Application of offset printing in packaging

Offset printing is a printing method widely used in the production of packaging printing. It is widely used in the packaging and decoration of various paper packaging materials. Various commodities that we encounter in our daily lives, such as food (including beverages, dairy products), clothing, textiles, medicine, cosmetics, small household appliances, electronic products, hardware machinery, toys, household ceramics, glass products, cultural office supplies, etc. Most of their packaging, logo use offset printing. According to statistics, in the decoration and printing of paper-based packaging materials, Europe and the United States use offset printing to account for about 60%, and Asia accounts for more than 70%.

Advantages of offset printing

In modern packaging and printing, the reason why offset printing is widely used is because it has obvious advantages and characteristics compared with other printing methods in the packaging field. Summarized, mainly in the following aspects.

1. Accurate overprinting of offset printing, good reproducibility of dots, rich colors, distinct layers, and strong three-dimensional effect, which can fully express the features and features of products, and enable consumers to obtain various information on the packaging from the packaging of products. It has played a role in promoting products and beautifying products so that people can understand products and select products.

Second, compared with other printing methods, offset printing plate making speed, production cycle is short, the production cost is low. Taking four-color printing as an example, the calculation is based on a one-square-meter printing fee. The PS version used for offset printing is about RMB 50 per sheet, and the cost for four sheets is RMB 200. The soft and gravure printing is per square meter. The fee is 2,500 yuan, and the four-color version costs about 10,000 yuan, which is about 50 times the cost of offset printing.

Third, packaging printing generally uses sheet-fed offset printing equipment. Within a certain range, it is not limited by product variety and specifications, and both gravure and flexographic plates have great limitations. For example, flexo printing, different products, and different specifications require the use of different diameter plate cylinders and different number of anilox rollers.

Fourth, offset printing in the replacement of the work, the template speed, preparation time is short. At present, most advanced offset presses are equipped with automatic version change or semi-automatic version change devices. A single shift can replace dozens of live jobs. This is difficult for gravure and flexo printing. Therefore, offset printing is not only suitable for long-lived printing, but also suitable for short-lived printing. In the current situation of multiple types, small batches, and short printing cycles of packaging and printing products, it has a competitive advantage.

V. The offset printing process today fully absorbs the latest scientific and technological achievements in various disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and computers, and is the most fully developed and most mature printing method in various printing forms. At present, some famous brand offset presses are equipped with automatic printing, automatic registration, automatic adjustment of ink volume, water volume, automatic adjustment of printing pressure, automatic cleaning of blankets, data storage, fault display, and remote diagnosis. Mechatronics and digital control are achieved.

Offset Printing Development Trend

In order to meet the requirements of the development of modern packaging market, in recent years, the color group of the sheet-fed offset press, the thickness of the printing paper, the printing speed and the printing format have also been continuously improved. Such as Heidelberg, Mann Rolland, KBA and other sheetfed offset press configuration can reach more than 10 colors, but also can be online coating (including water-based coating and UV coating). The printing thickness of Mann Rolland and KBA offset presses has reached 1.2mm. It can not only print paper and cardboard, but also can print fine corrugated cardboard with 1.2mm thickness. In terms of printing format, recently, Mann Rolland introduced a super-large-format sheet-fed offset press of 1,850mm, and KBA also increased the printing format of sheetfed offset presses to 2,050,1500mm, making it the largest single sheet ever printed. Offset printing machine. Nowadays, the advanced sheet-fed offset press has a print speed of over 16,000 impressions per hour on open format, which greatly increases the productivity of packaging production. In short, the application of offset printing in packaging embodies the advantages of “multiple, fast, good, and provincial”. During the development of modern packaging, youth has been alive for decades.

From the current international trends in packaging printing and market prospects, the sheet-fed offset press used in the packaging field still has enormous potential for development. For example, at each of the international large-scale printing technology exhibitions, we can see that some international companies have launched new sheet-fed offset presses and digital offset presses. In order to consolidate the existing market and open up new fields of application, offset press manufacturers form alliances with suppliers of materials, inks and other consumables, together commit themselves to technological advancement, further improve the quality of printed products, and tap cost-effective Potential to promote the continuous development of offset printing in the packaging field.

Their efforts have achieved remarkable results in recent years. If they support the emission reduction technology of sheetfed offset printing machines that are more conducive to ecological protection, they will not even think of G, F and E type corrugated paper. The direct printing technology and the like to improve the quality. Every major breakthrough has inspired the industry in the packaging industry and made the position of offset printing in the packaging field even more prominent.

The current status of offset printing in China

Since the reform and opening up, along with the establishment and continuous development of China's market economy system, the commodity market has become increasingly prosperous and foreign trade has been expanding. The industrial and agricultural products have made more and more demands on packaging. Packaging and decoration printing has gradually become an important commodity. The components become an important link in the production of commodities. In order to change the situation of China's "first-class, second-class and third-class prices" for commodities, China's packaging and printing industry has undergone large-scale technological transformation over the past two decades, gradually introducing, absorbing and digesting advanced international production technologies and production. Process and production equipment, the elimination of backward production processes, has made remarkable achievements, the most obvious of which is the promotion and application of offset printing process. For example, in the past decade or so, in packaging and decoration printing, China has basically eliminated the backward letterpress printing process. The labels and packaging cartons of various commodities have widely used the offset printing process. The fine corrugated packaging of various products has been rapidly popularized since the 1990s. Offset printing has played an irreplaceable and decisive role in this aspect, making packaging truly play a role of protecting commodities, promoting goods, beautifying goods, and promoting sales. It can be seen that there are a variety of exquisite packages in the shopping malls and supermarkets, and many of them are exquisitely packaged, and most of them use offset printing processes.

The extensive application of offset printing technology in packaging has also led to the development of China's printing equipment manufacturing industry and printing equipment manufacturing industry. For example, the printing presses of famous brands such as Beiren, Guanghua, Rugao and Jingdezhen in China have achieved rapid improvement in product quality. A large number of "PS" production enterprises have emerged. The development of drugs and other ancillary chemical products have gradually replaced imported consumables, so that China's offset printing technology is gradually narrowing the gap with the international advanced level.

It can be asserted that with the continuous improvement of China's scientific and technological level, as China's packaging and printing industry continues to strengthen its independent innovation capabilities, offset printing will play a greater role in China's product packaging and decoration, and our country's products will also catch up. To reach the international advanced level of product packaging.

Reprinted from: International Packaging Offers