Flexographic Print

Flexographic printing is a technique that uses a printing plate to transfer ink onto your corrugated packaging. It’s most commonly used for shipping boxes because of its lower cost and high production speed.

Flexography

Flexography is typically the most economical option for large quantity orders with a bold, straightforward design. This option is often the least costly, but requires tooling for print plates and sometimes cutting dies. The good news is, tooling is a one time cost and will be reused for your future runs of the same size and print scheme!

Flexographic print plates are made of photopolymer slugs positioned on a mylar sheet.

Flexographic printed boxes also require ink drawdown approval on the first run. Ink drawdowns are samples of custom ink builds created by packaging manufacturers to match target PMS colors.

Flexo inks are water based and have a degree of transparency. The substrate (paper color of your box) shows through the inks and can change how we see the selected color. That’s why approving the formulated color in real life is so important.

Flexographic ink drawdowns are formulated to match a target color given different underlying substrate colors.

What is Flexo Printing?

Flexo printing is a high speed printing process that uses a soft print plate to transfer your design onto the substrate. Each color of your design will require its own print plate, so you can save on tooling costs by creating a 1-color design like the one seen here from Smartass and Sass. While you still achieve high impact printing with Flexo, if you have an intricate design, or low start up budget, Flexo may not be your best option - try Digital Printing instead.