Talk about the printing method of corrugated boxes
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The printing method of corrugated boxes has undergone major changes in recent years. The old low-speed, low-quality, inefficient printing methods, such as offset printing, embossing, silk screen printing, etc. of Changmo Road, have experienced the elimination of lead printing. Like the revolution, it entered a position dominated by flexo.
The change of corrugated box printing method is very rapid. It is not the topic of this article. This article mainly talks about the corrugated box printing methods, what are the more concerned and practical problems that people have to solve, and what are their application prospects. I have experienced this change, knowing a little about the changes in printing technology, and talking about the development of the domestic market economy and enterprises.
With the development of China's economy, people's cultural living standards continue to improve, and new requirements for commodity packaging are put forward. Commodity packaging requires attention to humanization and functionalization; commodity packaging requires the promotion of the attributes of the goods, reflects the value and information of the goods, has the function of protecting and preserving the goods, is environmentally friendly, meets the needs of the market and marketing, and competes; requires the packaging products to be beautifully printed. Creative, novel and beautiful, can attract the attention of consumers. The corrugated box printing industry has followed these requirements and rules. Nowadays, it has evolved from simple transportation packaging to packaging for transportation, sales and functionalization. From flat box development to shaped boxes and function boxes (convenient, ventilated, isolated, Moisture-proof, etc., from A, C-type corrugated to A, C, B, E, F, M-type corrugated, from printing monochrome characters, lines to multi-color maps, from heavy boxes to light boxes.
In order to improve the plate making and printing quality of packaging products, corrugated box printing workers use advanced technologies at home and abroad for various printing methods such as flexo, lithography, gravure and inkjet. A packaging product that can be used in a variety of printing methods and techniques is rare. Of course, it is impossible to use these multiple printing methods at the same time. It is worthwhile to explore which printing methods are the best and which packaging methods are best.
A variety of printing methods are used in post-printing and pre-printing of corrugated boxes, which can be divided into two categories:
Post-corrugated carton printing: Direct printing on corrugated paper (three or five layers), there are three ways:
(1) Corrugated box flexographic printing slotting machine (die cutting or box production line);
(2) lithographic printing (three-layer paper);
(3) Computer inkjet.
Corrugated box pre-printing: first print on the paper, then paste the printed paper and corrugated paper (including the bottom paper) into the box. There are six other ways to choose:
(1) Sheet-fed lithographic printing, and then affixed with corrugated paper;
(2) Web flexographic printing (model: satellite type), and then re-applied with the corrugated production line to make corrugated cardboard;
(3) Web flexographic printing (model: unit type, cascading type), cut into a single sheet, and then attached to corrugated;
(4) Gravure printing on the web, re-posting with the corrugated production line, and then making corrugated paper;
(5) The gravure printing of the web paper is cut into a single sheet and then attached to the corrugated sheet;
(6) Reel gravure printing, and then attached to a single corrugated paper.
The following analysis of several printing methods.
1. Post-printed corrugated box flexographic printing slotting machine
This printing method was introduced in China in the early 1980s (commonly known as watermarking machine), but its development is slow. The main reason is to use corrugated boxes as transport packaging and still print corrugated paper in a dense and low-cost manner. Screen printing, thick ink layer, easy to wear ink during transportation, polluting fingers and clothes, and environmental protection problems after export packaging gradually attract people's attention to environmental protection.
In fact, the "watermark machine" approach has many advantages:
(1) Using a flexographic plate, not only can copy text, lines, solid floor, but also copy the fine screen version, the plate making speed is faster than the hand-carved rubber plate;
(2) It can be combined with other processes to form a production line;
(3) The flexographic printing plate can be compressed and deformed. The printing and gravure printing require the printing base material to have the same thickness and smooth surface. The corrugated paper can not be obtained. It is because the flexographic plate can be compressed and deformed, and the corrugated paper has a thickness and a flatness within a controlled range. A little error has little effect on the quality, and the printing plate can also print the graphic;
(4) It belongs to high-speed, high-quality and high-efficiency printing methods;
(5) It can be applied with water-based ink, which is convenient and environmentally friendly;
(6) The structure of the flexo printing machine is relatively simple, and it is suitable for the requirements of large-size carton.
Corrugated box flexographic printing slotting machine with a printing width of 1.6 meters, 2 meters, 2.5 meters, 3 meters, and even more than 3 meters. There are three types of this type of machine that can meet different business and production requirements:
(1) Flexographic printing - slotting machine: This type of equipment is currently used in large quantities, suitable for flat boxes, and is also suitable for printing color pictures and off-die die cutting. Make special-shaped boxes and function boxes, and choose 1~5 color groups as needed;
(2) Flexographic printing - slotting - die-cutting machine: the current application is increasing year by year, suitable for special-shaped boxes and function boxes, 4 to 6 color groups can be selected according to needs;
(3) Flexographic printing - Slotting - Gluing - Folding box - Bundling production line: Corrugated cardboard enters the assembly line, the carton comes out, and is directly loaded onto the truck for shipment. The degree of automation is very high.
Corrugated boxes use flexographic printing, accounting for 95% in the United States (some sources say 98%), of which about 70%. It is currently estimated that domestic post-printing accounts for 58%.
