Often Imitated, Never Duplicated

Feltz concurs. “When faced with short job runs, screen printing provides a much more economical solution than embossing. Larger runs will help justify the additional cost associated with embossing tooling,” he says.

Speed is also an issue. “Running speeds would be a consideration,” says McGee. “Embossing would typically run at a higher production speed than what rotary screen ink application speeds are, so longer runs could favor metal or photopolymer plate embossing.” Feltz adds that screen printing has many advantages, but a major disadvantage is speed. “An average screen process will be run at approximately 200 fpm. The limitation is the ability of the ink to flow and wet out at higher speeds,” he says.