In recent years, the development speed of flexo printing has been faster, and it has always been higher than the growth rate of offset printing, gravure printing, etc. In addition, in the coming period, flexographic printing will still maintain a rapid development momentum. According to Pira International, by 2010, the market share of flexo will increase from the current 18% to 22%, and the proportions of offset, gravure and emboss will all drop to varying degrees, with the most severe decline. It will be offset printing and will be reduced from the current 46% to 30%.
One of the reasons for the rapid growth rate of the flexographic printing process is the development and improvement of its prepress technology. In fact, on the Atlantic coast, flexographic printing accounts for 60% of packaging printing, and it is the main market for flexo printing, and its annual growth rate is maintained at between 7% and 8%. According to relevant statistics of Barco, since the business of catalog printing has been slow and profits have been getting thinner, many printing companies on the Atlantic coast are currently preparing to march to the flexographic printing industry.
As the operating performance of flexographic prepress systems has become increasingly simpler and costs have continued to decline, it is likely that there will be an upsurge of flexographic prepress technology on the Atlantic coast. To illustrate, for example, many new laser imagesetters can choose the appropriate screening angle based on the printing process and the characteristics of the press. For example, a series of equipment recently launched by Purup-Eskofot; a digital proofing system, such as: Imation The Rainow digital proofing machine and the DuPont Cromax digital proofer can simulate the final results of flexographic prints by measuring their spectral characteristics.
1. Before prepress design and plate making, packaging design and reproduction must be completed on expensive high-end systems. Although many people still insist that only high-end systems (such as Barco's Barco workstations) can achieve the ideal The products, especially the manuscripts, are more complex and help with high-end systems. However, in fact, flexo prepress design work has now bid farewell to expensive high-end systems, mostly through desktop systems. Undoubtedly, this means that the printing company can now completely establish a pre-press design center within its own company. Artios has long recognized this, so some time ago it introduced three new products designed to provide a digital workflow for packaging and printing companies.
The equipment and conditions necessary to build a prepress studio include:
1, a look at the sample platform;
2. CAD software for packaging design;
3, VantagePoint electronic data collection and report processing software package.
However, so far, there is not much flexographic prepress center established, and the degree of commercialization is still far from enough. In the United Kingdom, for example, some flexographic printing companies have established flexo platemaking centers, and some companies are also preparing to create them. However, it is still difficult to form a mainstream in the United Kingdom. In fact, at present, some large-scale printing companies have begun to provide remote services. In the future, the situation may change greatly because the application of remote services may change the future of flexo printing. With the development of global economic integration, these large-scale printing companies have installed some of the world's most advanced and first-class prepress equipment in order to meet the new requirements put forward by customers, and they have played a more and more important role.
It is undeniable that flexo printing has experienced many setbacks in the past few years. However, due to the joint efforts of people in the industry, market share has increased. Our main goal is to meet the conditions of high quality and good consistency. Reduce production costs and shorten production cycles. Improve the speed of information exchange and production efficiency through project management and the Internet; improve color reproducibility and consistency through color management systems; improve proofing accuracy by using digital technology and checking remote proofing; improve products by using the latest digital platemaking technology The added value, all this helps us to reduce production costs, improve product quality and obtain higher profits.
For example, Brent, the company has been able to provide such remote network services. The company's newly introduced DataNet system is an Internet-based network that links all of the business of packaging production through a network system. DataNet can instantly obtain information in the customer's design database via DataNet; you can also add design drawings to the database. Through the Internet, you can retrieve the design you need from the database. Although you can only browse and not change the image, you can get high-resolution proofs. You can also attach your own comments and then design the design by E-mail. This is sent back to the database. Authorized customers, design centers can browse and download these design and job requirements stored in the company database.
Second, to overcome the geographical restrictions From the above we can easily see that the application of DataNet network technology to overcome the geographical issues (including platemaking process, including), that is to say it can achieve cross-regional, off-site plate. MCG installed the UK's first CDI device, the Computer Direct Processing System (CTPP). As long as the print output parameters are measured and correctly set up, remote proofing can be achieved remotely, and the feature description file and color management information of the device can be transmitted from the ISDN line to match the proof to the original. If the customer is satisfied with the proofs, he or she can send command information from the ISDN line to drive the CDI equipment to work out the corresponding plate.
