Flexography

Flexography, also known as flexographic printing, is a high-speed, direct relief printing method performed on rotary web presses. It employs flexible photopolymer plates or endless rubber sleeves along with low-viscosity, solvent- or water-based inks. The term “direct” refers to ink transferring straight from the plate to the substrate, while “relief” indicates that the image areas stand out in three dimensions.

This versatile technique is widely used for printing on flexible packaging materials such as plastic films, paper, cardboard, and foil. It is equally effective for producing adhesive tapes, insulating papers, carbon-backed papers, napkins, and wallpapers.

A typical flexographic printing unit consists of a series of rollers: an anilox roller meters a precise volume of ink, a doctor blade removes excess ink, and the remaining ink is transferred to the flexible printing plate mounted on a plate cylinder. The plate then applies the ink to the moving web, which is held against an impression cylinder to maintain consistent pressure. Modern flexo presses usually feature 4 to 10 printing stations arranged either in-line or in a central-impression (satellite) configuration.

Laminating

Laminating bonds two or more webs together using adhesive. A common process starts by applying adhesive to a foil or film and then combining it with a second material (e.g., alu/paper or alu/film laminates used for confectionery). Repeating the operation on an existing laminate creates multilayer structures (e.g., alu/paper/alu), ideal for butter wrappers or waffle foils. These multilayer materials provide essential barrier properties for food packaging.

Slitting

Slitting converts printed master reels into narrower, customer-specific rolls. Using precision rotary knives, the slitting machine cuts the wide web longitudinally while rewinding the narrower lanes onto cores with exact inner diameters, winding directions, and maximum reel diameters required by the customer’s packaging lines. This final converting step ensures the material fits perfectly on filling and forming equipment.