As environmental demands in the printing industry increase, flexo printing is becoming more popular in the flexible packaging field, with its applications expanding in the printing of paper, film, and laminated packaging.
CI flexo presses are widely used in fields such as paper package, sanitary package, beverages, food, and medical packaging. Currently, the share of flexo printing in these fields varies significantly across different regions. In Europe, North America, and South America, almost 100% of these products use flexo printing. In South Asia, the share is over 80%, whereas in Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia, gravure printing is predominant. In China, flexo printing accounts for 15% to 20%, with the rest mainly using gravure printing.
Which is more advantageous in the flexible packaging industry: flexo printing or gravure printing? This article compares the two by examining investments in equipment, investments and maintenance costs for plate storage, plate costs and service life, and printing run costs.
1. Machine Investment Comparison
As shown in Table 1, acquiring an 8-color CI flexo press from a European brand costs between 1.5 to 2 million euros, while a gravure printing machine from a European or Japanese brand costs between 1.3 to 2 million euros. Thus, the investment for an imported CI flexo press is comparable to that of an imported gravure printing machine.
| Type | Width | Colors | Price | Brand |
| CI Flexo | 1200-1500mm | 8-10 colors | 1.5-2 million Euro | Europe brand |
| CI Flexo | 1200-1500mm | 8-10 colors | 1.5-2 million Euro | China brand |
| Rotogravure | 600-1250mm | 8-10 colors | 0.5-1.1 million Euro | Europe & Japan brand |
| Rotogravure | 600-1250mm | 8-10 colors | 0.5-1.1 million Euro | China brand |
According to market information, the procurement cost for a CI flexo press manufactured in China is about 500,000 to 1.1 million euros, while a Chinese-made gravure printing machine costs about 200,000 to 800,000 euros. Clearly, the investment for a Chinese-made CI flexo press is higher than that for a Chinese-made gravure printing machine.
To operate a CI flexo press, a printing plant also needs 10-20 anilox rollers, 20-30 printing sleeves, 1-2 bridge sleeves, and 1 plate mounting machine.
2. Plate Storage and Maintenance Costs
Flexo plates are lightweight plate that are easy to store, typically stored vertically or flat. Each square meter of storage can hold 10-20 sets of plates. A flexo press with about 300-500 products in regular operation requires approximately 50 square meters of standard warehouse space for plate storage, preferably in a constant temperature environment.
Additionally, accessories for the flexo press, such as anilox rollers, printing sleeves, and bridge sleeves, also require storage space, approximately 200 square meters.
Gravure plates, made of metals like steel, copper, and chrome, are heavy, weighing about 10 kg per cylinder. An 8-color set of gravure plates weighs over 80 kg. Thus, gravure plates are generally stored vertically on the ground or on double-layer racks. A gravure press requires 100-500 square meters of rack space. Due to the high load-bearing requirements, the investment in a gravure plate warehouse is typically much higher than that for a standard warehouse.
3. Plate Cost and Service Life Comparison
The cost of a flexo plate is about 0.2 to 0.3 RMB/cm², while a gravure plate costs about 0.15 to 0.20 RMB/cm². Therefore, flexo plate making costs are generally 20% to 50% higher than gravure plate making costs.The average service life of a flexo plate is about 500,000 to 1 million impressions, while a gravure plate can exceed 1 million impressions.
However, the plate-making cycle for flexo is short, only 1-2 days, compared to 3-7 days for gravure, significantly improving efficiency and meeting customers’ flexible delivery requirements.
4. Printing Run Cost Comparison
1) Printing Efficiency: Flexo printing speeds are high, with current models reaching 350-500 m/min. In contrast, gravure printing can only achieve speeds of 120-200 m/min when printing on flexible and stretchable film.
2) Register Precision: Gravure printing has a longer web path, with each color’s path extending 4-6 meters. In flexo, the web path between color units is only 40-60 cm. Gravure often encounters issues with lateral register precision, especially with wide-format and flexible, stretchable film materials, an issue that is almost non-existent in flexo.
For example, in the case of LDPE film products, flexo’s qualified rate is about 5% to 10% higher than gravure. Flexo register precision can reach 0.1-0.2 mm, with high-end European presses achieving 0.08-0.05 mm, compared to gravure’s 0.3-0.5 mm.
Therefore, gravure’s lateral register issues limit it to narrow-width, low-speed printing on stretchable films, whereas flexo can achieve high-speed, wide-width printing, resulting in a 4-6 times efficiency difference.
3) Energy Consumption: As shown in Table 2, comparing a 10-color gravure press and a 10-color CI flexo press with a 1250 mm width, flexo printing costs are lower, whether using steam or electrical heating, and the operational power cost for the flexo press is also lower than that for gravure.
| Heating Method | Consumption | Gravure | Flexo |
| Steam heating | tons/10,000m | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Electrical heating | kW/10,000m | 160 | 140 |
4) Ink and Solvent Consumption: Flexo’s ink layer is thinner than gravure’s, resulting in lower ink consumption. Additionally, flexo uses a closed ink chamber and ink circulation system, significantly reducing solvent evaporation. Compared to gravure’s open ink chamber, flexo’s solvent consumption is 40% to 50% lower.
5) Job Change Efficiency: Changing an 8-color job on a gravure press takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, consuming 200-300 meters of film. Changing an 8-color job on a servo-driven CI flexo press takes 0.75 to 1.5 hours, consuming 80-100 meters of film. The latest flexo presses with automatic ink path cleaning and automatic pressure control systems only require 0.5 hours.
6) Consumables Consumption: Gravure uses a heavy-pressure single blade system, while flexo uses a light-pressure double blade system, consuming about 30% of gravure’s blade usage. Flexo printing typically requires 0.55 mm thick double-sided tape, which gravure does not need.
5. Environmental and Safety
Due to environmental concerns, government regulations on VOC emissions are becoming stricter, forcing many gravure companies to invest millions of RMB in VOC exhaust treatment equipment, which is large and expensive to run.
Although both flexo and gravure mainly use solvent-based inks, environmentally friendly water-based inks are the future trend. Flexo is more suited to this transition, and currently, a high proportion of breathable films are printed with water-based inks.
Water-based inks avoid VOC pollution, improve the printing environment, benefit health, and are particularly suitable for packaging products with high hygiene requirements, such as food, beverages, and medicines. They also reduce fire risk from static electricity and concentrated solvents, and minimize residual solvent odors on printed products.
6. Reducing Material Thickness
Flexo’s advantages in printing on thin, stretchable films allow for higher printing speeds, precise register precision, and reduced waste. This enables the use of thinner substrates without compromising functionality, thereby lowering costs and reducing packaging waste.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both gravure and flexo printing have their advantages. In normal production, tracking the costs of the same product reveals that gravure is cheaper for smaller orders due to lower plate-making costs. However, as order volumes increase, flexo’s efficiency, lower energy consumption, reduced ink and solvent use, and higher qualitied rates become increasingly advantageous. When order volumes exceed a certain threshold, flexo printing becomes more cost-effective than gravure printing.
