Local specialties refer to high-quality agricultural products or particularly famous processed products in a certain area. For Sichuan, there are agricultural specialty products such as Zhangfei beef, Tongjiang Tremella, Hanyuan Sichuan pepper, Pujiang kiwifruit, Qinghong crispy plum, old cured meat, and Sichuan embroidery. The gift box packaging of local specialty products is different from other products and has its own characteristics. It needs to integrate local characteristics for innovative planning and production. The basic process and technology of traditional local specialty gift box packaging customization mainly include pre press graphic and text processing, plate making, printing, and post press processing. Here are several printing methods for packaging local specialty gift boxes:
1. Offset printing
Offset printing is a printing method that utilizes the principle of oil and water being immiscible, and uses rubber cloth to transfer the graphic and textual information on the offset plate onto the substrate. The image and text information of the offset printing plate is hydrophilic, while the non image and text parts are hydrophilic. The printing plate is simply flat, so it is also called offset printing. Offset printing machines are widely used in color printing and packaging products. With their high printing quality, rich colors, and good image hierarchy, they are highly sought after by major local specialty brand packaging companies. The high power of offset printing can also meet the demand for rapid sales growth of local specialty gift box packaging products.
2. Flexographic printing
Flexographic printing is a printing method that uses a flexible photosensitive resin plate to transfer ink through a network of ink transfer spokes. Due to the protruding graphic and textual information of the plate, it is also a type of relief printing. The printing plate of flexographic printing is a photosensitive resin plate with a thickness of. The ink layer of flexographic printing is relatively thick, which is between offset printing and gravure printing. The color is stable, the printing power is high, and the ink is green and environmentally friendly. It has been widely used in food packaging. Flexographic printing is less commonly used in gift box packaging, and the primary method is to use flexographic printing on the outer packaging cardboard boxes of local specialties.
3. Gravure printing
Gravure printing is a printing method in which ink is directly pressed onto a substrate using a recessed graphic printing plate. The depth of the printing plate pit determines the intensity and level of the ink. If the pit is deeper, the printing ink layer will be thicker; On the contrary, if the pits are shallow, the ink layer for printing is thinner. The ink layer of gravure printed packaging products is thick, with outstanding layering, bright ink colors, high saturation, stable product quality, high printing power, and very durable printing plates. They are generally used for packaging local specialty paper boxes and gift boxes with particularly high demand.
4. Screen printing
Silk screen printing is a printing method that utilizes the principle that ink can pass through some of the mesh holes of the screen printing plate, and is kneaded by manual or semi-automatic scraping methods to transfer the ink through the mesh holes onto the substrate. The screen printing ink layer is the thickest among the four printing methods (ink layer can reach 30-100 μ m). The screen printing ink layer has strong tactile and three-dimensional effects, and can be used to create ice and wrinkles. It is widely used in high-end local gift box packaging to enhance the texture of the surface and enhance the layering of local gift box packaging products.
5. Digital printing
Digital printing is a printing method that directly prints computer graphic and textual information onto paper through data conversion and printing equipment. It completely breaks through the fundamental process of traditional printing, achieving a one-time completion of plate free, dynamic data, and full-color images, and is a new printing method. The biggest feature of digital printing is the lack of printing and variable information, which integrates various skills such as printing, electronics, computer, network, communication, etc. Digital printing skills currently have low production power and poor stability, and are primarily used for packaging development, sampling, and small batch packaging trademark printing. But the emergence of digital printing skills has greatly increased the development power of packaging. To complete a sample of packaging, traditional printing methods require one to two days, while digital printing only takes about an hour.
6. Post press processing technology
The traditional post-press processing techniques for gift box packaging mainly include hot stamping, polishing, embossing, and die-cutting. Post press processing technology not only enhances the layering of packaging, but also has strong anti-counterfeiting function, adding added value to the product, giving new functions and life to the packaging of local specialty gift boxes.
With the increasing development and continuous innovation of printing skills, various post-press processing techniques have been developed on the basis of conventional post-press processing techniques, such as reverse polishing developed from polishing oil; The cat's eye hot stamping, cold stamping, holographic anti-counterfeiting hot stamping, laser micro engraving hot stamping, etc. developed from the hot stamping process. However, no matter how innovative the post-press processing technology is, its primary goal is to improve the precision and layering of packaging. The more complex the post press process, the higher the cost of packaging, the longer the printing cycle, and the higher the scrap rate. Therefore, complex post-press processing skills are often used in the packaging of advanced products.
