1. Take advantage of flexo printing
Under the market economy, various printing methods will exert their own advantages to compete, survive and develop. Lithographic printing is now mostly a high-speed 4-color machine with more than 15,000 sheets per hour, which is very suitable for printing rectangular and square trademarks, and it is very convenient to cut with a paper cutter after printing. Special-shaped trademarks are now also lithographically printed, and hundreds of sheets can be die-cut together. However, some special-shaped trademarks require indentation, bronzing, UV varnishing, various printing methods or environmental protection, and lithographic printing has no advantages. Therefore, flexographic printing should give full play to the advantages of online production, environmental protection advantages, light pressure, basic It has the advantages of many varieties of materials, low requirements for base materials, and cost reduction.
2. Strive to reduce costs
Since the flexographic printing plate is made of non-metallic rubber, it can be compressed and deformed, which is not available in other printing methods. The printing plate can be compressed and deformed, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages must be overcome, and the advantages must be fully utilized, so as to seek development in the competition. The reason why woven bags, corrugated paper, napkins and other substrates with very rough and uneven surfaces can be printed by flexo printing, but cannot be printed by other methods, because the flexo printing plate has the characteristics of soft compression deformation and good resilience. Therefore, the surface smoothness of the base material for flexo printing is not required to be high, while the requirements for flat printing and letterpress printing are high, so the cost can be reduced.
Flexo printing belongs to light pressure, which is not available in other printing methods. The strength of napkins is very low, and other printing methods cannot be printed, but flexo printing can be printed, which also shows that flexo printing has very low requirements for the strength of the base material. The West also maintains flexographic printing, among which the use of low strength requirements of the base material can reduce the gram weight (52 grams for lithographic printing and 40 grams for flexo printing), which can reduce costs. It is said that flexo printing newspapers can save a lot of paper costs every year. Now the rolls are priced in tons, and the reduction in gram weight equals the increase in length, as well as the increase in trademark or packaging. Isn't this reducing costs?
3. Pay attention to the use and training of operators
Flexo printing has been developing in recent years, but also felt the lack of operators and the need to improve the technical level of operators. The relevant state departments are also concerned about this matter, and it should also arouse the attention of industry and business leaders. In the past, flexographic printing was promoted as simple in structure and convenient in operation, which is relative to lithographic printing. The lithographic printing press has more than 10 to 23 ink rollers, as well as ink balance, feeder, ink volume control, etc. It is indeed more complicated than flexo printing. However, there are also many unique features in the operation of flexo printing machines, such as printing pressure, substrate tension, skills in judging quality, as well as familiarity with the working principles and operating experience of plates, substrates, inks, anilox rollers, double-sided tapes, etc. . Now the design speed of the unit type flexo printing machine is 150 m/min, but few domestic operations exceed 100 m/min, and the foreign equipment with good performance is above 200 m/min. How to compete with low speed, speed is the benefit, if the speed is only 70m/min - 80m/min is too low. Therefore, business leaders should pay attention to the use and training of operators.
4. Play the team spirit
Flexographic printing has not been used for a long time in China, and it is not yet mature in lithography and gravure printing. Although domestic flexo printing workers continue to work hard to explore, but inexperience is inevitable, especially for units that have just started, they will encounter more problems. As the saying goes, experience is technology, and due to lack of experience, it will be difficult and difficult to solve. However, some units have already solved it. For example, a unit recently contacted our flexo printing branch. After their products are printed and dried in an oven, the paper will warp upwards. Users are very opinionated. We said: Shanghai Renyin No. 8 Factory It has already been solved, that is, before printing, run water on the back of the paper. Therefore, the units that have just started flexo printing should play a team spirit and communicate.
In the past two years, some equipment manufacturers and distributors have contacted the plate making, ink, anilox roller and other units to provide one-stop service, which is very beneficial to the newly launched flexo printing units. We are also happy to see that in the activities we organized, the factory managers communicated with each other and learned techniques. Now the flexo printing branch holds a flexo printing captain study class every year, which is also a good platform. In addition to participating in the study, the captains can also get to know many colleagues, and they can communicate with each other when they encounter problems in the future. "Gel to soft" and "concave to soft" also need team spirit to turn it around (this is also a good way to open up the market). Flexo printing now occupies a small proportion and is at a disadvantage, and it is more necessary to carry forward team spirit. We have always advocated that the emphasis on communication will accelerate the development of flexo printing, so that everyone can get more benefits.
5. Pay attention to the selection of plate-making units and the selection of raw and auxiliary materials
Plate making is directly related to the quality of printed products. Don't covet the low price of plate making. The key is the quality of plate making. Especially for high-demand printed products or screen plates, you must choose a good plate-making unit. They will fully consider the quality of the printing plate and the printing process or use CTP plate-making, and will not be moved by the low price.
The quality of printed products is often not in equipment or operating technology. my country's printing equipment, plate-making equipment, and technical level are not bad, but many printed materials are not as good as those of foreign countries. Now some businesses have not realized the importance of packaging and printing quality, instead of increasing the price of printing, but constantly reducing the price. Some printing units compete for the market by cutting corners and reducing printing wages, so that the quality of packaging and printed products cannot be improved. On the premise of ensuring quality, select raw and auxiliary materials. Now the price of ink varies greatly, the key is to choose the hue, color density, gloss and viscosity. The flexo printing industry should be vigilant of screwing up its own market, and as a result, everyone is not good.
Units that have applied flexographic printing should continue to work hard to consolidate flexographic printing and develop flexographic printing business. They should have special personnel to manage quality and technology, support the delivery of management and operation talents to the industry, and participate in exchanges. Compared with Europe and the United States in terms of flexo printing, although the printing quality can be close to the international level, the gap is still very large in terms of quantity and application of high-tech. Europe and the United States have widely used CTP plate making, simple printing plate, quick plate change, closed double squeegee ink chamber, UV ink, thin printing plate, speed 200m/min - 300m/min, satellite flexo printing machine, automatic paper splicing , High-performance shaftless, gearless flexo printing machines, etc. We believe that enterprises will seize the opportunity to develop flexo printing.
