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The development of flexographic presses can be said to be rapid, and automation, sustainability and faster speeds continue to affect this market segment. As many factories and facilities struggle to attract qualified workers to run their flexographic presses, the machines must fill more job openings, and the presses must also adapt to the generation of operators who grew up with smartphones.
Sustainability has evolved from "optional" to "necessary". In addition to environmental benefits, label waste, which was once tolerable in label printing, has now become an untouchable bottom line for label processors. The comprehensive innovation of flexo printing machines is aimed at the latest pain points of processors and strives to make the entire printing and processing process as efficient as possible.
"Automation, automation, automation," emphasized Andre Blais, Heidelberg North America account manager,"Processors want printing presses to be as simple as possible, so ease of use is crucial, and operators quickly trained through electronic equipment make this possible. We are seeing more improvements in printing presses, including the use of die cutting, automatic unwinding and winding, and increasing automation of processes such as rapid plate cylinders and anilox rollers."
"In terms of labeling, key trends and challenges include a shortage of skilled labor, shortened runtime times, high demand for just-in-time production, product proliferation, a high focus on reducing waste, greater use of recyclable materials, and higher material costs," explained Emilio Corti, North American business director for Bost's Printing and Post-Processing Division,"As a result, we increasingly need more automated and digital solutions. To help processors remain competitive in this difficult market where demand is so diverse."
Neubotai eliminated all mechanical intervention during the set-up and operation of its FA series flexographic presses. Operators communicate with the entire machine via a tablet, and when selecting parameters for a particular job, they can be stored and recalled for future repeat orders. "The new press operators are very familiar with tablets at work and in their spare time, so training is simple," explains sales director Jakob Landberg."They can operate the press naturally like all other everyday items."
However, while automation has become a hot topic in the industry, McAndy believes processors should understand exactly how automation will benefit them. They should rely on vendor experts to explain how automation will benefit their business, not just as a buzzword.
"Processors should understand how to automate intelligently, rather than paying for additional automation that doesn't benefit at all," said Tom Schelmbauer, executive vice president of CBO Flexo at McAndy."They should understand the sustainability of their equipment in terms of waste and energy consumption, and they should ask for consultation on the sales process, steps that involve not only the equipment, but also the consumables that interact with it."
To meet customer needs, Mai Andi designed its Smartlink IoT solutions and mechanical products with low waste and low energy consumption. "When combined with our low-waste, high-productivity sprinklers, these new McAndy solutions are not only capable of revolutionizing the cost structure, but also tracking and reporting," Schelmbauer said.
In the future, modern flexographic printing machines will be more attractive to the next generation of labor. Many flexographic printing improvements are designed to take into account the needs of young employees and achieve twice the result with half the effort.
"Faced with the challenge of finding experienced printing press operators, the task for manufacturers is to design easy-to-run and more automated equipment to make the learning and training curve more seamless with less experienced operators," said Chris Baldwin, director of sales for Omet Americas."Features such as automatic overprinting, repeat order production, and countless other features can help experienced or novice operators increase their efficiency."
However, there are several factors to consider when investing in printing presses. Corti said: "First, processors are looking for multifunctional machines that are easy to operate, have a competitive total cost of ownership (TCO), while providing consistently high quality; second, they will consider the quality of service and support of their suppliers to minimize unnecessary downtime when problems arise with the printing press; and third, they may also consider the impact on the environment by looking at waste and energy consumption; Fourth, many people will look at how easy it is to integrate with existing post-press processing and decoration equipment and MIS/workflow software for on-line production through automated settings."
The fact is that the label industry is developing rapidly. According to data from TLMI and LPC, 81% of the 90 TLMI processors respondents believe that there will be an increase in 2022 compared with 2021. In 2021, the global label market will grow at a steady rate of 3.8%. Customers today want their labeling faster than they did five years ago, especially if growth remains the same. Depending on the questioner, flexographic printing still accounts for 80%-85% of all labeling operations in operation today. Therefore, technology must meet needs, and there are many of them.
