Why Gravure Printing Process (top)

Gravure has long been regarded as a mysterious process by people. Maybe you happen to be an insider. The gravure printing process has long originated and was previously known as "Autotype," which can be found in the Oxford Encyclopedia dictionary. For a long time, gravure printing has always been used for long-lived printing. Because of its bright, full color, strong three-dimensional impression and accurate color reproduction, gravure printing is commonly used in most color publications. With the emergence of web offset printing, the gravure printing market began to decline rapidly, mainly due to two aspects. On the one hand, the prepress plate making cost of gravure printing was relatively high, especially the copper plating, polishing, and corrosion of the drum; another The reason is that the wages required by gravure printing practitioners are also relatively high. In response to the first problem mentioned above, Hell and Crosfield tried to solve and improve the drum etching technology. At the same time, other electronic technologies in the prepress industry have also been improving. Scanning, imposition, and laser photocopying have all undergone tremendous changes, and the knowledge and skills of practitioners are lagging behind. As a result, their wages have become increasingly The more reasonable and realistic. Although web offset printing has seriously threatened the gravure printing market, many people still prefer gravure printing rather than web offset printing. “Why use gravure printing?” “What are the advantages of gravure printing?” John craig conducted an investigation on an intaglio printing company and two of the UK's largest gravure printing customers, asking them to talk about it. Individual understanding. BPC Purnell Intaglio Printing Company BPC Purnell, located in Bristol (a port city in the western part of the UK) is one of the largest gravure printing companies in the UK. It mainly prints some of the well-known publications, catalogs of Ikea and Argos, Thomson and Airtours. Holiday brochures, Sunday Express and Sunday Mirror color supplements. Chris Bramley, the manager of gravure printing production at BPC, believes that: “For different printing processes and different prints, it is difficult to compare their advantages and disadvantages. However, due to the current popularity of gravure printing, the price is appropriate, Therefore, some customers may simply refuse to adopt other processes just because they like gravure printing.” Purnell recently purchased a digital engraving system. According to Mr. Bramley, although electronic engraving has become more common after years of application, it has encountered many difficulties and setbacks in the early days. However, there are still many advantages to digital development. Crosfield Company has experimented with laser engraving techniques using a laser beam to sculpt cells on the drum. Although this idea is good, but because the surface of the drum is sprayed with a layer of epoxy resin, the engraving effect is not very satisfactory, so the experiment eventually ended in failure. At the recent meeting of the European Rotary Gravure Association, it was reported that some gravure printing companies once again proposed the possibility of spraying plastic materials on the surface of the drum. Hell started to study the electron beam engraving technology that was born 20 years ago. It also shows that all things are not immutable and they are all changing and developing. Facts have proved that early experiments have indeed promoted the shortening of the modern gravure printing cycle and the reduction of prepress production costs. In the past, gravure printing companies would not receive jobs below 1 million impressions. However, due to the lowering of overall production costs, this situation has undergone a tremendous transformation. For the reasons for the change, Mr. Bramley believes that on the one hand, it is due to the reduction in the number of prints, but more importantly, the reasons for the increase in the number of printed pages and pages. Mr. Bramley said: "If you have a publication or catalogue, the number of pages is relatively large, for example more than 64 pages, then, of course, to choose gravure printing." Gravure printing costs are getting lower and lower, and production efficiency is getting more and more High, for the short version of the work is no exception, because the press cylinder can print 96 pages (A4 format) with one revolution, some new gravure printing presses can even reach 192 pages, which cannot be achieved in web offset printing. of. So, suppose the web offset press can print 64 pages at a time. Then, to print a 96-page publication, the cylinder needs to run for at least two cycles. Of course, at least two sets of printing plates must be made, and the adjustment of the equipment must be at least two times. The quality of gravure printing is high, and the inventory is more convenient and cheaper. Therefore, gravure printing is a better choice for publications with more pages. In addition, in the 200,000 to 300,000 India market, gravure printing has a very strong competitive strength. The disadvantage of gravure printing lies in its plate-making cycle. At present, gravure plate-making cycle is still longer than offset printing. Although the plate-making cycle of gravure printing cannot catch up with offset printing in the near future, it is undeniable that this situation is constantly improving. In the printing process, the advantages of gravure printing are outstanding, and its color reproduction and color consistency are better, due to the relative simplicity of the gravure printing process (there are no ink-jet balances, blankets, etc.), and scrap rates. Lower, paper waste is less. In addition, the printing force of each plate cylinder is also higher than that of the corresponding offset printing plate.