There are many kinds of packaging bag printing technology, such as flexographic printing, gravure printing, embossing printing, silk screen printing, etc. among them, flexographic printing has entered China since the 1990s. It has gone from replacing rubber plate to carton printing, to label printing, carton pre printing, milk package printing and flexible packaging printing. The traditional idea that flexographic printing can only be used in low-end printing is broken step by step.
With the increasingly high requirements of the state on environmental protection, more and more strict management and control of enterprises; foreign terminal customers specify the use of flexographic printing due to the needs of global strategy; the installation of wide format satellite printing machines has increased substantially; and the related supporting technologies of flexographic printing have been continuously improved and updated. Flexographic printing is gradually breaking the gravure in the field of flexible packaging.
Market and development of flexographic flexible packaging
Flexible packaging is replacing metal, glass and other container packaging in the world, and flexographic printing technology just solves the problem that film is not conducive to printing. Flexographic printing in the world flexible packaging printing more than 60% of the share, which has an absolute relationship with the "green" flexo printing characteristics.
The proportion of flexo printing market in Asia Pacific region and China is far lower than that in Europe and America. Throughout the Asia Pacific region, it is also twice as large as the Chinese market. In March this year, the author made an on-the-spot investigation on the application of flexographic printing in soft package in Australia, and found that the application industry of flexographic printing in Australia and its excellent printing have the following characteristics:
(1) For fast-moving consumer goods (bread bags, potato chips packaging, biscuit packaging, chocolate packaging, etc.), the number of printing plate lines is generally between 100-175 lines (LPI).
(2) For composite packaging of frozen food (frozen beef, frozen mutton, frozen fruit, frozen vegetable, etc.), the printing plate line number is 150-200 lines (LPI).
(3) For household paper packaging, sanitary packaging materials (paper outer and inner packaging, diapers, sanitary napkin packaging), the number of printing plate lines is between 100 and 120 lines (LPI).
(4) Pet food (cat food, dog food), plate line number 133-175 (LPI).
(5) Wide label (shrink film label, all kinds of beverage and food label), printing plate line number between 150-175 lines (LPI).
Looking back at China's soft package market, although the use of flexo printing technology is increasing year by year and the industry is expanding rapidly, the industries involved are not as wide as those in Australia, Europe and the United States, which are mainly concentrated in the following market segments and fields: food packaging bags, PE heat shrinkable color film and sanitary product packaging.
The automation of food security mainly includes pasta bags and frozen meat shrink bags; PE heat shrinkable color film is mainly used in the outer bundle packaging of beer, beverage and purified water; the packaging field of sanitary products is mainly focused on baby and female care products. These are incremental market segments of flexo printing.
Among them, the majority of baby and female care products packaged in sanitary products are foreign brands, or the printing mode designated by foreign terminal brand customers. And food outsourcing bags were first used by foreign-funded printing enterprises, and most of the products were exported to foreign countries. In recent years, there are also some domestic enterprises in this market, using domestic satellite or imported flexo press for production.
Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of flexo and gravure printing
As we all know, the flexographic printing of flexible package printing is mainly to replace gravure printing (hereinafter referred to as gravure printing). The following analyzes some advantages and disadvantages of gravure and flexographic printing.
Gravure printing is facing the biggest dilemma of safety and environmental protection.
(1) Food safety
The function of food packaging itself is to protect food safety, which can not in turn pollute food. The residues in food packaging mainly come from "printing" and "compound process". As human beings attach importance to their own health, we must face up to the impact of gravure packaging on the environment and food safety
a. Customers require to provide the certification of biological safety and chemical stability of packaging materials issued by authoritative departments;
b. Some customers ask for the safety commitment of packaging materials;
c. Some foreign enterprises even require to provide human sensitivity test.
(2) Gravure plate making
Gravure plate making process of electroplating, in addition to the discharge of waste water, electroplating waste gas emissions are also the cause of atmospheric damage. With the national attention to the environment, the management and control of electroplating industry has been strengthened. Gravure plate making costs will also increase.
(3) VOC emission
The VOC emission of printing enterprises has attracted the attention of the national environmental protection department. In the successive policies and regulations on air pollution control, packaging printing has been listed as the key treatment industry for many times. At present, many cities, such as Shanghai, Beijing and so on, have begun to levy VOC emission fees.
On the contrary, the potential advantages of flexo printing in flexible packaging printing can make up for the three difficulties of gravure printing
(1) Environmental protection, safety and health

Alcohol soluble ink is widely used in flexo printing. At present, some enterprises are testing or trying to use water-based ink system. The amount of ink used in the same product is only about 50% of gravure printing. As a result, VOC emission is reduced and the residual problem of harmful solvents in the packaging is solved.

(2) Accurate registration, thinner and diversified substrate
In flexible packaging printing, satellite printers are mostly used. Because of the central imprint roller, the satellite printing press has stable printing tension and can print thinner materials. The distance between imprinting points is short and the overprint is accurate.
(3) High speed, high yield and low energy consumption
For the same product, flexo printing is only 50% of gravure power consumption.
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