Since China began to contact and apply the flexo printing process in the 1990s, it has caused a lot of shock and sensation in the printing industry in China. For a time, flexo printing equipments were launched in various ways to form a strong “flexo windâ€. However, today after being calm down, according to the situation that the author has mastered and understood, as well as the present situation and development history of China's flexo printing, it was originally only four words: mixed. The joy is that flexo printing has indeed achieved great progress and development in the past decade. The advantage is that flexo printing will be more restrictive in the future development of high-end products, and it will be difficult to successfully break through in a short period of time.
Flexo printing, as the succession of ancient printing, has its own advantages: the end of printed lead pollution, simplicity, flexibility, and environmental protection have always been praised by the industry. Many companies chose flexo printing to do so. It should be pointed out that although China's flexo printing base is not strong and the development time is not too long, even so, flexo printing has achieved remarkable results in our country and has been rapidly promoted and developed.
1. The market share of flexo printing has gradually increased, and the packaging and printing industry has gradually shifted from the original offset printing and lead printing two-strong hegemony to offset printing, gravure printing and flexo printing. And in the next few years, the market share of the three will be further balanced.
2. The flexographic product structure has successfully penetrated into the packaging and decoration of daily consumer products such as beverages, pharmaceuticals, food, sugar, cigarettes, and wine; the level of printed products is no longer confined to simple, low-grade products such as plastic bags and corrugated boxes. Many manufacturers have successfully developed products for printing on plastic film, paper, and paper, but most of them are still middle- and low-end products.
3. Attracted more and more foreign flexo manufacturers to pay attention to and seize the Chinese market, and domestic manufacturers are also unwilling to join in, such as Shanghai Ziguang, Xi'an Black Bull, Beiren Fuji, Qingzhou Yigao, etc. have been able to design, manufacture units Flexo presses were successfully introduced to the market. It is because of the sudden emergence of flexographic equipment in China that it has driven a new round of increasingly fierce competition in the domestic flexo printing market, which has greatly promoted the improvement of the cost-effectiveness of flexographic equipment. The development and application of new technologies, new processes, and new materials are more extensive, the functions are more complete, the design is more reasonable, the assembly is more precise, the printing accuracy is higher, and the price is increasingly transparent and reasonable, so that the vast number of users benefit greatly.
4. Based on the good development potential of Sanggyin and the vast market demand, more and more flexographic equipment suppliers or manufacturers emerged, eliminating the worries of flexo printers and further promoting and prospering the flexo printing market.
In view of the above, we are delighted to see that the flexographic industry has firmly established itself in the printing industry in China, and its development potential is undoubtedly growing. However, we should also soberly realize that behind this prosperity and development, the domestic flexographic industry has also exposed more and more defects and deficiencies. In particular, flexo printing cannot effectively break through and strongly promote the use of high-grade and fine-print products. I think that if flexo printing, one of the three major printing methods, can only stop printing medium and low-grade products, it may not be a bit sad. This is probably not the original intention of the development of China's flexo printing industry! However, it is not uncommon for foreign companies to use flexo printing to produce high-precision products. Aside from the long development time of overseas flexo printing, according to the author's many years of practical experience and feedback from brothers, we believe that domestic flexo printing is a high-precision product. At the time, it is constrained by the following factors.
1. Flexo Printing Machines Currently flexographic printing equipment in China is generally dominated by middle and low grades, lacking precise and strict transmission and control systems such as adhesive and gravure printing equipment. The common problems are: unstable tension control and transmission system anti-vibration. The poor ability of interference can easily lead to the production of ink sticks. Many devices do not have automatic register devices, which may cause large overprint errors in production and affect product quality. Register accuracy is difficult to guarantee.
2. Flexographic ink objectively states that the quality of flexographic ink in our country has been improved and improved a little earlier than in recent years, but it is much inferior to the quality of similar inks in foreign countries. Several domestic professional ink-and-wash production plants in the country have now grown to dozens, and the craftsmanship and manufacturing levels are uneven; however, an indisputable fact is that the Chinese flexible printing market is visible. The cake is so big. Faced with the increasingly fierce competition in the ink-and-wash market, each of them has made every effort to reduce costs, pull customers, and run sales to maintain their livelihood. There is not enough energy to carry out new processes and quality problems. Under such a pattern, ink printing is naturally "inadequate" when flexo printing users print high-precision products. Therefore, the old problems of domestic ink and wash are still: poor quality, poor thixotropy, insufficient bag saturation, and poor drying. , piled ink, there are bubbles, etc.; such repeated tossing, repeated proofing trial production still can not meet the customer's product requirements, a serious contusion and shake the majority of flexo printing users with confidence in the production of high-precision products. In desperation, they can only be close to each other and consider purchasing imported ink. However, the prices of domestic ink-and-wash inks are also prohibitive for most companies. Many failures and lessons have made many users unwilling to use Flexo to try high-precision products. Over time, this not only severely restricts the business expansion of the company, but also is extremely detrimental to the current and future development of flexo printing.
3. The initial plate printing cost of flexographic printing is much higher than that of offset printing, and one problem of concentration is that the durability of the printing plate is low, especially as a cable version of middle-to-high end products, and the outlets are easy to expand. The ink pile phenomenon, the relatively dry 175 lines / inch or higher network cable can not achieve normal mass production. However, it is difficult to achieve the fine and delicate levels of medium- to high-end products. The happy news is that at present there are several new technologies for the use of laser-engraving flexographic printing (commonly known as “non-Finlinâ€). The printing plate made by this process has improved the high-line and delicateness of high-precision products, but the durability of the printing plate is still not ideal. At present, it needs to continue to explore and actively make breakthroughs. Many people in the industry believe that the use of laser engraving of plates should be a development trend when printing fine products on flexo.
4. The soft plate used in the operation of flexo printing is a “zero†pressure. The ability to operate flexographic equipment, simply put, is the level of pressure adjustment by the operator. The operator's ability level may not be apparent in the printing process of the field product. However, once it is in the high-precision screen version, such pressure adjustment is reasonable and good or bad often determines the final quality of the printed product. With high level and sufficient experience, there are few problems in the production process, the network cable is not easy to paste, the network points are not deformed and expanded, there is no hard virtual edge, the color reproduction is delicate, real, and the durability of the printing plate is high; otherwise, the network points are deformed and hard Obvious side, easy to paste version, heap ink, and sometimes even cause a fatal and headache of the ink stick failure, change frequently, the durability of the printing plate greatly reduced. At present, domestic flexo printing cannot successfully break through high-precision products and has a certain relationship with improper operation and low quality.
Due to the above-mentioned various factors, to a certain extent, domestic flexo printing in the printing of high-precision products is far from achieving true success and beyond. Of course, everything has a process of development. Flexographic printing of high-precision products is a matter of urgency and blindness. It is certainly not desirable to stick to conventions and follow the rules. It is not a way out. However, one undoubted fact is that the printing of high-precision products is definitely a trend and direction for the development of flexographic printing in China. Analyze past failures and lessons and carefully summarize successful experiences. We have reason to believe that we have the joint efforts and support of all my colleagues in the industry. By actively exploring the issues, focusing on breakthroughs at all levels, and absorbing new technologies from abroad, it will be just a matter of time for China's flexo to break through high-precision products. Let us wait for the development of flexo printing to come the next spring.