Crazy for Combos

Mark Andy also believes cost has been an overriding issue with gravure, and points to the costly cylinders as a main reason. "The gravure cylinder is much more expensive than a normal flexo plate, so it is usually used in one of two applications," Daming contends. "It is used when the application requires a high-quality image—and is a very long run. That is the only way to economically justify the cost of the gravure print cylinder."