Comparison of gravure printing and flexographic printing

At present, the quality of flexographic prints has been greatly improved. However, people generally think that the cost of flexographic printing is very low, especially for the new products that are designed for the first time, and the printing cost is lower. These views are common nowadays, but it is wrong. The reasons are mainly the following two points: 1. In the gravure printing process, various expectations of customers often lead to some unnecessary processes, resulting in a certain amount of waste, which is obviously improved. cost. 2. Many flexo printing products designed for the first time cost less than the cost. In general, the quality of gravure prints is relatively high. Therefore, in the field of flexible packaging, gravure prints are favored by people, especially in the food packaging industry. However, with the development of plate making, ink and printing machinery technology, the quality level of flexographic prints has been greatly improved. On the other hand, people generally think that gravure printing has a high cost and a long production cycle. Therefore, many jobs of gravure printing go to flexographic printing. In the field of flexible packaging, the current market share of gravure printing is less than 40%. In 1998, there was a zero growth in gravure printing in the United Kingdom. Essentially speaking, the production process, regardless of whether the gravure process or the flexographic process is used for the printing of web materials, is almost identical: there is no difference between unwinding and winding, tension control, drying and monitoring systems. For the same job, the amount of work required for gravure and flexo printing is similar. The difference between the two lies mainly in the different processes used. Gravure printing uses engraving rollers, while flexo printing uses soft and elastic printing plates. In addition, the investment in gravure printing process is generally 20%~30% higher than flexographic printing. Flexographic and gravure printing processes have their own advantages, which can be generally summarized as the following: Advantages of flexographic printing: 1. Suitable for short-run printing, or the printing of products whose design content often changes; 2. If the original design is simple, production The cost is relatively low; 3, small footprint, low capital investment, fewer restrictions. The advantages of gravure printing: 1, high resistance to print force, very suitable for long version of the live; can be repeated many times printing; 2, good consistency of the print image; 3, can achieve double-sided printing roll material; , no joints; Compared with flexographic products, gravure printing products have stronger visual effects, and generally higher quality, therefore, people generally can not clearly notice the progress and development of gravure printing. In fact, the progress of plate making and engraving technology and the development of non-film electronic engraving have greatly improved the consistency of intaglio printing. Now, gravure printing technology has gradually emerged from the elusive and difficult to rely on people's constant groping, and it is developing in the direction of predictability and reproducibility. Previously, gravure printing was chemically plated. Due to the poor consistency of the plate cylinder, many waste products were created each time. With the development of laser engraving, automatic plating production lines and the emergence of lightweight rollers, the consistency and ease of use of gravure printing will continue to be improved and improved. There are no strict standards for the quality of printed images, different purposes, different applications, different methods and processes used, and not just the cost of the process. However, there is a common view that the gravure quality is higher than the flexographic printing at the same price, and when the image quality of the two is the same, people generally think that the gravure quality is relatively poor. Product or substandard product. Production costs Although the cost of gravure printing is higher than that of flexographic printing at the time of the first printing, the cost difference between the two will be quickly reduced after the printing is repeated for fixed jobs that are to be repeatedly printed. If the design content of the job is basically unchanged for six months or longer, then the cost of gravure printing is still relatively low. For long-lived jobs, the life of a gravure plate cylinder can reach up to 1 million meters, but the flexographic resin plate life is only 1/2 or even shorter. In addition, the downtime required for flexographic printing is 2 to 3 percentage points longer than gravure printing. The production cycle gravure printing has formed a set of strict and careful work flow. From the manuscript design to the Cromartine-like, to the final printed matter, the customer generally has to confirm it step by step. This will undoubtedly produce long-term production delays and increase production costs. In contrast, the workflow used for flexographic printing is much simpler and much more straightforward: from the manuscript design to delivery, it is generally not more than four weeks. In addition, the development and application of electronic engraving technology is also a big progress, it can achieve multiple engraving drum, and greatly shorten the plate making cycle. Conclusion Both flexographic and gravure printing are important printing processes and they are all rapidly evolving. Both have their merits. In order to be able to compare these two processes better, it is necessary to develop a quantitative evaluation system for the evaluation of the image quality of the printed matter, and compare the flexographic and gravure prints with uniform standards and parameters.