Direct printing of corrugated cardboard with Roland 900 offset press (1)

Previously, direct printing of corrugated cardboard was the domain of flexographic printing. Today, offset printing presents a good market opportunity due to the excellent quality of its four-color printing.
The transformation of packaging and printing The development of direct offset printing of corrugated board is based on the premise that the design of corrugated boxes is changed to four-color printing.
If a few years ago, storage and transportation packaging was still based on monochrome or two-color field or line printing, people today have demanded that the original appearance of the goods be genuinely printed on their packaging, through this high-quality packaging appearance. Printed to show the excellent quality of the packaged product.
The successful development of a new type of corrugated board has made important contributions to the direct offset printing of corrugated board. As the market demands less and lighter packaging, new types of fine corrugated cardboard have attracted attention, but the corrugated cartons produced by it are required to have a certain degree of stability.
In recent years, there have been many innovations and developments in this field. This development is mainly to meet the needs of offset printing. Fine corrugated cardboard is particularly suitable for printing with an offset press. The stability of G-type and F-type corrugated cardboard is very good, and there is no problem in conducting on-site printing.
This development, as well as external influences (relevant regulations for the packaging of goods), have brought about tremendous changes in the entire corrugated box printing market. In this way, years of disputes between offset printing and flexo printing have subsided. Because what kind of printing method is not important, improving the quality and economic efficiency of printed products is the most important.
People have already abandoned the way of dividing the printing market with newspaper printing, part printing, flexo printing, gravure printing and screen printing. Instead, the market is divided into publishing, printing, packaging and printing. This division is based on the product rather than the printing method. Offset presses are also equipped with flexo coating units, which are no longer used for printing but rather fulfill their mission in terms of quality and economy. This also contributes to the development of direct offset printing of corrugated board.
The continuous development of Manroland's direct offset printing technology for corrugated board has a long history. In 1970 and 1971, Manroland introduced the corrugated board direct offset printing technology to the public. However, the technology was not yet mature at the time. Therefore, no one seriously considered using offset presses to directly print corrugated cardboard. Later Flexo began its pioneering work in this area.
Now, many offset printer manufacturers recalled the trial of direct printing of corrugated cardboard with offset presses at the time and felt that it was also feasible. Mainly because of the light pressure of offset printing, suitable for printing corrugated cardboard. Surprisingly, a few years ago it was retested to directly print corrugated cardboard with an offset press and immediately succeeded.
In fact, the production of corrugated board requires a huge amount of money for technical development to really match the process, equipment and materials in the printing of corrugated board. If it was originally intended to reduce the effect of the washboard and to use a thicker cover for greater compression, then from an economic point of view, the focus of direct offset printing on corrugated board should be aimed at fine corrugated cardboard.
For a printing expert, to produce any packaged print, one should purposefully use the advantages of all printing methods in order to achieve the best quality and effectiveness.
Cardboard and corrugated board manufacturers have been able to meet the high demands of the market and have been able to supply a wide range of different sizes of cardboard, such as: noodle board for folding cartons, heavy duty cardboard with a thickness of 1.4-1.7mm, and N-type and G-type corrugated cardboard Now there is F-type corrugated cardboard.
Growth in the direct printing market for corrugated cardboard The current enthusiasm for direct printing of corrugated board using offset presses is not a temporary one, nor is it an innovative experiment at the expense of developing new technologies, but global packaging and printing companies are accepting this technology. In 1999 and 2000 alone, 25 projects were completed using a Roland 900 offset press.
40% of companies installing Roland 900 offset press are related to the following production:
1. Production of corrugated cardboard, previously used to print corrugated cartons directly by flexo printing.
2. Printed corrugated cardboard, self-produced corrugated cardboard for direct offset printing.
60% of the companies installing Roland 900 offset press are related to the following production:
1. Printing production folding cartons (boxes) and decorations, and die-cutting paste boxes (paste).
2. Corrugated box printing production for a packaging plant that is a middleman.
In these investments, the arguments and wishes of customers are of concern because it determines how the market in this area should develop:
1. Considering the transportation problem, the packaging material should be highly flexible (from wrapping paper to corrugated cardboard).
2. In order to reduce packaging costs, online printing production methods are adopted.
3. Expect higher color and appearance (becoming a favorable purchase condition).
4. As the law requires the reduction of secondary packaging, the requirements for packaging (including storage and transportation packaging) have been increased in terms of providing product information and modeling.
5. Solid paperboard can't be ignored because of the rising price of paper raw materials.