Flexography is a roll-feed web printing process. Flexographic printing is commonly used to print high volumes of labels and packaging. Presses can print on a variety of films, foils, papers, corrugated board, and paperboard and achieve speeds of 500 to 2000 feet per minute.
Products printed on flexo presses include adhesive and shrink-sleeve labels (bottle wraps); ice cream cartons; folding cartons; shopping bags; plastic bags; pouches; packets; gift wrap; tissue; envelopes; wallpaper; and disposable plates and cups.
How It Works
A flexible, photopolymer plate is wrapped around a rotating cylinder for each color. Like the letterpress printing process, the graphics and text for each color are raised from the surface of the plate. Only the raised areas of the plate are inked.