The development of the flexo printing market boosts digital platemaking
In the past three years, China's flexo printing market has undergone tremendous changes. For example, after three years of development, narrow flexo printing has become very mature. This has promoted the development of digital platemaking technology and CDI direct plate making equipment in this field. In the past year, in order to improve the printing quality of corrugated boxes, corrugated box printers have served a wider range of domestic and foreign users, and invested heavily in the upgrading of flexographic equipment and supporting facilities; recently, In the flexible flexible packaging market, Flexo has also achieved great success.
1. Narrow flexo market
In the past three years, narrow flexo printing has achieved rapid development in China, and more than 50 flexo printing lines have been introduced annually.
The food packaging market has the strongest acceptance of flexo printing. Packaging users in the fast food chain also began to realize the importance of flexo printing in food packaging. The main reason for promoting this understanding is food safety. The use of water-based inks for flexo provides a new solution for food distributors. In addition, the rapid development of narrow-width flexo printing is inseparable from its connection processing capabilities. Wired processing helps printers to save costs and shorten production cycles. This not only means increased production efficiency, but also Services for different users in more areas, including domestic and foreign markets.
2. Corrugated box printing market
The corrugated box printing market is another bright spot in the development of Chinese flexo printing. The corrugated box printing market is supported by the domestic commodity market and the export commodity market. In 2003, the purchases of large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour in the Chinese market reached US$24 billion and will continue to increase in the next few years, which also greatly increases the demand for fine corrugated boxes. In the United States, flexo occupies 75% of its packaging and printing market; in Europe, flexo occupies 50% of its packaging and printing market. In order to meet the needs of foreign users, domestic printing manufacturers must also be able to provide flexo solutions to meet international standards. Now, many mainland printers with offset printing lines have begun investing in the introduction of flexo lines in order to provide their customers with more choices while changing their own sources of income and services.
Five years ago, the print quality of corrugated boxes remained at around 50 lines/inch. However, in the past two years, the use of advanced flexo lines and ancillary facilities has enabled the printing quality of corrugated boxes to increase to 60 to 70 lines per inch, and recently even to 80 to 85 lines per inch. The further improvement of the quality level has opened up a broader market space for packaging users. We have seen more and more manufacturers shift from offset printing to flexo printing. This not only benefits from the advantages of flexo printing, such as shorter production cycles, Higher production efficiency, lower costs, etc. are also inseparable from the improvement of the quality of flexo plate making. We believe that with the increase of China's export commodities, the corrugated cartons flexo packaging market will have greater development. Those companies that lead the development of the market and increase their investment in advanced flexographic production lines and ancillary equipment will certainly benefit greatly. In addition, some plate-making plants have considered investing in large-scale CDI to support this change, which means that digital plate-making will become increasingly widespread in the corrugated box printing field.
3. Wide flexible packaging printing market
The flexible flexible packaging printing market has experienced many twists and turns in the past three years, but this cannot stop the development of flexo printing in this area. After accumulating some experience, some users in northern and eastern China have begun to invest in wide-format flexo lines. More and more direct suppliers of flexo equipment are supporting the flexible flexible packaging market, such as: Esko, AkzoNobel, AuCorp, DuPont, etc. They have all made a lot of efforts to cultivate the market. It is very favorable for the development of the wide flexible packaging market. Now, many wide-format flexible packaging printers are trying to develop new product businesses, such as personal hygiene packaging (such as baby diapers), medicines and food packaging, and users of these packaging markets will also promote the flexible printing of wide-format flexible packaging. Before the development. The development of the wide flexible packaging printing market also opened up the market for the introduction of large-format CDI.
Factors that promote the development of the flexo printing market
We have already seen that the development of flexo is unstoppable because it is driven by the following aspects of objective factors.
1. The pressure of competition. In the conventional packaging and printing market, the pressure of competition will promote the diversification of the packaging and printing industry. For example, a certain brand of DVD corrugated cardboard packaging price is less than 3 yuan, for the printing plant, the profit margin is not great. Since last year, the price of paper has risen by 30% to 40%. For this reason, the printing factory has to try some new changes. It is for this reason that some offset printing plants are prepared to invest in or have already invested in flexographic printing. As previously mentioned, this shift has made printing clients more extensive.
