One of the technical articles of the World Printing Conference - new system technology before packaging production
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Bruno and Mr. Palon are the presidents of Barco Graphics' pre-press and pre-production equipment suppliers in Belgium and have 10 years of experience in the printing industry.
In 1979, he obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering (computer major) from G. nt State University. In 1981, he obtained a master's degree in business administration from the University of Ghent. In 1990, he joined Barco and served as Electronc.
Tooling Systems Deoartment Manager and Customer Service Manager.
In 1993, he was appointed Executive Manager of Barco Graphic Arts and created economic benefits for Barco. In 1998, he was promoted to General Manager and Vice President of Barco.
In 2000, His Majesty King Albert of Belgium awarded the jazz title of the Barco Management Committee, and Mr. Bruno Palon was among them.
Good morning, I am the manager of Bruno Paron Barco Image. Barco Graphics is a company dedicated to meeting the needs of printed packaging and printed circuit board production.
I am very honored to get the first The invitation of the organizing committee of the 7th World Printing Conference has the opportunity to meet with many friends in the printing and publishing circles of China and wish the conference a complete success. I am sure that the exchange of experience during the conference will be very beneficial to the successful development of the Chinese printing industry.
The theme of my presentation is the difference between the packaging field and other printing fields. More specifically, my theme is about some of the pre-press revolutions that drive packaging. I will start with some differences in packaging printing and other printing methods and briefly review the main market trends.
Then we will enter the following topics: the importance of an integrated box-type production environment in packaging production, the digital process flow and the impact of the direct plate-making system on printing. The position of digital printing technology in packaging production in the next few years, and finally explain why We believe that providing a total solution will affect the packaging industry.
Packaging is an important part of the printing and publishing industry, with packaging products accounting for 20% of all prints and a 5% annual growth rate worldwide.
It is worth noting that the proportion of packaging products in Asia is 29%. And 7% of the growth rate is twice the world average growth rate.
We just have to look at the different forms of the substrate around us to see the difference in the way the package is printed. We will see different types of substrates from paper and cardboard to various plastics, metals and glass.
At the same time, various shapes of products need to be printed in packaging printing. Therefore, various die cutting and post-processing techniques are used for final molding of label boxes and paper bags.
In this speech. We focus on the stage between the market-driven creative design process and the benefit-driven production process that we call the prepress process.
The prepress process has two important functions
First, it strives to transform creative designs into matching tools for mass production such as plates and die-cutting boards in the shortest possible time. It is very important that all quality brands and requirements meet the end user or customer satisfaction.
Second, it must take into account the different characteristics and complexity of the production process to ensure consistent results in repeated and off-site production processes.
It is very clear that the range of materials used in packaging and printing is very wide. We therefore hope that other production steps will also play a corresponding role in prepress production.
There are several major trends in the packaging market that are causing changes in the prepress process.
Consumers in the consumer market are increasingly fierce and rapidly changing consumer products are constantly competing for their own development space. Therefore, manufacturers change the packaging design more frequently in order to grasp the market initiative. The design cycle has been shortened to a few days and the design cycle of a few weeks before four or five years is normal. The production cycle of packaged products has also become shorter and shorter.
With the continuous innovation of materials science printing technology and production technology, the development of production tools and processes has also been brought forward.
Therefore, the growing demand for enhanced collaboration across the supply chain is not just about making profits but also meeting global production needs.
In fact, all packaging designs used desktop software such as Adobe lllustrator, but these software lacked effective functions to efficiently complete design tasks.
With the development of desktop software technology, designers and customers agree that PDF will be the perfect data conversion format. But some important packaging design elements in PDF will be lost so it is not suitable for dry-contained packaging designs.
From the above aspects, it is concluded that the market is strongly in need of technical updates to eliminate these drawbacks.
These two examples show two basic features that show you the correct transparency and embossing effects to help designers check printability.
The successful development of the packaging industry is the result of a joint effort by end users, graphics and structural design and production.
A complete software environment that combines all the design tools used by users to create great worries and greatly increase productivity and reduce errors.
The software developed for pre-press packaging provides the functionality for the packaging process. The most well-known is the trapping function. There is also an equally important ability to handle spot colors and custom inks, including the calculation of ink usage and print data. The inclusion of anti-counterfeiting elements in packaging design to prevent counterfeiting and copying is becoming a new hot spot in the market. There are very few software on the market that can meet these needs.
But we should not only focus on image processing. In reality, there are parallel processes in the final customer and producers, such as the box-type structure design, die-cutting and other subsequent processes.
There are fewer companies that can coordinate both processes.
Packaging designers are keen to work in such an integrated environment. The system can realize the perfect combination of box design and image for 3D preview and even preview the actual placement of the box on the shelf.
The need for such a structure-graphic integration workflow is manifested in several aspects of production. For example, it is now possible to achieve direct color inkjet proofing on the carton carton in the box prototype. Through the combination of CAD and image design and with color proofing, the same product can be produced on a box prototype.
The next topic will be the printing process. Packaging printers will not only consider individual labels and packaging but also consider the same or different design.
