At present, the domestic gravure printing industry is looking forward to: a single solvent (easy to recycle), surface printing, printing, compounding, cooking and mixing, all kinds of plastic film are suitable, adapt to any climate (can reduce the production of enterprises) Cost), high speed, medium speed, low speed are suitable, low price, and the gravure ink on the universal scale appears on the market.
        Advice for ink manufacturers
        The printing speed of foreign printing machines is fast, the production environment is relatively standardized, the varieties are large in size and the colors are specific. Therefore, the requirements for inks are limited to high solid content, low viscosity, bright color and strong tinting strength. Most of the domestic low-speed printing presses are mainly used, and the domestic printing presses are uneven and the performance is too large. The products are small in size, various in variety, relatively poor in production environment, and irregular in operation. Therefore, the requirements for the ink are more diverse, and the ink has good adaptability, good fluidity and low price. In addition, due to the operator's mentality, using imported ink, printing problems, choose to adjust the printing press. In turn, printing problems with domestic inks is usually a matter of finding inks and plates.
        Domestic gravure printing machines have poor ink circulation systems (except for high-speed printing machines that deliver ink supply), and many medium and small packaging color printing plants do not even use ink circulation systems. Some operators do not understand the ink-inking rules of gravure printing, and have little knowledge of the performance of inks. The ink dilution is not in place (it is observed that the waste rate of ink is 25%~30% on average, and many small-package color printing factories even waste the rate. 40%~50%). What is more needed is to popularize the basic knowledge education of plastic flexible packaging production technology, as well as the technical services after ink sales.

        First, gravure printing machine
        Domestic high-speed gravure printing machines Since 1993, some companies have invested in development and trial production.
        Looking at the status of several representative gravure presses in China:
        1. The advanced design and structure of the whole machine has various functions of advanced foreign models;
        2, strong configuration: including AC frequency conversion closed-loop vector multi-motor servo synchronous control system, automatic version of the overprint control system, pre-drive automatic docking system, tension automatic control compensation system, industrial computer central control system;
        3. High processing precision and rich design experience;
        4, the installation of high commissioning process quality is low, affecting the performance of equipment;
        5. The quality management level and awareness of the enterprise process need to be improved to improve the overall quality of the machine.
        Second, dry laminating machine and wet laminating machine
        Due to the insufficient technical investment of the products by various enterprises, the grade of domestic dry laminating machine has been low. With the demand of the domestic flexible packaging industry and the high price of imported equipment, the domestic high-speed wide-format dry laminating machine has gradually entered the market, and has played a major role in supporting the production of imported gravure printing machines.
        The domestic high-grade high-speed dry laminating machine has the functions of receiving and unwinding pre-drive and automatic docking, automatic control of each section of tension, synchronous control of speed (tension) of coating head and composite roller, steam heating temperature servo Control functions, full machine programmable control and industrial computer control.
Future development will further increase the speed of the machine and improve the manufacturing precision and stability of the control system. Adaptability to meet the needs of imported gravure printing machines and domestic high-speed printing presses. Wet laminating machines and various substrate coating machines have also been greatly developed. The main direction in the future is to develop solvent-free laminating machine and hot melt adhesive coating machine, high barrier material coating machine.

        Gravure printing carton pre-printing is to pre-print the desired fine pattern on the wide web (carton paper) by using the gravure printing technology before making the corrugated cardboard, and then printing the rolled surface. The paper is then made into a corrugated board production line, and then the die-cutting machine is used to die-cut the indentation into a box type.
        At present, in the international market, some 30% of the total output of corrugated boxes in Europe and the United States adopts pre-printing new technology. With the rapid development of China's paper product packaging industry, in recent years, many manufacturers such as Mengniu, Budweiser, Tsingtao Brewery, etc. have Focus on pre-printing new technology. With the stability of the design and consumption of corrugated boxes for beverages, beer, home appliances and food products, the production of high-grade color corrugated boxes by web preprinting will become the development trend of the packaging industry in the future.