2. The integration of China's overall economy with the global economy will greatly increase the number of export products, and the printing quality requirements for packaging products will also increase accordingly. Flexo printing is a standard recognized by countries in Europe and the United States, and in order to be in line with international standards, it can only cater to internationally recognized standards. standard.
3. In the packaging market, there is a trend of ever-changing designs and an ever-increasing number of short-lived products. Packaging users are not simply using packaging as a means of protecting their products, but are increasingly using packaging as a marketing tool for direct communication with customers. More and more manufacturers are aware of the importance of brand management and therefore will invest more in packaging design. In a domestic meat product manufacturing plant, designers designed more than 50 kinds of packaging. In order to stimulate and test market sales, every product will be changed every few months, especially when new products are introduced. Or when the long holiday is approaching, the product packaging must change its face. In order to cater to some festivals, packaging has undergone many changes. All of this has led to the development of packaging products to the short version, which also provides opportunities for the plate making center to show its capabilities. Now it takes only one or two days for the flexo plate making center to produce a flexo, so the printer can get the needed plates in a shorter time. Then, using a flexo printer to connect the line of production, the production of the product can be completed in just a few days, which reduces the cost for printing plants and packaging users. Why not do it?
Digital platemaking powers the development of flexo printing
In the process of digital plate-making, because the film is not used, the image information is directly transferred to the plate, which significantly changes the structure of the plate's Internet site, enabling flexo printing to print more detailed levels and details. For example, digital images can better print gradient images. The digital version of the high-quality printing effect has greatly enhanced the confidence of people in the industry, especially packaging printing and packaging users, in flexo printing. In addition, since no film is required, the print quality can still be maintained in excellent consistency after the printing plate is replaced, and this has always been the pursuit of packaging users.
Digital plate making technology is a powerful driving force for the development of narrow flexo printing. In narrow flexo printing, the digital version has been widely used because of the need for high resolution and high quality. In China, 6 CDI devices have been installed in this area.
Digital platemaking technology also provides a new competitive opportunity for wide flexo printing. In China, the development of wide-width flexo printing is promoted by food and beverage packaging and personal hygiene product packaging, and the quality requirements in the wide-format area are also increasing. The digital version not only satisfies the need for high-quality printing, but also makes it easier to use and control during the printing process. We will also find that some foreign customers order wide-format packaging products in China and ship them abroad to pack products produced abroad. The original intention of wide-format packaging printing plants investing in flexographic printing production lines is similar to that of corrugated box printing plants investing in flexible flexographic printing production lines: according to packaging users' needs for printing quality, cost, and other requirements, it is necessary to provide them with more printing. Solutions such as flexo, offset, or gravure. The packaging and printing market is full of competition. Printing companies need to diversify in order to enhance their competitiveness and retain their customers.
In the field of corrugated box printing, the print quality of digital flexo printing is close to offset printing. However, the greatest advantage of flexographic printing lies in the fact that connection production increases efficiency and significantly reduces costs and losses. In particular, after the digital version was adopted, the time required for prepress preparation was greatly shortened, allowing the printing factory to produce more products per shift, which resulted in higher production efficiency and lower costs. The digital version offers printers a wider choice of options and narrows the gap between flexographic printing and other printing methods. In the past, the print quality of traditional prints was difficult to contend with offset printing, but the use of digital flexo made up for this shortcoming, allowing packaging users to fully enjoy all the advantages of flexographic printing. Some digital printing presses have been able to produce high-quality post-printed corrugated boxes, saving customers costs and shortening delivery deadlines.
In summary, for those plate-making centers that have invested in CDI and produce digital plates, the application of digital workflow has greatly increased production efficiency. Therefore, the plate-making factory will also advocate and promote the application of these technologies. The digital workflow will continue to grow and will support the growth of the packaging and printing industry. The digital workflow makes it easier to transfer information between different domains and countries, and it also helps ensure the consistency of product quality.