the flexographic printing machine adopts a short ink path ink delivery system with a mesh roller that not only simplifies the structure of the machine's ink delivery system, but also enables users to quantitatively control the thickness of its film layer.
In terms of production, flexographic printing machines have short plate cycles, low plate making costs, low paper loss rates during the printing process, and the size of the plate required for printing depends on the printing area, which is much cheaper than gravure printing rollers.
The printing cost of flexographic printing machines is low, mainly because the machine price is not expensive. Generally, the price of flexographic printing machines with the same function is about 30-50% of that of offset or gravure printing machines. Moreover, the material adaptability of flexographic printing machines is strong, and satisfactory printing effects can be obtained from 0.22mm plastic film to 10mm thick corrugated cardboard.
In addition, flexographic printing machines have short printing adjustment time and fewer consumables. Generally, the color to color drying spacing of the machine is below 900mm, which consumes less raw materials when adjusting the printing overlay.
The concept of environmental protection is deeply rooted in the business philosophy of domestic printing production enterprises, and they are gradually exploring good ways to promote the long-term development of enterprises. At the same time, many end users have begun to actively request printing companies to use flexographic printing machines to produce product packaging. There are strict regulations on the residual solvent content in export product packaging in foreign countries. Environmental protection has become one of the driving forces for printing companies to purchase flexographic printing equipment. Cost is always one of the top priorities for businesses. Switching to a flexographic printer can reduce product costs. Gravure printing machines are very picky about paper, requiring good smoothness and suitable moisture content. The average paper procurement cost for most gravure printing enterprises is around 4200 to 4500 yuan/ton; However, flexographic printing machines have relatively lower paper requirements and strong adaptability. Choosing paper priced around 3000 yuan/ton can meet production requirements, reducing substrate costs by 30%. Flexographic printing will be the mainstream in the future printing field! There are many benefits to using a flexographic printing machine, as it can achieve heights in performance, efficiency, quality, and functionality that other printing equipment cannot.
In addition, in terms of flexible packaging, flexographic printing machines use soft polymer resin plates during the printing process, greatly reducing the plate making cycle, which not only shortens the printing period but also ensures the quality of the printed products. Moreover, as the most commonly used printing equipment, unit type flexographic printing machines generally use environmentally friendly water-based inks to print various products, which further increases consumers' love for them.