Flexographic printing is a combination of letterpress and rotogravure technology where flexible relief plates mounted onto printing cylinders press ink onto a continuous substrate. A basic flexo printing machine setup consists of a fountain roll, a cell-structured ink-metering or anilox roll, a plate cylinder, and an impression cylinder. Among the most widely-used printing processes – including screen, gravure and lithographic printing – flexo printing has had the most significant growth in recent years, as of the date of publication.Flexo printing works well with a variety of substrates and fast-drying inks, making it ideal for packaging and publication printing. It is widely used in the production of newspapers, catalogs, shopping bags, self-adhesive labels, disposable cups, milk cartons, Paper Printing Machine gift wrap and wallpaper. Common substrates include both porous and nonporous materials, such as paper, metallic films and foil, cellophane, acetate and cardboard. Aside from conventional solvent-based printing inks, flexo printing can also use water-based, UV-curable, fluorescent and metallic inks. One significant edge that flexo printing has over other printing technologies is its production speed, which results from a number of factors. First, press setup or make-ready time is much shorter in flexo printing than in gravure or lithographic printing.
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