"Traditional printing and processing may face competition from digital in the future, but flexo printing is definitely still very active," Landberg commented."The vast majority of digital machines sold still cost less than 200,000 to 300,000 euros, which provides a digital alternative to traditional machines, but with very low production capacity. There is speculation that only 10% of label print runs are printed using spider silk, and most of them are still traditional printing methods."
Baldwin added: "I expect flexographic printing will exist for many years as long as there are physical products that require labeling and packaging. I believe that future printing presses will become more automated or even robotic, which will require less operator interaction. I have been working in the flexo printing industry for 35 years, and just when I thought there was nothing to see, I suddenly brought a surprise!"
01 To invest in new machines, what equipment do you need to make?
When processors decide to invest in a new flexographic press, there are many questions to ask, especially when they are visiting trade shows. For example, when analyzing a printing press demonstration, processors will benefit from understanding how the printing press affects their unique operations.
"Important questions to ask include-what is the average preparation time of the press, how much waste the press generates before it fully achieves overprinting, what features can the press add and how easy can they be integrated?" Heidelberg's Blais said,"For example, our screen printing units replace flexographic units, thus eliminating waste while maintaining extremely short web paths."
According to Omit's Baldwin, the financial stability of equipment partners is also key, as is the "future-oriented" nature of the printing press. Modularity and the ability to grow with machines are as important as the initial investment.
"Sitting down with machine suppliers and discussing setting up time and setting up wasted parameters is where the return on investment lies," Newport's Landberg explains."Low-automated machines generate more setup costs for every job you run on the new machine. In addition, we need to talk about tools and whether we can make quick order swaps, both now and in the future. Health and safety are also areas of increasing concern for processors, but this investment can pay off throughout the life cycle of the equipment."
For Bost, its Bobst Connect is tailor-made for Bost machines to integrate data sharing. "Bost's vision for the future of the packaging industry includes the need for greater connectivity throughout the value chain," Corti explains."Connectivity means that customers 'machines are connected to workflows so that any problems can be resolved remotely very quickly, while also optimizing machines with machine-generated data. This is critical to achieving better production performance and remaining competitive in the future."
To promote data sharing, MPS continues to promote MPSConnect, which allows label processors to get deep into the press and get an accurate understanding of what is happening. The company's sensor technology is combined with the Internet (IoT) to make real-time data collection possible. According to MPS, hundreds of sensors in these smart flexographic presses collect data from hundreds of events every second to identify bottlenecks, errors and inefficiencies in the operation and optimize press performance while reducing waste.
In addition, MPS has developed VirtualCoach, a real-time operator tool driven by data and artificial intelligence for all new MPS presses. VirtualCoach lets operators understand the quality and efficiency of all activities they perform on the press.
02 Perfect combination of flexo printing and digital
Many processors never thought they would invest in digital presses in their lifetime. They never thought this technology would be a viable alternative to flexo printing, but the truth is this: If you are looking to grow, there is room for both.
"Digitalization brings many benefits to production, such as no plate costs, faster set-up, variable printing, and the ability to handle multiple SKUs," Omit's Baldwin pointed out."For higher speeds, longer running times, decoration, cold ironing, rotary screen printing, die cutting, etc., flexo printing still has advantages. With the updates and advances of servo motors, tension control, printing plates, anilox rollers, inks and other technologies, flexographic printing is still breaking through the boundaries of today's printing industry. These two printing methods each have their own advantages, but when you combine flexographic printing with numbers, the result will be the best of both worlds."
According to Bost's Corti, processors need to explore their business development to fully understand what technologies make the most sense. "Although Boster's integrated technology provides unparalleled opportunities, it is important to note that flexo printing itself can also play an important role. There is no single technology that can meet all production needs. We believe that flexo printing and digital printing are complementary rather than competitive. Again, this is where every processor must choose the type and configuration of printing press that best suits their needs, whether it is flexo, digital or a combination of the two."
Even though digitalization has become an important trend in the industry, traditional printing and processing processes are still the key to completing many of the jobs in operation today. "Very few labels are limited to 4-6 color ink deposition without coating, decoration, processing, etc." explained Schelmbauer of McAndy,"So no matter what the processor's workflow, traditional printing and processing processes are still needed to complete label production. This can be done with our Rotoflex or Maiandi offline processing equipment, with greater flexibility, mixing and significantly improving quality under a single control platform, reducing waste and driving more efficient production."
