Flexographic Printing - Narrow Web

It’s a virtual war out there and converters are on the front lines. Striving to stay one step ahead of the competition, converters need to know they have a support system that they can seek out and use for appealing product innovations, especially when it comes to the building blocks of the printing world—printing presses. Narrow-web press manufacturers are listening closely to what printers are asking for, and are developing new and better equipment all the time. To do this well, they must know what converters are demanding from their presses. Mac Rosenbaum, vice president, sales and marketing, Aquaflex (A division of F.L. Smithe

In today’s packaging markets, constant change is just the starting point. Technology is moving rapidly, with flexible packaging now playing a major role—in the form of pouches, often barrier-coated—as the container of choice for many snack foods, drinks, and other consumer products. Molded packaging is a major feature on supermarket shelves, as are all rigid plastics; and metal containers are also showing growth. Increasing awareness of the good environmental characteristics of paper-based products has led to a resurgence of interest in cartonboard as a packaging medium. In the product-decoration field, sleeving in all its forms, is growing fast. Print technologies have also

Necessity is the mother of invention.” Plato gets credit for coining this phrase. While this is unquestionably true, it’s the forces of “necessity” that are relative. For example, necessity reared its head somewhat earlier in the offset world than in the world of flexographic package printing, where the migration from analog (film-based) to digital platemaking still lags the adoption of computer-to-plate (CTP) in other segments of the industry. There are signs that this is poised to change. As consumer product companies and big box retailers look to drive sales through innovative, high-quality packaging—delivered faster and at lower cost than ever before—their printing providers

The pressure-sensitive label market continues to stretch itself in pursuit of increased market opportunities. Could it do more to extend its reach? On top of the lingering challenges of overcapacity and maturity in the narrow-web industry, the pressure-sensitive label market is having to weather a persistent price squeeze and steady inroads by alternative label and package structures. How are pressure-sensitive converters and suppliers staying strong in the face of these market forces? Statistics have long favored this label segment, and for good reason. "Pressure-sensitive has the widest application base of any label decorating method," says Jennifer Dochstader, managing director at Label and Packaging Communications