Many of MCG's customers are from Hungary and Singapore, so they are required to complete off-site sampling every day through the Internet. MCG considers this technology to be of great benefit to large printing groups because of the strength of these large printing groups, which can not only install digital proofing systems but also have the ability and conditions to install ctpp devices. The investment will increase the utilization of the printing press, reduce the downtime, and reduce the reject rate. This will inevitably increase product quality, shorten the production cycle and reduce production costs accordingly, and the profit rate will naturally increase. .
Due to the wide range of media used in wide-format UV flexo printing, DuPont conducted in-depth research on the application of different types of media. DuPont is also working with Barco to study how to increase the speed of the platemaking system, such as by using multiple beam imaging methods, or by improving the photosensitivity of the surface of the plate with reduced plate resolution.
The period when DuPont’s products dominated the world no longer existed, and many new equipment manufacturers emerged. Creo is one of them, its Thermaflex can not only make the thermal plate, but also can use DuPont's digital Cyrel plate, the largest size up to 12701700 mm. In addition, there are two smaller systems: one is the Cyrel Digital Imager Compact jointly launched by Barco and DuPont, and the other is the joint launch of the Flexosetter WFL40-2 by Wetzel and BASF. Since these two systems are relatively small in size and relatively inexpensive, the two systems are mainly oriented to the market of stickers, labels, and narrow folding carton printing.
Third, analog plate making and digital plate making are not coincident. For the self-adhesive and narrow-folding carton printing market, DuPont has also introduced two corresponding plate products, Cyrel UVP and Cyrel DPU, both analog and digital. Both types are designed to eliminate the "swell" problem that exists with traditional printing plates when using UV inks.
Because Omni Setter (also known as Misomex FlexoSetter) has high flexibility, it is favored by people. For example, it can generate geometric, random, and ordinary dots. Moreover, these dots can be produced individually or as Mixed way to produce. Of course, this function is not unique to the Omni setter system. Other systems may also have the same functions and features. Indeed, although the original random screening method was seen as a “savior†for flexographic printing, this view has now been challenged and shaken. People in the industry believe that the random screening method is only effective in certain areas. In flexographic printing, the best solution may be hybrid screening.
Another feature of Omni setter is that it can not only use flexographic plate making, but also can use infrared and dry film plate making, or imaging on ordinary offset printing plate. Ctpp cannot completely replace the traditional plate-making method overnight. Therefore, compatibility is also a great advantage of the Omni setter system.
There are also many people who believe that the final solution may be laser-engraved. Laser engraving technology has appeared many years ago, but there have been major improvements in recent years. Although it has some limitations in high-light areas, according to ZED, after adopting its HS-laser optoelectronic technology, fine lines and half-tones of 120 lpi can be reproduced.
The digital platemaking process does have many advantages. In fact, the analog platemaking process also has a wide range of applications. In flexo printing, a large part of the business is equipped with an analog platemaking process. The key is to control the parameters. For example, Asahi Corporation, which introduced the Arcs system, Arcs can not only calibrate the characteristics of the press, but also can improve the repeatability and consistency of the job by using the printer feature description file. The method is to divide each job into two parts, one of which includes platemaking parameters, while the other contains all customer information and printing parameters.
Fourth, environmental issues Finally, we must also talk about the impact of the flexographic printing process on the environment. In prepress plate making, the processing of polymer plates is mainly responsible for the environmental pollution. Therefore, people have also made improvements to the polymer plates. It is worth mentioning that the appearance and application of water-washed plate materials.
For example, the European Flesceed ZX plate produced by Supratech Systems of Europe is characterized by greater relief depth, longer service life, and better resistance to printing forces (at least 2 million prints), and the number of screen lines can reach 133 lpi. According to the company, sales of this equipment in Europe are very promising.
Liquid-type water-washed plates are mainly printed on corrugated boxes and paper. Although the quality of plate-making depends to a certain extent on the level of plate-making personnel, plates made of liquid-type plates are quite good.
With the development of science and technology, the flexographic printing process has greatly improved and improved, and the flexographic plate making process is developing from analog to digital. We believe that in the future, the status and role of flexo printing in the world printing industry will become more and more important.