The development trend of flexo printing machines is showing the following remarkable directions with the improvement of global environmental protection awareness, stricter regulations and technological progress:
1. *Core driving force: environmental protection regulations and sustainable development requirements
*VOCs emission restrictions: This is the most core driving force. Around the world (such as the European Union, North America, China, etc.) have introduced increasingly strict emission regulations on volatile organic compounds. flexo ink takes water as the main solvent, and the VOCs content is extremely low or even zero. It has become the first choice to replace traditional solvent-based ink. flexo printing press is the key equipment to achieve this substitution.
*Reduce carbon footprint: The energy consumption of the flexo printing process is relatively low (especially in the dry link), and the ink itself is more environmentally friendly, which is in line with the ESG goals of enterprises and consumers' green preferences.
*Working environment improvement: flexo ink has little odor and low toxicity, which significantly improves the health and safety environment of printing workshop operators.
2. *Key technology development trend
*Drying efficiency and speed improvement
* More efficient hot air drying system: Optimize air nozzle design, air volume and temperature control to improve thermal efficiency.
*Combination drying technology: Combine infrared, hot air, microwave (for specific substrates) or UV-LED (for surface light or specific colors) and other drying methods to achieve high efficiency, energy saving and adaptation of different materials.
*High-speed drying technology: Research and development of more powerful drying capabilities to meet the needs of high-speed printing (such as corrugated pre-printing, flexible packaging), and the goal is to approach or even reach the speed of solvent ink printing.
*Improve printing quality and stability
* Precision mesh roller and cavity scraper system: More precise ink transfer control ensures the uniformity of the ink layer, reduces the expansion of the mesh point, and improves printing accuracy and color consistency.
*Advanced tension control system: Ensure the stable operation of thin films, thin paper and other materials in the process of high-speed printing and drying, and reduce overprinting errors.
*Automated closed-loop color control system: Real-time monitoring and adjustment of color to reduce waste and improve efficiency and quality stability.
* Continuous optimization of flexo ink formula: Ink suppliers continuously improve the leveling, adhesion, wear resistance, water resistance, drying speed and color gamut performance of flexo ink, directly promoting the performance boundaries of printing machines.
*Intelligence and automation
*Integrated MES/ERP system: Realize real-time production data collection, remote monitoring, intelligent production scheduling, quality traceability and performance analysis.
*Automated order change: Quickly replace the printing plate, the mesh roller, clean the ink line, shorten the preparation time, and improve the utilization rate of equipment.
*Predictive maintenance: Use sensors and data analysis to predict the failure of key components (such as bearings and motors) to reduce unexpected downtime.
*Multifunctionality and adaptability
* Wide application: Applications in labels, folding cartons, corrugated cardboard boxes (pre-printing and post-printing), soft packaging (film, paper), decorative paper, wallpaper, and even some special printing fields (such as textile printing) continue to expand.
*Expanding the scope of printing materials: Equipment design needs to adapt to more kinds of substrates, including various paper, cardboard, plastic films (such as BOPP, PET, PE), metal foil, etc., especially the printing adaptability of non-absorbent materials is the key direction (need for better drying And adhesion solution).
*Enhanced wiring processing ability: The integration of the back-process such as luminescent (flexo, UV-LED), gold stamping, die-cutting, cutting, rewinding, and testing connected to the flexo printing unit is higher.
3. *Market application expansion trend:
* Accelerated penetration in the field of flexible packaging: Despite the challenges of drying and material adaptability, regulatory pressures and the demand of brands (especially food, beverages, daily chemicals) for sustainable packaging are strongly promoting the application of flexo printing in flexible packaging (especially paper-based soft bags, self-standing bags, roll films). High-performance flexo ink and advanced drying technology are the key.
*Consolidation of the dominant position of folding cardboard boxes: In the field of folding cardboard boxes such as cigarette bags, wine bags, pharmaceutical packaging, food packaging (such as fast food boxes and ice cream boxes), flexo printing has become the mainstream, and will develop towards higher quality, higher efficiency and more connection functions in the future.
* Corrugated carton printing (pre-printing and post-printing) continues to grow: Pre-printing is used for high-end cartons, and post-printing (flexographic printing or offset printing) is used for medium and short-term editions. flexo printing is widely used in the corrugated industry because of its environmental protection and relatively low cost advantages.
*Stable application of label printing: In the field of self-adhesive labels, flexo flexographic printing is one of the important processes, especially in the middle and high-end markets that pay attention to environmental protection.
4. *Cost and efficiency considerations
*Comprehensive cost advantages appear: Although the initial equipment investment may be high, flexo printing is in terms of VOCs management costs (such as RTO, which does not require expensive terminal processing equipment), energy consumption (drying energy consumption), ink costs (in some cases), insurance costs, employee health input, etc. The long-term operating cost advantage is becoming more and more obvious. The risk of legal fines has also been greatly reduced.
*Production efficiency continues to catch up: With the improvement of drying technology and equipment, the production efficiency of flexo printing is gradually narrowing the gap with that of traditional solvent-based printing.
5. *Integration and competition with digital printing:
* Complementary rather than complete substitution: flexo printing (especially flexographic printing) has advantages in medium and long editions, cost-effectiveness and stable mass production; digital printing leads in ultra-short editions, personalized and variable data. The two coexist in the printing workshop.
*Mixed printing technology: There is a hybrid printing machine that combines flexo flexographic printing units with inkjet digital printing units, combining the advantages of both (such as the background color of flexographic printing, special color, special effects + personalized and variable information of inkjet).
To sum up, the development trend of flexo printing machines is:
* Driven by environmental protection regulations, it has become a mainstream printing technology.
* The core direction is to improve drying efficiency and printing speed, and break through the bottleneck of material adaptability (especially non-absorbent materials).
* Improve production efficiency and stability through intelligence and automation.
* Printing quality continues to move towards higher standards.
* The application field is constantly expanding, especially in the field of flexible packaging.
* The advantage of comprehensive operating costs is increasingly prominent.
* Integrated development with digital printing technology.
In the future, the development of flexo printing presses will continue to focus on the goal of "more environmentally friendly, faster, better, more intelligent and more economical", which is the *key path* for the printing industry to achieve green transformation and sustainable development. Equipment manufacturers, ink suppliers and printing enterprises need to work closely together to promote technological innovation and application.