A Brief Analysis of Three Printing Processes Commonly Used in Printing Corrugated Boxes
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Corrugated boxes are logistics packaging containers that combine transportation and sales functions. Consumers continue to put forward new requirements for the appearance, environmental protection and function of the packaging of goods, so that the carton industry continues to meet the comprehensive requirements of the external packaging quality and cost in the terminal market through technological innovation.
Only from the perspective of printing processing, the carton packaging industry is being explored, and the domestic market can completely obtain a high-quality outer packaging that is perfect but not aesthetic, moderate but not excessive. China's printing industry has a large number of manroland, Heidelberg, and KBA offset presses, including a new generation of presses that directly print high-quantity (400g/m2 or more) and micro-corrugated, which can meet the printing of high-quality, medium-short carton/box; With nearly 600 unit-type flexo presses, it can meet the printing of medium-length carton/box; there are many flexographic pre-printing/gravure printing machines, the printing quality is close to offset printing, and it can also meet the printing of large-volume color boxes/boxes.
Offset printing
In addition to the direct offset printing of the micro corrugated carton, the corrugated carton needs to adopt the offset printing and laminating method. This method is simple in equipment, complicated in process, and long drying time between printing and squeezing processing (generally about 48). Hours); the printing process is not environmentally friendly and the process consumes a lot of energy. The basic process is: single-sided corrugated board production + offset paper → 裱 合成 synthetic cardboard → die-cutting grooving → bonding nail box, the exquisite effect obtained by offset veneer is exchanged for the strength of the carton, because When the opposite paper is attached to the single-faced corrugated cardboard, the corrugated sheet is compressed and deformed, which will reduce the compressive strength of the carton by 10%, and the corrugated automatic production line can not fully exert its advantages, and can only play a semi-automatic role. In order to compensate for the loss of strength, the weight of cardboard is high, which is inconsistent with the “low-quantity, high-strength” process advocated by the industry for many years.
Just considering the printing effect, the offset printing is still at the apex of the pyramid, and the number of screen lines up to 250 lines/inch is far ahead of flexo printing, which is the fundamental reason why merchants have consistently adhered to offset printing. But in fact, there are some flexographic preprinting production lines in China that can reach 150 lines/inch, and the visual effect is comparable to offset printing. The carton is mainly transported. Usually, the merchandise display function is reflected when it is 1m away from the consumer. At this time, the effect of flexo printing is completely acceptable. From the perspective of the processing technology of carton, carton manufacturers are more optimistic about flexo printing.
Flexo printing
The production process is corrugated board production → cardboard direct flexo printing → die-cutting and grooving → bonding nail box.
Foreign countries have always praised flexo printing for two reasons: First, flexo printing uses water-based ink printing, which is more environmentally friendly; secondly, the flexibility of post-printing processing is large, the plate changing speed is fast, and the scrap rate is very low. The flexographic printing is suitable for large-volume long-order printing, such as corrugated box printing for beer, beverages, and food, and for short-order printing in small batches, especially for expensive large-sized computers and home appliances. The biggest advantage of post-printing is that it can be produced in a line, that is, printing, glazing, die-cutting, grooving, sticking, and bundling can be done on one machine. The new corrugated box factory can be put into production only by disposing the corrugated board production line and the flexo printing machine, while the offset printing and pre-printing methods require multiple pieces of equipment.
There is a certain degree of over-packaging in the packaging market in China, which hinders the promotion of flexographic printing. However, there are still many factors that will promote the continuous promotion of flexographic printing technology in the corrugated box industry.
(1) Frequent revisions or versions of products, such as holiday promotion, small package dispensing, etc., make the printing batch miniaturized, and the flexographic printing method directly printed on corrugated cardboard has the advantages of high speed, low cost and good quality.
(2) Brand awareness, corporate image and group design are becoming more and more popular. Many multinational companies not only require the quality of their printed products in China to be consistent with the parent company, but also have requirements for printing methods, which will undoubtedly promote the flexo printing of the packaging market.
(3) The market is intensive and large-scale development, customer inventory is reduced, and more and more packaging materials are required to be used directly after delivery. Flexo printing has a faster customer response speed.
Preprint
Pre-printing is to first print the roll of paper to the roll, then send the printed roll paper to the paper-making station of the corrugating machine to produce corrugated board, and then process it into a carton through the subsequent process. The pre-printing method can produce medium and high-grade cartons, which can meet the requirements of beautiful printing and reduce the strength of corrugated board as small as possible. Preprinting is divided into gravure preprinting and flexo preprinting. Due to the high cost of the printing plate and the fast printing speed, the printing volume of the pre-printed carton can not be less than 500,000 boxes, which is not suitable for small and medium-sized customers and short-running jobs. Europe and the United States flexo corrugated boxes accounted for 80% -90%, but the flexo preprints only accounted for 30% or less, and the development speed slowed down. Preprinted in China is a new technology with a certain space for development.
As an advanced printing process, pre-printing requires the use of advanced equipment and technology. At the same time, higher requirements are put forward for the corresponding materials, which requires that the corrugated cardboard has high edge strength and fracture resistance, and the smoothness of the paper is required to achieve good printability. After comparison and testing, Budweiser Beer finally selected the 185g/m2 coated cattle cardboard from Finnish M-Real. This low-quantity, high-strength paper has greatly reduced the cost of the carton.
The protective performance of the pre-printed corrugated box is more prominent, which not only can better protect the corrugated from damage, but also make the compressive strength of the corrugated box increase by 10% compared with the previous one, which can better ensure the quality of the product during transportation. In addition, the pre-printed corrugated box has high printing precision, clear and beautiful graphics, and rich color saturation. After pre-printing and laminating, it can be equivalent to the effect of the film after offset printing. It can still be maintained after long-distance transportation, storage and handling. Good print quality. The pre-printing process is especially suitable for the printing of milk, beer and high-end beverage packaging boxes.