The Label Printing Blog

Label Expo Europe is now over for another two years but we are pleased to reflect on what was a very busy exhibition for Focus Label Machinery.

It’s that time of year again! And this year Labelexpo Europe 2019 is celebrating its 40th anniversary at one of Europe’s best-connected exhibition centres, the iconic Brussels Expo. With 9 halls, 600 exhibitors, and 4 days filled with the latest in labelling and packaging innovation, Labelexpo Europe 2019 will bring together the most advanced engineering solutions from across the industry. With so many leaps forward in the past twelve months, 2019 looks set to be an event to remember.

Have you noticed the inexorable rise of tagless labelling? In a world where brand identity is everything, heat transfers have emerged as a solution that looks good, feels good, and won’t be snipped out of clothes by itchy customers.

There are times in life when small differences mean a world of benefits. A tweak here, a thoughtful addition there, or a bit of extra investment. In the world of flexographic printing the result can be increases in productivity, energy efficiency, and quality.

In flexo printing, 'image transfer' refers to the process by which an image is transferred from the image carrier to the substrate it is printed onto. As we have previously covered, this image transfer process is actually one of the main differences between flexo printing and offset printing. In this post, we take a closer look at image transfer.

Flexo printing defects are frustrating and expensive, harming the quality of your printed products and making print jobs look unprofessional. Fortunately, the most common printing defects also have common causes and, in many cases, simple solutions. In this blog post, we look at three of the most common defects you should be aware of.

'Dot gain', sometimes known as tone value increase (TVI), is a flexo printing defect characterised by the diameter of halftone dots increasing during the printing process. Essentially, this means the dots on your printed substrate come out larger than intended and, in many cases, this will result in printed material looking darker or fuzzier.

Ultimately, dot gain is a problem because it can have a detrimental impact on the quality of your final printed product. Dot gain is usually expressed as a numerical value, giving the difference between the dot size on the source file and the actual dot size on the final printed product.

Fortunately, with flexo printing, there are steps that can be taken to minimise the problem. Let’s take a look.

At Labelexpo 2019, Focus Label Machinery will launch a new range of compact video platemounting systems for narrow & mid web applications.

The Platemate 2 system makes use of two pre-applied register marks on the extreme edges of the polymer printing plate, which are aligned perpendicular to the printing direction. The printing cylinder is loaded onto the system and double sided adhesive tape applied to its surface.

Increasing the speed of a printing press is a common goal for many printing businesses. After all, the difference between 300 fpm and 600 fpm, when evaluated over the course of a whole year, can make an enormous difference to the number of items that are printed and, consequentially to your profits.

The four-yearly ITMA textile and garment technology expo is the world’s leading event for the international textile industry, showcasing the latest in materials technology and technical innovation – including in textile printing. As such, it is a great opportunity for businesses like us to engage with suppliers, customers and friends in one place – and also to keep up to date with the changes transforming the industry.