Digital plate making technology
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China is a big country in label production and consumption, but China's label printing industry has a low start and a relatively weak foundation. Therefore, when the international label printing giant ship type enterprise enters the port of China, when the label printing becomes an area that publishers and commercial printing “big brothers” are not willing to ignore, the professional label printing enterprises that have been very moisturized in the past days feel the days. It’s not good. Ever since, the upgrade of technology and equipment has become a measure that everyone will not ignore, and digital plate making is one of them.
Digital plate making only 10%
Digital plate-making technology is no longer a new technology in the field of offset printing or in the field of flexo printing and embossing. Digital plate-making equipment and plates are also localized and localized to a certain extent, but in China, self-adhesive labels In the field of printing, the popularity of digital plate making is still very low, accounting for less than 10%. The reasons are mainly from the following three aspects.
1. China's self-adhesive labels are mainly embossed
In the choice of printing methods, self-adhesive label printing is different from other printing fields, and has Chinese characteristics. In Europe and the United States, self-adhesive labels are generally based on flexo printing. In China, although they have experienced the “striking” of flexo printing and intermittent rotary offset printing, embossing still accounts for more than 60% of the market. As a result, the digitization process of the plate-making industry's plate-making process is inseparable from the digital development of the embossing plate.
However, due to the narrow application field of embossing technology, almost only the label printing industry is interested in embossed digital plate making. Therefore, embossing digital plate-making technology and plate materials are not only late, but also suppliers. It is also less, and the natural penetration rate is low.
Therefore, from a holistic perspective, the popularity of digital plate-making technology in the field of offset printing and flexographic printing, the overall impact on the self-adhesive label printing industry does not seem to be very large.
2. China's self-adhesive label printing industry is mostly small enterprises
The industry concentration of China's self-adhesive label printing industry is very low. At present, most of them are small and medium-sized label printing enterprises, even if it is one of the few large-scale label printing enterprises in the industry, if it is related to publishing and commercial printing, packaging and printing. Compared with large enterprises in the industry, the volume gap is also large and the investment capacity is limited. Therefore, most of the self-adhesive label printing enterprises in China are still in the stage of experience production, and digital and standardized production including digital plate-making technology has not been put on the agenda in many self-adhesive label printing enterprises.
3. Digital platesetter has not become a necessity
Not to mention that the past few years have been outdated, even now, the profit margin of label printing is still relatively large compared with publishing and commercial printing, and it is still more willing to bet on printing equipment to enhance competitiveness. Therefore, some self-adhesive label printing companies still lack the urgency of relying on digital plate-making technology to enhance competitiveness.
All of the above reasons have led to the fact that China's self-adhesive label printing companies still use traditional film printing.
Development status of embossed digital plate making technology
Since China's label printing is based on embossing, then the major digital plate-making equipment and plate suppliers will naturally not look at this market as “absurd”. Therefore, in recent years, various direct plate-making equipment and plates for embossing. The materials have been introduced, including the universal version of the flexographic and letterpress and offset printing, such as the screen FX FX870II-EL, Aeske's new generation AURA series engraving machine, Leopard Panthera® 500G label direct plate making machine There are also special letterpress digital plate making equipment, such as Esko's new digital letterpress plate-making machine DLI (Digital Letterpress Imager) specially designed for China's label market.
Because traditional embossing plates have extremely high requirements on film quality and exposure energy control, only those experienced plate-making personnel can produce embossed plates that meet the requirements and have stable performance. Nowadays, label printing companies are generally employed. Difficulties, frequent turnover of talents, and the pressure on the label quality of terminal brands are becoming more and more stressful. Therefore, many label printing companies have begun to turn their attention to embossed digital plate making. According to data reports in 2015: “According to incomplete statistics, in 2012, about 15 label printing companies used digital direct plate-making technology for embossing, and so far, nearly 100 companies have used digital direct plate-making technology. Perform embossing."
The advantages of embossed digital plate making
The outlet is smaller
High-gloss broken net is the most problematic problem in letterpress printing. Due to the characteristics of traditional embossed photosensitive resin plates, the reliefs below 2.5% of the highlights in the plate making process will be washed away. Product data from Esko's digital letterpress plate-making machine DLI shows that the machine can achieve a minimum of 1%. Industry experts from production practice data show that with digital plate making, the high-gloss relief that is washed away on the letterpress can be reduced from 2.5% to less than 1.5%. Although the problem of high-light breakage has not been completely solved, it has taken a step forward, which makes the letterpress printing have a wider range of tones, especially the copying effect of the gradient highlights has been greatly improved.
With smaller dots, it is possible to add a higher number of screens, such as DLI's digital plate making can reach 133 lines / inch, resulting in finer details, sharper edge contours and smaller negative text.
The quality is more stable
It has the same characteristics as various digital technologies. The quality of embossed digital plates is less dependent on workers' experience and operation level, less sensitive to changes in exposure energy, less affected by film quality, and relying on digital work. Process and quality control tools for higher platemaking efficiency and more stable plate quality. Although the price of embossed digital plates will be higher than that of traditional embossed plates, the plate-making success rate is reduced due to the improved plate-making success rate; the film-printing process is eliminated, the plate-making efficiency is greatly improved, and the ineffective time cost is reduced; The requirements for operators are reduced and labor costs are controlled. Therefore, the overall cost of embossed digital plates has declined. This is undoubtedly a good solution for cost control problems, technical talent problems, customer stability issues, and transformation and upgrading issues for label printing companies with continued low profits and increasingly fierce market competition.
More environmentally friendly
The embossed digital plate making uses the laser to directly engrave the digital plate, skipping the film imaging and printing, reducing the use of film and harmful chemical liquid, and is more conducive to environmental protection. In developed countries abroad, it has been difficult to find a label printing factory that uses film printing. The domestic label printing industry must be in line with foreign advanced technology, and digital plate making is also an indispensable part. Digital plate making is not only the trend of technology development, but also the need for environmental protection and sustainable development of enterprises.
The embossed digital plate making helps the letterpress printing break through the limitations of traditional letterpress printing, and also makes the letterpress printing, which is more than 60% of the market share of China's self-adhesive label printing, can create greater value for China's label printing industry. Continue to be the main printing method, carrying the tag holder to continue to write the history of the label with Chinese characteristics.