The general case is that these individual labels and packages are imprinted with a conventional copy machine. They must be placed in the same position as the die-cut of the die-cut version used after printing.
There are some other situations in which the digital plate-making process can be performed directly in the pre-press part of the large-format laser imagesetter and then printed on the plate by the film output from the large-format laser imagesetter.
Nowadays, with the advent of direct plate-making equipment on the market, we no longer need film. The intermediate medium direct plate-making equipment has the following advantages in packaging production:
First, the design center can deliver data to different print ends in any data format.
The second omission of the film reduces the time required for plate making and greatly shortens the printing cycle.
Third, there is no film to make more use of the plate and avoid possible errors in the print.
When the direct plate making equipment replaces the joint drying equipment, we must also solve the color proofing problem. High-quality inkjet printers today, with the support of appropriate color management software, have been able to simulate the final printed product.
Finally, one of the most serious mistakes we can make is to copy the packaging software products and processes designed for professional imagers to the output center. We determined that we needed specific product services to do the current production methods and work.
For packaging and printing companies, the ideal front end for direct plate making equipment can accept image design in one or more different industry standard formats on the one hand, and can also accept sheet printing from CAD systems. Usually, the design that the customer has already signed or the version of the printed sheet that is consistent with the die-cut version cannot be changed. However, there are some special cases, such as adjusting the printed image to different printing plates, adding printing control strips and post-processing marks. Also add production control and tracking information as a whole.
A direct plate-making process requires a prepress system control. It is capable of grouping different image designs with corresponding knives. This flexibility is necessary for fast-moving goods that require shorter production cycles to accommodate shorter cargo delivery times.
Direct plate imaging equipment is used both for offset printing and for progressively developed flexographic printing (not new to dry gravure digital printing).
In commercial printing, offset direct plate making equipment is the first to be applied. For packaging we must see some special requirements. For the choice of plates, we believe that in the near future, 830urn thermal plates will dominate the long-length printing. The thermal printing plate has a higher printing durability and is very adaptable to spot color inks. Last year, drupa introduced UV laser sensitized plates for short-run printing, such as trademark printing.
The very rapid development is digital platemaking for flexographic printing. The main technique here is more or less the use of standard resin plates on the surface of such plates coated with a thin dissolving layer. A powerful laser source exposes the desiccant layer to form a negative image based on the data. The flexographic platesetter currently on the market supports a wide range of plates and large throughputs including direct imaging on sleeves and sleeve versions.
What is the next-generation prepress process we are looking for?
Everyone would think of digital direct printing without a software plate. The digital printing system has grown rapidly in the literature and general printing markets. There is still a lot of work to be done in the packaging market to handle and process raw materials, as well as online and offline compatibility. We need to have a suitable mechanical resistance and meet the requirements of special products (such as pollution of dry food) spot color inks and toners.
We hope that digital printing will be gradually introduced and applied first in a small range. Such as in the field of "immediately" printing or printing by information can bring significant benefits. Printing of short labels and jams is a good candidate for small-volume corrugated box production and on-demand production.
The key issue, like its official new technology, is how to digest high initial production costs by providing users with high value-added products.
We see that the industry is looking for an ideal platform for bringing digital printing to the packaging world. Some programs are based on the processing and post-processing functions of the original book printing and adding materials.
Others have designed new digital presses for industrial printing. It applies digital printing workstations and inkjet technology to existing narrow-format printing systems.
The latest printing trends I discuss will not only affect pre-press production but will also affect the entire packaging production chain.
The major suppliers of consumables in the West have established many open associations to increase efficiency and reduce the cost of the production chain. They are setting standards for collaborative communication and coordination throughout the process. There is no doubt that the exchange of data worldwide will take place via the World Wide Web.
This integrated packaging product chain will affect everyone. The producer of the package, like the output center, must research new strategies to meet the needs of users. They expand their support for all customers, both large and small, and form new competitive advantages.
There are many interactions between packaging manufacturers and their users and collaborators. This is a creative process - some are internal and some are with the user. It is also a production environment where evaluation planning and order management are closely linked.
All of these activities have one thing in common. They focus on product and production instructions and precise management of prepress production and production from different systems. It is very clear that the future packaging world requires that most of the information processed directly by W "B is naturally safe and accurate.
We have started to develop software based on WE-day for pre-production environments. Adjusting Cost Estimation from the Design Library for Detailing Image Management Review Control and Approval Process Billing and Reorder Management Production Process Tracking All of these features will be implemented quickly and have a friendly browsing interface.
Finally, I will make a summary of the speech.
First, if not only relying on the development of integrated structures and image design environments, packaging prepress production would be better.
Second, whenever digital processes enter the production chain, we must provide solutions to this particular requirement rather than simply transforming existing systems.
Third, the direct plate making process will be the mainstream force after printing on time.
Fourth, the digital mouth brush program will be applied to the market in a small scope in a moderately gradual entry into the packaging market. Further development of basic technology is required before technical and economic conditions permit.
Fifth, The active cooperation of the production chain will greatly affect our future methods and processes. Because process optimization and cost reduction are powerful engines.