In the production process of flexo packaging, everyone wants better print quality and higher consistency, but this is often at the expense of profit. Wherever the cost of running a flexo press is between 300 and 600 euros per hour, ensuring that the job is accurate before printing is critical to the printing company's profits. In this process, the management of the anilox roller is the most critical. For a printer, as long as you can control the printing press and manage the inventory of the anilox roller, you can control your destiny in your own hands.
A large-format flexo company in the US with 10 printing units has recently confirmed that they can shorten the preparation time of each rocket by more than one hour. Specifically, they are profitable by increasing the printing machine's effective running time, reducing ink adjustments and waste. Printing companies should guard against all possible problems and use the printer as proofing equipment as little as possible. In addition, the number of adjustments to the ink, the calibration plate, or the replacement of the substrate should also be reduced, all of which can incur a lot of waste.
Perfect offline management can save the printing company at least 2,000 euros per week (per press). Phil Hall, general manager of Troika Systems, a developer of printing quality control systems in the United Kingdom, said: “Every 80% to 90% of the flexo printing work is done before printing. If you can control the variables in the process before you start printing, the printing needs The time and cost will be minimized."
However, when managers of printing companies talk about this problem, they will always be very difficult to perform because about 60% of the jobs require a certain degree of ink adjustment to achieve the desired color effect. If the printing ink matches the proofs, the operator does not need to adjust them. Many ink technicians believe that high-frequency ink adjustments will have an effect on the anilox roll.
A set of four-color anilox rollers, as long as the number of prints exceeds 5% to 10% of the nominal print volume, the ink, setting, and speed of the printing press need to be re-adjusted, which takes a certain amount of time and cannot be reused. .