       The difference between paper preprinting and lithographic offset printing production carton
       At present, most of the domestic color cartons use the sheet-fed offset printing pre-printing method. The process flow is: cutting the web into a single sheet of paper → printing a single sheet of offset paper → simultaneously rolling the second layer of the single-sided machine Corrugated board → face paper and single-faced corrugated board on the veneer or veneer veneer → die-cutting indentation molding → nail box / sticky box.
        The process of web gravure preprinting technology is: gravure printing machine printing surface paper roll → cardboard line production cut into three layers (or five layers) cardboard → die cutting indentation molding → nail box / sticky box.
        Why do we need gravure preprinting? There are two main reasons. One is that gravure can easily provide high-quality color prints; the other is that e-engraving technology greatly reduces the production cycle and cost of metal plate rolls, which is close to or even lower than flexo. Moreover, the people in the northwest of China have produced high-speed wide-format paper concave machines, and the price is only one-third of the imported flexographic printing machines. The gravure pre-printing method may be more suitable for the actual situation of China's packaging enterprises.
        In comparison, the printing process commonly used in the past is called “post-printing”, and pre-printing has some obvious advantages compared with post-printing:
        1, can obtain higher printing quality, more adaptable. Pre-printing is performed on a smooth paper surface by gravure printing machine or flexo printing, and compared with post-printing printing using a printing grooving machine on the surface of uneven cardboard, it is possible to carry out beautiful color printing with more layers and more vivid colors. Printing quality will be more stable and reliable.
        2. The corrugated board can be obtained with the highest strength. Since the pre-printing does not need to be stamped after the cardboard is formed, the corrugated deformation and the strength of the cardboard can be avoided. Printing with corrugated board printing slotting machine, because each color printing will make the corrugated board more or less deformed, and the more the number of colors, the greater the influence on the deformation of corrugated board.
        3, high production efficiency, easy to produce management, low scrap rate. Pre-printing has become an important trend in corrugated board printing, especially in high-end cartons, including large and shaped cartons.

        Gravure ink refers to the ink used in gravure printing of various substrates. It is divided into paper gravure ink and plastic gravure ink. In the plastic gravure ink, there are two types of surface printing gravure ink and ink printing composite ink.
        Plastic gravure ink is generally used for printing PE, PP, OPP, NY and other plastic film inks, but it can also be printed in composite flexible packaging. As long as there is no large color block on the printing layout, the composite odor and fastness are still basic. Yes. The plastic gravure printing ink is mainly made of a binder, a polyamide resin, and a pigment and an auxiliary agent. The softening point of the polyamide resin is controlled at 121 degrees, otherwise the printing adhesion may occur during printing in the mildew season due to the low softening point of the resin. The high softening point of the resin will freeze when used in winter, and it is necessary to heat the mixture to dissolve it. The dilution solvent of the plastic gravure printing ink is toluene, isopropanol, xylene, butanol and the like. Some ester solvents can also be added at appropriate times to adjust the viscosity of the ink. Toluene and isopropanol are quick-drying solvents. Xylene, butanol is a slow dry solvent. When using butanol, be careful, if the ink dries too fast, causing loss of graphic network, proper addition of butanol makes the ink reproducible, small characters and dots are clear, but adding more will cause the ink to dry, especially in the mildew season. There will be print adhesion and anti-sticking.
        Ink in the plastic gravure, also known as composite ink, refers to the ink printed on the substrate. The binder of this ink is mainly a chlorinated polypropylene resin, which has high adhesion to printed OPP, PET, NY and the like. After compounding, the black ink is sandwiched in the inner layer and is the ink for printing high-grade plastic soft bags. The main solvents for its dilution are toluene, ethyl ketone, methyl ethyl ketone and ethyl acetate. Methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, ethyl acetate quick-drying solvent, butanone is a slow-drying solvent. This type of ink should not be added to the alcohol solvent, otherwise the ink will deteriorate. Pay attention when using plastic gravure composite inks, because ink manufacturers have the distinction between high-speed machine fast-drying ink and low-speed machine drying ink when designing ink. The printing speed should be determined by the rotation speed of the gravure printing machine. Otherwise, the rotation speed of the gravure printing machine is slow, the ink is dry in the pit of the gravure dot; the printing speed of the gravure printing machine is not dry.
