The surge in demand for offset printing at the expense of flexography puts us in an advantageous position
During this difficult year, we at Rotatek have managed to maintain our activity in the design and manufacture of printing machinery in all the sectors in which we specialise, such as labels, flexible packaging, security printing or pharmaceutical leaflets, with a large presence in the international market.
Among the projects in which we have participated, the manufacture of three machines to produce labels for the food industry in Germany stands out.
We have also exported a Universal 680 machine to France for printing pharmaceutical leaflets using LED technology. In addition, we have sold two machines to companies in India for printing security documents, such as cheques and tax labels, with variable coding and a 100% inspection system.
One major market change worth highlighting is the trend within the food sector to move from flexographic to offset printing, whichis directly related to the increase in paper packaging t the expense of plastic.
Manufacturers are seeking to achieve products with a more natural appearance, influenced by consumers’ growing environmental awareness. Flexo printing, particularly suited to flat substrates, is more difficult with this more natural, uncoated type of paper. However, the reality is that paper packaging is often not as eco-friendly as many consumers believe.
The advantages of offset printing
Rotatek machines offer the best performance in offset printing, a technique that has significant advantages over flexography. These include:
- A wide variety of inks for every use, including those allowing direct contact with food.
- In the case of uncoated paper, they print at an acceptable speed without the need for drying. For higher speeds, we use ElectroBeam drying, without print migration.
- They offer the highest quality without resulting in higher printing costs.
- There are hardly any limits in terms of substrates.
Rotatek’s competitive advantage
Rotatek has a long history in the field of offset printing machinery production. This means that we have gained years of experience with all types of substrates, inks, and production possibilities.
Users of standard flexographic printing machines cannot normally print wet-glue labels and deliver them as sheets directly from the machine. On the other hand, an user of our Brava machine, can easily do so because it has a sheet-cutting unit. This module does not necessarily have to be designed specifically for the Brava, but our experience and technological expertise allow us to integrate it.
Our experience and positioning in the sector put us in a position to meet almost any of our customers’ needs, offering many more finishing options than any of our competitors.
Despite the challenges, 2020 is being a year of consolidation of the changes made by the company, which gives us the necessary confidence to cope with the new projects we are working on for 2021