The development of gravure printing technology in our country started late. In the 1980s, in order to change China's packaging technology first-class products, second-class packaging, and third-class price backwardness, relevant departments have intensified the development of packaging technology, so that the package printing technology has developed rapidly, resulting in gravure printing. Technological progress provides good conditions. After nearly 20 years of hard work, China's gravure printing process is relatively mature, and its equipment is relatively advanced and has a certain scale. Its importance is second only to the lithographic printing industry and has become the second largest printing method, which occupies an important position in China's printing industry.
1. In gravure printing market in the past 20 years, China's gravure printing technology has achieved certain development. By the year 2000, gravure printing accounted for about 10% of the printing industry; in packaging printing, gravure printing accounted for 19%, mainly in flexible packaging. Material printing and paper container packaging printing. In cigarette packaging printing, the share of gravure printing is about 30%; plastic film printing is almost entirely gravure.
2. In terms of overall plate making technology, the gravure platemaking technology of our country is basically based on the introduction of equipment. The traditional carbon paper etching gravure plate making process is complicated, the plate making cycle is long, the plate making quality is not high, and large defects such as contamination are encountered. In the mid-80s of the 20th century, foreign countries introduced and promoted sprayed gravure gravure gravure and electronic engraving gravure plate making technology, which laid a good foundation for the development of gravure printing technology in China. Now, according to incomplete statistics, the country has imported more than 400 electronic color separation machines and more than 50 electronic engraving machines. In addition, it has also introduced the use of spray-infiltrated gravure fabrics, the Merlin plate-making system, and no advanced electronic engraving systems and laser engraving systems. Platemaking technology. It can be said that at present, the gravure platemaking technology in China has reached the world level, and its plate making capability can meet the market demand.
3. Gravure printing machine According to the different forms of printing materials, gravure printing machine can be mainly divided into web gravure printing machine and single paper gravure printing machine.
The web gravure printing machine includes two types of gravure printing machine and satellite gravure printing machine. It is mainly used for paper printing and plastic film printing.
So far, the country has introduced more than 420 gravure printing lines, including printing, compounding, slitting and bagging equipment. Among them, the printing speed of medium and high-grade multi-color gravure printing machines is generally above 250m/min, and is mostly used for bag printing. Foreign manufacturers mainly include Bobst of Switzerland, Shangbang of France, Stevenson of the United States, Cerruti of Italy, and All India of Italy. The main users of imported foreign equipment are Changde Quanpeng Intaglio Printing Co., Ltd., Chongqing Huacai Printing Co., Ltd., Shanghai Tobacco Company Printing Factory, Shaanxi Golden Leaf, Yunnan Overseas Chinese, Kunming and Zhanjiang cigarette pack printing companies. These devices have played an important role in cigarette pack printing in China.
In addition, in order to meet the requirements for plastic film printing, a medium-range multi-color gravure printer has also been introduced from abroad, and its printing speed is generally about 200 m/min.
In order to meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises for packaging and printing, there are about 15 printer companies in China that produce medium and low-grade web gravure printers, mainly distributed in Beijing, Shaanxi, Guangdong, and other places, such as the Beijing Institute of Printing Machinery and Shaanxi Beiren. Xi'an's Qinhua, Heiniu, Xinda, Winbond and Zhongbao; Guangdong's Shantou, Zhongshan and Songjiang, Shantou Huaying, Shunde's Debao, Shenzhen's Fengshengtai; Zhejiang's Zhejiang, Xinda, Xinda , warm divine power and Ryan, Deguang and so on. The total number of gravure printing machines totals about 300 units.
Sheet-fed gravure printers are mainly used for high-end samples, magazines, carton printing, and securities including bank note printing. As a standard model, the number of printing colors includes a monochrome machine and a two-color machine, and three or four color machines can be configured according to user requirements.
For more than a decade, it has mainly imported ink and gravure printers from the German ink-jet printing company and Japan's Mitsubishi. Due to its high price, it is estimated that a total of more than 20 machines have been imported mainly from the well-funded cigarette pack printers and bank note printers.
In recent years, according to market demand, domestic research and development of sheet-fed gravure printing machines have begun. The main manufacturers are Beiren Group Company, Beijing Zhenhengli Printing Machine Company, Shanghai Ziming Machinery Company, Shanghai Hairun and Shanghai Electric Group Printing Machine. Companies, etc., with a total output of about 200 units, have good market prospects.
Although China's gravure printing technology has made great progress, there is a big gap compared with the world's advanced level, and it is summarized in the following aspects.
1) The product technology level is low. At present, the technical level of foreign gravure printers is high, mainly in the following three points:
Excellent working performance: The printing speed of the web gravure printing machine is mostly below 200m/min, the printing speed of the single-sheet gravure printing machine can be stabilized at 10000 sheets/hour, and the overprint accuracy is generally not more than 0.1mm in the main part.
High degree of automation: It can minimize downtime, give full play to the machine's production capacity, and has high productivity.
When printing speed of web gravure printing machine exceeds 100m/min, most of them are equipped with printing quality inspection systems, such as printing image observation system, automatic detection system for printing defects and 100% automatic detection system for total quality. Some manufacturers also have a gravure printing machine system. The CPS monitoring system of Liyang gravure printing machine is an example of a yellow type. This is an effective measure to ensure the quality of printed products, reduce paper loss, and reduce printing costs.
In contrast, domestic gravure printing machines have lower workability, most of them are at medium and low speeds, overprint accuracy is calculated according to international regulations, and gravure packages of packaging and decoration are 0.3 in major parts, and automatic inspection procedures and quality inspection of printed products The backward technology is the main reason for low productivity, poor quality and high printing costs.
2) The backwardness of specialized production levels and the effective organization of specialized production are the only way to improve product technology, ensure product quality, and reduce costs. In this regard, many foreign manufacturers have set an example for us. For example, a sheet-fed gravure printing machine produced by the German ink printing machine company, the paper-feeding part is provided by Heidelberg. Another example is the automatic tension control system for web gravure printing machines, automatic registration control systems, and automatic print quality inspection systems, all of which are provided by specialized production companies. China's printing machinery manufacturing industry has long been accustomed to large and all-or small-scale production models. In particular, enterprises of similar products often close and exchange with each other. As a result, enterprises will inevitably cause heavy burdens and restrict each other, making it difficult to obtain complementary advantages. Develop together. If we carefully investigate how many parts of the gravure printing machine produced by our gravure printing machine manufacturing enterprises in the past 20 years are provided by professional manufacturers, we will understand the degree of backwardness in the level of professional production in China. (To be continued)