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Brand owners and retailers are on the hunt for packaging that is consistent, rapidly delivered and cost-efficient. Debbie Waldron-Hoines of the European Flexographic Industry Association explains to Elly Earls why advances in flexo printing could make this versatile process the perfect solution.
In today’s unpredictable retail market, maintaining a consistent brand identity is an absolute must for vendors; any unexpected variation in a product’s packaging – be it in artwork, colour or the positioning of corporate brand elements – could result in confused customers ultimately opting to buy elsewhere. On top of this, packaging costs and delivery times must not be overlooked.
"In this ever-changing and volatile retail market, retailers are demanding more, and constantly looking to stay one step ahead of the competition," confirms Debbie Waldron-Hoines, executive director of the European Flexographic Industry Association (EFIA) and director of Avant-Tout, a print solutions management business specialising in flexography.
The vast majority of work in the packaging sector can be produced using either gravure or flexographic printing.
"In most cases, the brand owner or retailer will not specify a particular process," Waldron-Hoines notes. "We need to educate them so they understand that flexo is the way forward in terms of price, speed to market and consistency."
Flexography, or flexo, is a rotary relief printing process that uses a flexible relief plate and can be used to print on almost any type of substrate. The printed image is achieved by means of a soft flexible plate, which contains the image to be printed in relief. The plate is adhered to a roller (the plate cylinder) and placed on the press. Each colour of ink to be applied must have its own plate and inking assembly.
Pira International’s latest report on the flexographic printing market predicted that the global market would reach $136bn in 2011 and grow steadily over the following five years by 2.1% per annum. For Waldron-Hoines, this projection rings true. Used today for newspaper, book, corrugated, label, film and carton printing, and printed electronics, flexography is in widespread use across the packaging industry because it can print on difficult substrates.
"In recent years, many advances have been made in all the component elements used in the printing process, such as anilox rollers, ink, photopolymer plates, mounting tape and flexographic printing press design, and this has brought about a rise in quality and hence increased uptake," she remarks.
According to Waldron-Hoines, companies are increasingly switching to flexo because the process is now more than able to deliver the quality of gravure and lithography, while reducing time to market – thus meeting the brand owner’s paradigm of ‘quality up, price down’.
"Flexo printing plate manufacturing is quicker and cheaper than gravure," she adds. "However, the same claim cannot be made for lithographic origination and plate-making, which is often less expensive."
Historically, flexographic printing has had its drawbacks, the most cited being the inconsistency between production runs. This problem, however, has been reduced and better controlled over time thanks to technological developments.
Waldron-Hoines cites six key technical advancements that have contributed to improvements in the efficiency, quality and sustainability of flexographic printing.
Significant steps have also been made in the arena of multipurpose ink development. Multipurpose can mean either the ability to be applied to multiple substrates or to be used in both surface and lamination print runs. The advantages include reduced stock holding for printers, waste reduction, and speed and flexibility in changeover of jobs.
"Multipurpose inks provide the cost efficiencies and production simplicity that is so important to retailers and brand owners in the complex print environment," Waldron-Hoines emphasises.
Looking to the future, higher-speed inks continue to dominate the R&D agenda, as do products suitable for high-temperature packaging applications or ‘ovenable’ inks. "Packaging developers want to produce packs that can transition from freezer to oven in one step," says Waldron-Hoines. "PUR inks can withstand boil, sterilisation and pasteurisation temperature ranges,
but the over-200°C microwave and oven temperatures remain unachievable for the normal range of pigments used in today’s sophisticated ink palettes."
While technological innovation is essential to flexo printing advancement, the industry must also keep consistency in mind. As such, work is underway to develop a print standard for flexo, ISO 12647-6, in line with ISO 12647-2 for litho.
"The aim of this is to set print parameters that most printers should be able to achieve throughout the production chain," she explains. "This means that the client-approved image should be achievable on press. The use of these standards, new plate technology, screening techniques and improved press manufacture achieves much better quality and consistency."
Industry standards will no doubt encourage packaging stakeholders to view flexo as a more credible option, but education is also key to the growth of this high-quality and cost-efficient form of printing.
"Collaboration and education of all parties in the packaging supply chain is vitally important," Waldron-Hoines concludes. "More needs to be done to promote what flexographic printing can achieve; hopefully the market’s eyes can be opened to its true potential."
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