Why does domestic lithography penetrate into corrugated boxes? The author analyzes that there are three reasons:
(1) American corrugated boxes are not pre-printed with lithographic sheets. The national situation is that the private economy in the United States has developed for a long time, and there are not many small-volume prints;
(2) Domestic corrugated box printing, in the past, there were more words, lines, and field, and there was almost no dot work, let alone multicolor printing. The multi-color overprinting color map was launched in the past seven or eight years. Although the number of printing plates is not high, the printing plate area is large. Printing experts know that the higher the number of plates, the larger the plate area and the more difficult it is to print. The printing area of a single corrugated paper in China has reached double or full sheet, and the application time is short, and the technology cannot keep up;
(3) The concept of domestic packaging printing quality is higher than that of foreign countries, and foreign requirements are simple and practical. Therefore, the quality of flexographic printing in the United States meets the requirements of corrugated boxes, and domestic lithography is indeed required.
Corrugated box flexographic printing technology has been widely used in China, and the prospects are optimistic. The advantage of post-printing is that it can be produced in line, with high efficiency, plus the use of water-based ink for flexo printing, environmental protection, light pressure, low requirements for printing base materials, less bad film, low equipment price, etc. Leading role. Now some concepts are gradually changing. If they are not over-packaged, they meet environmental requirements and cannot be excessively pursued.
The key to post-printing is to improve the quality of the original and flexo. The foreign corrugated box printing line is not high (60 ~ 100 lines / inch), and the image looks bright, the vision is very good, the stereoscopic effect is very strong, the color is also very rich and vivid, the key is the original. There are gaps in this area in China.
There are many varieties of corrugated boxes, and the quality requirements are different. The prints are monochromatic, two-color, with text and lines, and there are solid and color pictures. Enterprises should take their own position, do not participate in vicious competition, develop linkage production lines, pay attention to quality, and communicate with plate-making units.
In principle, ceramic anilox rolls can be used for printing color pictures. Generally, 40-80 lines/inch for printed products and 80-110 lines/inch for printed fine products are enough. ".
A good device plate thickness should be 2.84 mm instead of 3.94 mm. The development trend of the flexographic plate material is that the thickness is thin and the hardness is high, and the purpose is that the plate deformation is small and the dot is restored. For qualified units, a thin plate should be used. Color maps are printed to increase competitiveness and to capture the market.
2. Pre-printed sheetfed lithography
Preprinted features good print quality and can be printed to 175 lines per inch if lithographic. Domestic lithographic pre-printing, a large number, is estimated to account for 30% of the field, and there will be a market for a long time, but in the end it will go downhill.
There are reasons for the pre-printing of the domestic lithographic method:
(1) The private economy is underdeveloped and capital accumulation is insufficient, resulting in low commodity output or low liquidity, so the packaged products are printed in small quantities in batches;
(2) Commodity promotion needs to be beautified by packaging, and the quality of lithographic printing is very good. Although the cost is higher than that of post-printing, for the high value-added products such as food, gifts, toys, electrical appliances, etc., the cost ratio is not much;
(3) After the flexographic printing, the current plate making fee is higher and the quality cannot keep up. Therefore, some companies value the sheet-fed lithographic pre-printing market and purchase ultra-large-scale (1.4 m or more) lithographic printing presses, splicing machines, and die-cutting machines.
After the sheet paper is lithographically printed, it is affixed to the corrugated paper, die-cut, and boxed. This method is costly and restricts development. If the quality of the flexographic printing is further improved and the batch size is increased, the flexographic printing method is more suitable.
3. Pre-printed web flexographic printing method
The web flexographic preprinting method has a number of printing lines of 120 to 150 lines/inch and good printing quality. This method accounts for about 25% in the United States and is currently estimated to account for about 3% of the country.
The technology is subject to two aspects:
1 The number of printing needs to be very large (currently used mainly for beer box and milk carton packaging printing);
2 requires a good print quality (otherwise can be replaced by a flexographic print). There will be certain demand in the domestic market, and it is estimated that it will develop to 8% to 10% of this area.
4. Pre-printed roll flexographic printing method
The above mentioned (volume-to-volume) pre-printing requirements are bulk-large orders. If it is not a large-volume order, you can use the web-printed flexo and cut it into a single sheet. This method has lower requirements on equipment and can be printed on the unit type or laminated flexo printing machine. The quality is better than that of the post-printing. It is suitable for large-width orders, such as oversized cardboard boxes of 1.2 meters or more. If the lithographic method exceeds the specifications of the full-sheet press, the offset price of the full-sheet specification is high, and the printing cost is increased. The flexo printing method is much lower than the price. The technology is currently on the rise.
5. Post-printing lithography
There is demand in the market, and people will always find ways to open up new ways to meet them. Lithographic printing requires uniform thickness, good flatness and smooth surface. If it is thick corrugated, it cannot be directly printed on the lithographic printing machine. It is usually made of fine corrugated (E, F, M type) and high quality. The corrugated paper consisting of facial paper meets the requirements of high-end packaging and packaging.
The pre-printing method of gravure printing technology has been on the rise for a while, and it has gradually declined. In the initial stage of flexo printing, the gravure roll preprint can print 150 lines/inch, of course, the quality is slightly better. A plastic film with a gravure color on the corrugated fruit box is brightly crystallized and looks good. Later, this method was gradually replaced by a single sheet lithographic preprint. The gravure preprinting of the web is now gradually replaced by satellite flexo printing.
There are very few applications for computer inkjet printing, mainly because the processing cost is too high, 50 yuan / square meter. Recently, a unit has taken over the foreign orders, the contract will expire, and the deadline will be fined, and the inkjet method must be used to complete the task. Inkjet printing is suitable for a small number of urgent items and sample boxes.
The world is moving forward and commodities are increasing. Packaging and printing are increasing in double digits every year, and the situation is very good. Someone once said, "If there is no packaging, the world does not know how." The market is unpredictable, companies should pay attention to the market, follow the market, go right, and be able to develop.