Label printing equipment is broadly divided into three major categories: mainly flexo-printed, more common in North American countries; mainly flexo-printed and embossed, supplemented by European users; favored by European users; The supplement of the main and flexo printing is the first choice in the Asia-Pacific region. China's self-adhesive label printing industry: There are many small and medium-sized printing factories, and there are fewer specialized large-scale printing factories; there are many primary equipments in printing factories and there are few high-end equipments. The development of the adhesive label printing market is uneven: the coastal areas are developed, the central area is the second, and the inland areas are relatively backward. In the area of ​​label printing, letterpress printing is the mainstay. Continuous paper feeding is the most advanced form of printing, followed by reciprocating, and intermittent feeding is the first level and the least accurate feeding method. Sheet-fed sticker printing is a unique processing method in China and has rarely been seen abroad. The domestic level of self-adhesive label printing is only in the primary stage, and there is a big gap with the world's advanced level. Not only in the printing equipment, but also in the design of the printing process, printed materials and labels.

1. Letterpress label printing equipment

There are two manufacturers of equipment for the production of letterpress, round-circle, sticker printing equipment, Japan's Ko-Pack and Japan's sole proprietorship, Shanghai Shinsei Sun. The products belong to the satellite continuous feed printing machine, configured as 6-color UV letterpress printing and a set of UV coating; optional round die-cutting, flat die-cutting, corona treatment, single leaflet cutting and single-sheet receiving devices. In order to ensure the accuracy of UV coating, Ko-Pack and Sunray Sun have changed the traditional roller coating to a flexo coating. The amount of varnish coating is determined by the number of anilox roller lines, which is independent of the pressure and the printing speed, ensuring the consistency of the printed gloss.

Flat-press flat intermittent delivery label printing equipment is also commonly used equipment for label printing. The main producers are Taiwan Wanhao and Rui'an Zhongtian. The main transmission mechanism of the equipment is changed from the traditional mechanical transmission to the electromechanical integrated shaftless transmission. The length of the paper can be pre-set by the computer, and the paper is automatically pulled by the drum to completely eliminate mechanical errors. Another significant change is the installation of a UV drying device. The use of UV inks has expanded the scope of label printing, increased the printing speed, and eliminated the coating process.

2. Flexo label printing equipment

All these devices are narrow flexo presses, mainly domestic products such as Shanghai Ziguang, Xi'an Black Bull, and Wuxi Baoan, etc. The equipment has two characteristics:

1 Use UV ink instead of water-based ink, UV ink stability, avoid frequent cleaning plate and ink system. What is more important is that the color density of the UV ink is greater than that of the water-based ink, which can improve the printing quality of the label.

2 Universal use of filmless direct laser platemaking technology, avoiding the loss of small outlets, the parallelization of large outlets, and the improvement of the image hierarchy, the sharpness of the graphic and text and the printing quality have been greatly improved.

Flexo printing labels are the direction of future development. Currently, flexographic printing equipment produced by domestic enterprises using domestic resources and foreign technologies is gradually accepted by domestic printing companies in terms of printing quality and price, and flexographic printing is not applied. The market share of adhesive labels is growing rapidly.

3. Die-cutting equipment

There are two kinds of printing processing methods: One-step type, that is, printing and die-cutting are completed at one time. One end of the machine is used to input raw materials, and the other end is labeled with a finished product, which is suitable for simple label production. The step-by-step, label printing and die-cutting are performed on two devices, which are suitable for label production with complicated graphics, multiple processes, and large batch sizes. Step-by-step processing can reduce costs, reduce waste, and increase efficiency.

1 web circular press die cutting machine

The off-line die-cutting machine can not only process the self-adhesive label roll material after printing, but also can directly die-cut the blank label and fold or cut the single-sheet, which has high efficiency and precision.

2 sheet-fed flat die-cutting machine

Offset labels with sheetfed offsets currently account for 10% of all label production in China.

All of these products are die-cut on flat die-cut manual die-cutting machines, and are not suitable for self-adhesive materials. They have large labor intensity, low production efficiency and poor die-cutting quality.
As a major producer of labels, China is also the country with the largest potential for label printing. In the future, self-adhesive label printing will develop in many aspects. Label printing factories of various business scopes and processing types will have their own development space. The future market for self-adhesive label printing equipment will be very prosperous, new equipment will gradually replace old equipment, and printing technologies and processes will coexist in many forms.

Flexographic printing equipment

In particular, the number of UV flexo printing equipment in the field of label printing will increase rapidly, and the market share and quality of domestic equipment will also be greatly increased. The main reason is that the plate making technology has developed rapidly, the supporting services for the flexo printing market have become more complete, and the label printing market has become more standardized.

2. Round pressure rotary printing equipment

At present, all round rotary presses are occupied by imported equipment, including Japan's Ko-Pack, Taiwan's Labelman, and the Mainland's basic blank (Taihang has produced several prototypes). As long as the domestic equipment quality is stable, such equipment will quickly occupy the domestic market.

3. Round-circle reciprocating paper feed semi-rotary printing equipment

As the most popular equipment in the label printing industry, there will be rapid development. Its moderate price, stable printing quality, suitable for different types of orders (batch, small batch and temporary proofing). However, the disadvantages are slow speed, certain requirements on the quality of raw materials, and overprint defects.

4. Round press flat printing equipment

Once the main equipment for label printing, but this type of equipment has two major defects: overprinting is not allowed, the impression cylinder reciprocating, easy to cause label overlay error; low efficiency, high-speed operation, the machine vibrates violently, can not be normal production Will be phased out.

Reprinted from: Chen Yi