Despite the proliferation of digital technology, experts predict that flexographic printing will continue to flourish for some time. Heidelberg's Blais commented: "There is still a large market for flexographic printing and will continue to exist for a long time. Many processors are entering the packaging space, which often requires longer running times, which is ideal for flexo printing technology. Flexo and digital/hybrid also complement each other based on market and order size."
In fact, Newport's Landberg sees combination printing as the future trend of label printing. "We actually still offer hybrid machines, where FA-Line is combined with OEM digital printing equipment, which can add value to flexo-based machines and can also be used for in-line processing for inkjet-based multicolor presses. We believe that combining printing technology and leveraging the advantages of each process while avoiding shortcomings will be the future of modern printing and processing."
03 New printing press
Manufacturers are already speeding up to deliver innovation quickly. For example, Bost's flexographic printing technology increasingly includes digital inkjet technology to better leverage their respective advantages. Bost works closely with its customers to optimize their production workshops so that they can provide their customers with the best possible service with excellent quality and fast delivery.
"Bost has successfully combined its expertise in digital and flexographic printing into an integrated concept, as demonstrated by the recently launched Digital Master series in 340 and 510 mm print widths," Corti explained,"This new series of label presses is an upgradable, future-ready, modular combination of digital and flexographic printing."
With this in mind, Bost said it offers a range of unit-mounted flexographic presses, starting with the entry-level Nova M1, which provides quality label printing at an affordable price, and the Vision M1, a compact solution that provides operating efficiency and flexibility, all the way to the Master M5, a digital flexographic press for labels and flexible packaging, and the Master M6 for labels, flexible packaging and folding cartons, With greater performance and flexibility.
Heidelberg builds itself on its Gelas Labelmaster products in flexo printing. "We offer presses in 13-inch, 17-inch and 22-inch formats," Blais explained,"The technology is highly automated to reduce waste. Our web path from one station to another is very short, which reduces machine set-up and production time. Our flagship products remain the RCS430 and RCS570, which can be retrofitted to offset units and gravure presses, as well as screen units, hot stamping, cold stamping and embossing units."
Mai Andi continues to emphasize servo drive technology, and all customers can use servo drive technology in various configurations. In addition to the company's traditional 2200 products, Maiandi now only offers 100% high-precision, servo-driven web handling, printing and processing process control, which is demonstrated on Maiandi's multi-functional performance line.
At the same time, MPS facilitates connectivity and data sharing through its latest printing options. Recently, MPS launched a new generation of EF machines, a rugged, reliable, high-quality and fully automatic flexographic printing press that can run around the clock. According to MPS, the press has two levels of automation, as well as technologies such as Crisp.Dot, iControl, Ultraflex Railsystem, and Auto-Teach Pre-Register.
Recently, Newbotai launched a new FA-26 flexo printer. The press is mainly designed for flexible packaging and is based on a platform that utilizes UV, water-based and solvent-based flexographic printing. "This can be combined with multiple forms of in-line lamination to provide an efficient foundation for value-added flexible packaging," Landberg commented."We offer solvent thermal lamination, aqueous lamination, UV lamination and e-beam lamination. We can provide printing and processing with food safety solutions for small batch production based on highly advanced automation."
Omet offers a wide range of products, from narrow width rotary flexographic presses to medium width rotary flexographic presses and offset presses. In the past few years, Omitt has released three new series of printing presses. XJet is a flexo/digital hybrid solution that is available in 13-inch, 17-inch and 20-inch formats at speeds of up to 328 fpm.
Baldwin said: "The X7 is a 26-inch wide medium flexographic press that is ideal for processors who want to transition from PS labels to shrink label and flexible packaging markets. At the same time, KFlex is our latest product, which helps processors achieve greater productivity and product quality, as well as unique flexibility for niche markets, such as extended content labeling. It is available in 17-inch and 20-inch options."
