Faster, better, cheaper gravure

The stable quality of the gravure printing process and the attractive picture of gravure printing products are generally recognized by people. However, gravure printing has a long production cycle and high costs. With the continuous introduction of new technologies and new processes in the market, the gravure printing industry is constantly changing: gravure printing can be faster, better, and cheaper.

Imaging Technology The sleeve technology has been used for more than ten years and is mainly used in impression cylinders. Nowadays, people have discovered a new entry point for sleeve technology on gravure cylinders. Now lightweight sleeves are available from Aromtek Industries, Keating Gravure, CNW JV, Stork Rotaform and US Rossini, which can reduce the cost of gravure-imaging carriers (drums).

The use of this lightweight sleeve eliminates the need to store a large number of roller bases, reducing the shipping costs required to purchase the sleeve from the manufacturer. Most importantly, the current plate base can be easily converted into a sleeve system, as long as a simple improvement from the base to the mandrel. Referring to the roller base, it refers to the base system on the sleeve, which is low in cost and light in weight.

The technology in the field of engraving is rapidly developing with the advent of high-speed engraving heads (double the engraving speed).

Perhaps the most creative work was done on the surface of the copolymer, and it was mainly completed by two universities - Western Michigan University and Rochester Institute of Technology, and several beta-ray institutes. The patented surface purchased from Matrix INC is suitable for electronic engraving and laser imaging and is expected to be used in the short-run gravure printing market. To date, more than 400,000 impression rolls have been applied to this unique material, and it is conceivable that the short gravure printing market is free from copper and chromium.

Another innovation in gravure printing is the Sheppers process, which already has a market in Europe. It utilizes laser imaging technology and chemical etching processes to combine the advantages of chemical etching and the ability to digitize input, improving the stability of chemical imaging technology.

Imagine a printing press: Automatic cleaning of each unit from the drum to the ink supply system can be completed in five minutes, clean cleaning agent can be recovered, black ink to white ink conversion, such a printing machine can save a lot of time and expenses.

Some companies have started to introduce such technologies, such as Schiavi. There are many different forms of job change for gravure presses. Some presses use a roller system. Some presses use sleeve technology on the impression cylinder and the image carrier. The time required for the entire gravure changing process of the gravure press is said to range from several minutes to one minute.

Drupa's audience may still remember the "mysterious room" seen at the Cerutti booth. One of the technologies demonstrated was the closed ink/squeegee system—previously known as flexographic. At the same time, Electrostatic Drying (EFD), a joint venture developed by Cerutti and Eltex GmbH, was exhibited on a dryer of a gravure printing press. The first production of this technology is already planned.

Since last year, many improvements have been made to the squeegee system and materials. The use of a bar-shaped squeegee reduces the weight of the steel needed. New metallurgy is used to increase the life of the squeegee, and the associated software programming allows accurate and effective squeegee installation. These seemingly simple improvements are real technological innovations in the gravure printing industry.

Finally, after several years of development and progress, the first gravure packaging simulator was first shown in 2001. A community of gravure printers and the French company Sinapse Graphics manufactured the PackSIM packaging simulator and it was available in the first quarter of this year. This simulator is used to train future printers from quality assurance staff to operators. This real-time computer-based training tool allows trainers, educators, and gravure printers to simulate their own printing environment, film base, Ink type and so on.

Gravure is still undergoing technological innovation, gravure continues to progress!