Digital Proofing and Packaging Printing

Packaging printing is the most rapidly developing printing field in China for the past 10 years. It covers almost all printing processes, including offset printing, gravure printing, screen printing, and flexo printing. For a long time, the packaging and printing proofing is mainly to meet the visual effects, and it is difficult to achieve the reproducibility of the printing effect or the reduction of the original. Some of the process of proofing, such as gravure proofing, due to the long cycle, high cost, simply canceled the proofing; some use indirect proofing, such as gravure printing process using traditional proofing, the same long cycle, poor process-related. Therefore, packaging plate proofing is always one of the issues surrounding the quality management of package printing and the improvement of the quality of packaged products. As the quality requirements of packaging and printing products become more and more exquisite, the requirements for proofing are getting higher and higher, especially the speed of proofing and the reproducibility of printing effects.
At present, after the development of digital proofing technology in the past five years, it has reached a stage that is quite mature and is rapidly becoming popular. It should be said that packaging printing is the most significant area of ​​benefit from digital proofing technology. Whether it is the quality of proofing or the speed, cost, and breadth of proofing, all aspects of the industry's concern have been recognized and affirmed.
Compared with traditional offset and gravure proofing techniques, digital proofing is fast, stable, less investment, less occupied, and has no special requirements for the environment; bid farewell to the fact that digital proofing does not require special personnel and does not require long-term training and practice. The front-end design or production staff associated with the network can output the required electronic documents, obtain satisfactory proofs, or provide quality for the pre-inspection process (design and production), or refer to printing after the printing process, or sign for the user. kind.
For those plate-making fields without conventional color separations, such as offset printing and flexo-printing (CTP) systems, and electronic engraved gravure plate printing systems without software package slices, digital proofing becomes a necessary process and technology. People can get "what you see is what you get" proofs within a few minutes.
At present, under the control of color management software, various digital proofing systems can quickly and quickly produce color proofs that meet the requirements of various different printing processes, different paper (or substrates), and ink effects. The web can reach more than 1.5 meters per square. The output speed of rice is only about 5 minutes, and the image resolution can reach more than 600dpi. For example, the Designjet 5000 large-format inkjet printer of Hewlett-Packard Co., Ltd. matches the color management software Harliquin RIP of Jin Hao, and it can obtain an ideal digital proofing system at a price less than one-eighth that of the traditional proofer. The cost of proofing is significantly lower than the traditional proofing process, which was unthinkable years ago.
In short, the new digital proofing technology provides the ideal proofing method for packaging and plate making. It breaks the boundaries between printing process materials and printability. It can not only print out FM network dots or continuous tone proofs, but also print and print. The effect is completely consistent (such as the number of hanging lines, dot shape, and screen angle). Digital proofing technology will be rapidly promoted in the field of packaging and printing, and will increase the quality of packaging and printing, and make due contributions to meet the needs of faster and better social needs. (China Institute of Printing Science and Technology Li Jiaxiang) ("Packaging Printing")