In depth comparison between the most popular flexo

In depth comparison between flexographic printing and gravure printing

compared with flexographic printing, it is generally believed that the cost of gravure printing is high and the production cycle is long, while flexographic printing has improved a lot with the development of plate making, ink and printing machinery technology. Many moving parts that led to gravure printing went to flexographic printing. According to the survey, gravure printing currently accounts for less than 40% of the market share in the field of flexible packaging. According to the analysis of insiders, there are two reasons for this phenomenon: (1) in the gravure printing process, customers' expectations often lead to some unnecessary processes, resulting in a certain waste, which obviously increases the cost

(II) the price of many products designed and produced for the first time in flexographic printing is lower than the cost. However, does this mean that concave printing is inferior to flexo printing? The following article makes an in-depth comparison between these two printing methods

in terms of production technology, the structure of the plastic experimental machine for reel materials and the printing used, whether the gravure process or flexographic process, are almost the same. There is no difference between uncoiling and rewinding, tension control, drying, obtaining more than 800 chemical patents, and the monitoring system. For the same living parts, the workload of gravure printing and flexography is also the same. The difference between the two mainly lies in the different processes used. Gravure printing uses an engraving cylinder, while flexographic printing uses a soft and elastic plate. In addition, the investment of gravure printing process is generally 20% - 30% higher than that of flexographic printing

flexographic printing and gravure printing have their own advantages. The advantages of flexographic printing include: it is suitable for short edition printing, or the printing of products with frequently changed design content; If the original design is simple, the production cost is relatively low; Small space, less capital investment and less restrictions. The advantages of gravure printing are: high printing resistance, very suitable for long printing, and can be printed repeatedly; Good consistency of printed image; It can realize double-sided printing of reel materials; The printed matter is continuous without joints; Compared with flexographic printing products, the visual effect of gravure printing products is stronger, and the quality is generally higher, so the progress and development of gravure printing are generally not obvious. In fact, the progress of plate making and engraving technology and the development towards film free electronic engraving have greatly improved the consistency of gravure printing products

nowadays, gravure printing technology has gradually extricated itself from the previously elusive dilemma of relying on people to constantly explore, and is developing in the direction of predictability and repeatability. In the past, gravure printing used chemical etching to make plates. Because of the poor consistency of the plate cylinder, many waste products would be caused every time. With the development of laser engraving, automatic electroplating production lines and the emergence of light-weight rollers, the consistency and ease of use of gravure printing will continue to be improved. There is no strict standard for printing image quality. Different purposes and applications will lead to different means and processes, not just the cost of the process. However, there is a widespread view that under the same price, the quality of gravure printing is higher than that of flexographic printing; When the image quality of the two is the same, people generally think that the quality of gravure printing is poor, which is inferior or unqualified

production cost: Although the cost of gravure printing is higher than that of flexographic printing at the first printing, the cost difference between the two will soon narrow after repeated printing for a fixed living body. If the design of the living body is basically unchanged for six months or even longer, the cost of intaglio printing is relatively low. For the long version, the optimized index is higher, and the service life of the gravure cylinder can reach up to 1million meters, but the service life of the flexo resin version is only 1/2 or even shorter. In addition, the downtime of flexographic printing is 2-3 percentage points longer than that of gravure printing

production cycle: gravure printing has formed a set of strict and careful workflow. Customers generally need to confirm step by step from the original design to the cromlin sample to the final print. This will undoubtedly extend the production cycle for a long time and increase the production cost. On the contrary, the workflow of flexographic printing is much simpler and more direct: it generally takes less than four weeks from the original design to delivery. In addition, the development and application of electronic engraving technology is also a great progress. It can realize multiple engraving by roller and greatly shorten the plate making cycle

it can be concluded from the above that flexographic printing and gravure printing are both important printing processes and are developing rapidly. Each has its merits. In order to better compare these two processes, it is necessary to formulate a quantitative evaluation system for the evaluation of print image quality, and use unified standards and parameters to compare flexographic printing and gravure printing

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