Package printing
Whether for a presentation, transport or sales at the POS: brands and merchandise most effectively draw attention when the packaging is just right. It's the medium in which consumers experience a brand directly. In many cases, packaging is in fact their first decisive visual and haptic encounter with the brand. Which makes packaging printing all the more important: packaging lifts the veil of anonymity from corrugated cardboard boxes, "dresses them up" and makes products more attractive. Packaging is the place where brands can be staged for maximum impact -- even across multiple dimensions, if digital smart printing is used.
Before or after: Corrugated cardboard packaging printing as preprint or postprint
Unlike direct printing using flexo-based high-quality postprint (HQPP), pre-printing for packaging shifts the relevant production step forward. Printing is initially performed on the webs of liner paper, which are then applied onto the corrugated cardboard substrate. HQPP by contrast prints directly on the corrugated cardboard sheets as they undergo finishing at the corrugated cardboard plant.
The best-known advantage for the flexo web preprinting in comparison to direct printing: there is no "washboard effect", even when low grammages are used. To achieve similar outstanding results as achieved through preprinting, higher grammages are needed in flexo postprint -- which naturally brings higher time and materials costs with it.
Flexo preprint at Christiansen Print: Cutting-edge CI and Belt technology
In the area of flexo preprint, Christiansen Print works with a broad mix technologies capable of delivering precisely the right effects for your job: CI, central cylinder and belt. Two identically built, ultra-modern Bobst 96 S CI central cylinder flexo printing machine, the largest anywhere in the world, produce brilliant print images in infinitely variable print lengths of up to 2.06 m. Our CONPRINTA assembly works with the latest in belt technology, allowing razor-sharp yet extremely affordable printing on extra-large print formats (up to 4.55 m).
Benefits of packaging preprinting with flexo preprint
High-quality flexo preprint is suited for many potential packaging printing applications and is especially economical for medium to large print runs. Offset printing produces thoroughly outstanding results for smaller and medium print volumes. Yet here the rule is: offset requires higher grammages (standard: 180 g/m²). Compared with flexo preprint, there are restrictions to the formats as well as the quality of the selected paper. Flexo printing also delivers consistent, high-carat print quality even for oversized packaging printing formats.
Digital, intelligent and forward-looking packaging printing: HP PageWide T1100S at Christiansen Print in Ilsenburg
Digital direct transfer of the print image into the machine and a multi-line process that divides paper webs into individual lanes to produce different print images in parallel production: PageWide T1100S from HP is currently the largest digital inkjet web printing machine for corrugated cardboard packaging on the market. It is the new gold standard for packaging printing. These levels of flexibility, agility and cost-efficiency for print jobs are unprecedented -- and can be tailored down to the precise unit count.
