The Role of Offset in Flexible Packaging

August 12th, 2011

Naturally, it’s important to consider industry trends concerning the print quality necessary to meet customer demand and market dynamics. It is becoming increasingly difficult for printers to tout high-end print capability if offering only limited repertoire in terms of print genre. Flexo, gravure, offset; where are the lines of competition drawn, who draws them and why? It could be as one would suspect, customer-driven, or possibly supplier-driven in efforts to maintain the status quo while avoiding the risks associated with capital expenditure in a depressed economy; survival versus growth strategy.

Higher-end printing concepts are nothing new; they have always been in perpetual motion. But where are they in print packaging today and more importantly, where will they be tomorrow? High-end print quality could be defined in terms of explosive graphics, high line screens/resolution, extreme registration tolerance, clean highlights, smooth gradations, proof matching ability, myriad coating/substrate options, and more. Is the demand great enough to command the attention of customers? Moreover, does it represent value to customers and can it be achieved on numerous substrates with a single press, or would several presses of varying genre be required? Regardless, results “off the shelf” suggest that high-end print quality is intrinsically linked to greater sales and therefore, to greater value...

Click here to read the entire article