Gravure printing, compared to other printing methods, has significant disadvantages. This is also true for rotary film printing. The loss rate of a unit-type gravure printing machine ranges from 6% to 7%, while that of a satellite flexo printing machine is only 1% to 2%. This difference is quite striking. Even when using the same unit-type rotary printing method, the longer paper path in gravure printing results in much higher losses than in flexo printing. When changing rolls, although 2 to 3 paper paths are needed, the gravure printing machine's longer paper path leads to significantly higher material waste. This doesn't even account for the fact that gravure printing applies the highest printing pressure among all methods. As a result, the loss per color group at mechanical synchronization speed is the greatest, causing major issues with misregistration during overprinting. Additionally, the ink distribution method in gravure printing can lead to quality losses, and the knife wire (or knife line) issue is only temporarily resolved, not permanently fixed.
It's extremely difficult to eliminate faults caused by the inherent characteristics of gravure printing. To improve yield, gravure printing companies have made every effort. For example, some have widened the printing door to 1600mm, aiming to reduce side-wire loss and increase efficiency. However, the wider the machine width, the more challenging it becomes to maintain registration accuracy across the entire width of the printed material, leading to greater registration errors. Despite continuous equipment upgrades and training efforts, yield improvements remain limited. With rising raw material costs today, this challenge is becoming an almost insurmountable obstacle for gravure printing operators.
The quality issues in gravure printing are deeply rooted in its inherent process limitations. Unfortunately, many professionals still fail to recognize this. Large losses in the printing process are often unfairly attributed to frontline operators—blaming their skills or lack of responsibility. Management departments struggle to develop precise processes and instead rely heavily on the on-site expertise of the gravure supervisor. Frontline workers, constrained by their knowledge levels, often depend on outdated or incomplete experience. This has led to a current dilemma in gravure process control: management is distant, and frontline staff are uncertain. In the flexible packaging industry, the finished product rate is generally below 90%, and in some companies, it’s even lower. Since the quality problems in gravure printing are inevitable, the only real solution is to learn from other processes and make necessary improvements or transformations to the gravure printing method itself.
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