Computer Aided Package Design- Recent Developments.

By Vinod P

Introduction
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Recently, we have watched a steady trend of utilizing the technical advancement related to the
design, product development, process control and the entire workflow management system.

Print buyers are vitally interested in any new technology that promises to get products to the
consumer faster. The snack food industry and other consumer product segments that utilize high-
volume. For that reason, we’re beginning to see commitments from major multi-national
packaging printers

New opportunities abound

Importance of good packaging design

Recently, we have watched a steady trend of utilizing the technical advancement related to the
design, product development, process control and the entire workflow management system.

Print buyers are vitally interested in any new technology that promises to get products to the
consumer faster. The snack food industry and other consumer product segments that utilize high-
volume, wide web printings are particularly paying attention. For that reason, we’re beginning to
see commitments from major multi-national packaging printers. They are converting entire plants
from flat plates to sleeves. Just one of those conversions can result in thousands of sleeves per
year. In fact, since 1996, Esko-Graphics has installed sleeves at more than fifty sites worldwide,
on CDI imagers.

Latest trend in package design

What do the customer expects from the design ?

Converters who have adopted sleeve technology for packaging. Flexo sleeves are pretty much
what they sound like. They are round, seamless ‘sleeves’ of flexo material that are placed,
imaged and processed on cylinders.

Importance of Technology advancement in Packaging design and Development

In the past, the limiting factor preventing use of this technology was the availability of quality
sleeves at an affordable price, restrained by lack of alarge-scale integrated manufacturing
process and standardized, consistent products. This has been resolved with the latest sleeve
technology (particularly
Cyrel Round, by DuPont). Made-to-order digital blanks can be purchased, ready to
Image, with a variety of choices for different product segments. These are all
Compatible with existing undercuts, gear pitches, and sleeve mounting systems.

Technology advancement in Packaging –Media

Technology advancement in Packaging –Prepress

(Recent software added during last 3 years)

Press performance: advantages mount up
One of the most significant advantages of sleeve technology is that it allows
Flexographers to print continuous images. All things being equal, a perfect sleeve
is better than a perfect flat plate because it is imaged, exposed, and processed
in its final printing shape, while a flat plate is shaped for the press at the
mounting stage. There is no need for complicated butt-joins for continuous
backgrounds. Because there’s no seam, there is less press bounce. This creates a
great opportunity for flexo in flexible packaging – it can fully compete with
gravure for printing snack foods, pouches, and frozen food bags that typically
have continuous images and only require a single cut prior to packing and sealing.

Sleeves also eliminate a number of press variables and makeready considerations.

They enable the flexo printer to deliver a package within a shorter delivery time,
at gravure-like quality and at a lower overall cost to the customer. Printers save
mounting time, setup and changeover is faster, and printers report they get to
sellable color faster with less waste. The press can run faster (up to 10-20%),
providing increased press capacity. Of course, with sleeves there is no plate
lifting and minimized ‘cupping’. Sleeves last longer and provide more consistency
on press.

Sleeve-to-sleeve registration is very accurate, and elements such as open reverses

of the image have already taken on the angle of curvature of the sleeve. There is
no post-exposure print cylinder distortion—no plate stretch; it’s already worked
out of the process. This produces the ultimate, accurate image.

Although a lot of converters may think of replacing flexo plates with flexo
sleeves, there are actually a number of new business opportunities. For example,
compared to gravure on folding cartons, flexo sleeves can use less expensive
substrates, with excellent ink lay-down of solids and metallic inks. Compared to
tissues and napkins printed with rubber plates, the continuous designs have a
dramatically improved tonal range and improved ink lay-down with open reverses.
Similar opportunities abound for paper or foil gift-wrap (from rubber flexo or
gravure), folding cartons (from offset or gravure) and shrink sleeves (from
gravure).