       For retort-resistant plastic flexible packaging or printed aluminum foil, it is necessary to select a two-component gravure ink resistant to cooking and an ink for aluminum foil. Otherwise, the cooking resistance will not be achieved, and the ink in the inner layer after the compounding will be dilute, discolored, and the image is unclear. High temperature resistant materials and retort resistant two-component composites are also required for the production of retort resistant bags. The surface tension of plastic gravure ink is generally 36 dynes, while the surface tension of PE and OPP is generally only about 32 dynes. This requires that the film undergo corona treatment during gravure printing, destroying the molecular structure of the plastic surface and improving the film. The surface tension is such that it reaches 38 dynes or more, so that the ink and the film are adhesively adhered to each other, and the ink can be removed by hand rubbing and adhesive tape to achieve the printing quality requirement.
         Plastic gravure inks have a role in the ozone layer in the production of chlorinated polymers. In the gravure printing, a large amount of toluene is used to dissolve and adjust the viscosity of the ink, which is harmful to the health and safety of workers, which requires the ink manufacturer to develop low as soon as possible. A toxic, non-toxic alcohol soluble and water soluble gravure plastic printing ink. We use plastic flexo inks in the production of paper-plastic composite coils (for users to self-package drugs, tea bags, etc.) and in the production of liquid packaging film coils. The ink is alcohol-soluble, and the added solvent is an alcohol and an ester, and has low toxicity, and is odorless and benzene-free. In short, the selection and application of plastic gravure printing inks depends on many factors such as the performance of different gravure printing machines and the proficiency of operators. Know what material is printed, what is the speed of the gravure press, how dry the ink is, whether the printed color matches the original, whether the post-press processing meets the requirements and the end product's use. Different inks should be used for different specifications and different plastic flexible bags (films). Only the selection of the right inks and materials, coupled with careful operation, can produce beautiful plastic printing products.

        First, the digital printing equipment and consumables used in China, including digital printing equipment and consumables for label printing, basically rely on imports, the price of products in developed countries plus the tariffs after entering the Chinese market, resulting in production costs. The high price, and this part of the cost will eventually be passed on to consumers.
        However, there is an objective contradiction in the market. It is obvious that the high cost of production requires a large amount of consumption to be diluted, but the high cost just restricts consumption and affects the growth of quantity. This phenomenon is not only happening in the personalized label market, but an inevitable process that all new processes have to be widely used in the market. Personalized labels can not escape this “magic”. From the history of CTP promotion in China, the break of this situation can only rely on the localization of these equipment and consumables.
        Second, in China, the trend of personalization of goods has only just started, even though Coca-Cola has been put into practical marketing applications, it still belongs to the market test nature. If the life cycle of a product is divided into four stages: promotion period, growth period, maturity period and recession period, then the new favorite of the personalized label is still in the promotion period, not to mention that the label itself is only a means to enhance the color of the product. , not goods that consumers can enjoy directly.
        The use of digital printing equipment to print personalized labels is still a market to be cultivated and developed. It is still necessary to select a digital printing method to make labels to grow and mature until it is completely accepted by the market and selected by the terminal products. In the future, with the improvement of people's living standards, the use of personalized labels should increase.
        While affirming that digital printing already meets the needs of label printing, we also need to point out that although all digital equipment suppliers believe that the equipment they have introduced to the market has met the market demand, objectively speaking, the quality standards for offset printing To measure the products currently completed with digital printing equipment, it should be said that there is still a gap. Because digital printing equipment has not been launched for a long time, there is a need for a process of gradual improvement and improvement through practice. Suppliers must work hard to reduce costs and help products increase market competitiveness.
        In short, digital printing equipment has begun to enter the field of label printing, but it will take some time for digital printing equipment to be widely used in the label printing market. Ensuring that market needs and profitability are the pursuit of the company, we should not be too hasty before we reach the balance between the two.