When it comes to the advancement of printing technology, we can start with the standardization and control of analog offset presses, through the evolution of electronic photocopiers to digital presses, to today's production inkjet printers. In every technological transformation and application, the role of existing printing technology has been realigned and replaced. With the increase and change of consumer demand, packaging production has also gone through one of these periods. Among the many old and new printing technologies, an important question arises – which printing technology is best suited for packaging production?
When we look back at the time-honored packaging printing technologies, including flexo, offset, gravure, and electrocopying, we see that the production of inkjet printing technology is increasingly competitive, eventually beginning to achieve the quality, size, and higher performance required for many packaging applications.
While packaging printing is different from the transformative technologies that impact commercial printing, the requirements for quality, productivity, and cost are more stringent. Offset technology reduces many of the manual skills and time required for job preparation and control processes to protect its market share. While digital printing technologies such as electrostatic copying and production inkjet have on-demand and variable data capabilities, they still lag behind in quality, cost, and performance and can take a long time to catch up.
At the same time, soft printing, the absolute leader in the field of packaging printing production, is experiencing a technological rebirth. As discussed in the past, soft printing technology has been enhanced in many digital technologies, and as a result, it has brought high-quality printing, but still provides high productivity and low cost, effectively resisting competition from other printing technologies and even gradually eroding its market share.
While the basic concept of soft printing hasn't changed, the introduction of digital augmentation technology has impacted every aspect from transmission to imaging, dramatically improving automation, quality, and control, helping manufacturers improve operational efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint.
In the field of transmission, visual and other sensing technologies are combined with digital servo control to reduce operator involvement and improve control. In terms of imaging, precisely controlled print imaging techniques and sophisticated digital surface texture printing can not only bring the image quality of flexible printing in line with offset, gravure and digital technologies, but also open up efficient print production practices that are not available in flexible printing. The features of modern flexo printing are gradually expanding to include digital printing, the widespread use of four-color printing, and side-by-side printing on rolls.
At the end of the day, printing is a key driver of the quality, performance, and sustainability benefits that modern flexographic printing provides. Through the continuous development of printed surface patterns, ink transfer control in the flexographic printing process has reached a new level. The electron microscopy (SEM) images in the scan below clearly show this progress.
The latest advancement is the introduction to market of PureFlexoo Printing, which solves the problem of unwanted ink diffusion. Ink diffusion will increase the time it takes for the press to set up. Historically, this problem has been mitigated by slowing down presses and unplanned downtime required to clean prints. Finally, better ink control allows for a reliable process that improves sustainability because it reduces machine uptime and material waste.
Control of flexographic ink manufacturing and "printed" ink control has also been significantly enhanced. Now, converters can get consistent and predictable results enough to print digitally on demand, and even print automatically using some printing techniques.
This is also reinforced by the work of standards bodies. For example, ECG (Extended Gamut) printing can achieve nearly 90% of the Pantone color library with CMYKOGV, reducing the need to change ink colors. Finally, the success of ECG depends on a commitment to standardization and process control, as well as printing technology that guarantees predictability and stability of process color build.
The advent of modern flexographic printing and emerging digital products raises the question – which printing technology is better suited for packaging printing? This is a difficult question to answer and may not give a binary answer.
First of all, there are many different applications for packaging printing – labels, folding cartons, flexible packaging, corrugated cardboard, etc. They all have their own unique requirements. While we often think of digital technology as suitable for both on-demand and variable data, the new digital soft press can be much lower and more productive than any digital solution, enabling digital on-demand soft printing. The development of hybrid flexoprinters has introduced the ability to handle variable data. The joint efforts of the members of the entire flexoprint supply system have been able to create a new modern flexograph.
The lack of skills in the industry, coupled with the pressure on printers to increase output and implement sustainable improvements, need to reduce processes, increase efficiency, and achieve intervention-free printing to meet the various needs of customers, is the role of modern flexographic printing – enabling printers to achieve their efficiency, sustainability, and quality goals.