According to Focus Label Machinery, flexographic presses are typically available as 1 to 12 colours, with single-roller presses suitable only for black and white or greyscale printing. Colours are indispensable when it comes to designing and printing attractive, memorable, and engaging labels and packaging. However, not all flexographic printing presses have the same capacity to handle multi-colour designs. How then does one determine the best solution for their print requirements?
CMYK: Four Colour Printing
Most colour combinations can be derived from cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) water-solvent or UV-based inks. Four colour presses feature four separate colour stations, with one for each ink. Mixing up this spectrum allows for various shades and hues. However, four-roller CMYB colour prints can appear drained, faint, and polarised. They’re also prone to developing false-colour distortion, as well as an infamous ‘muddy’ sheen. Four colours limit a user’s colour gamut.
A four colour CMYK press is ideal if: the user requires high-volume print runs of colourful labels; prints only need a ‘good enough’ colour impression; users don’t need any extra finishes, spot colours, or post-processing inks; users don’t have much workshop space (rollers take up room); users want to save on equipment costs; users are aiming to be environmentally friendly (less ink, less waste); and users are working with cheaper paper substrates or thin card.
Up to 2025, typical new install flexo presses were six colours offering CMYK, a specific spot colour and over varnish facilities. More recently, 8 or 10 colours have become the norm, offering full process colour CMYK +OVG orange, green, and violet plus an over varnish. Now the colour gamut is greatly increased, matching all Pantone colours via better CAD imaging, modelling, and laser-etching.
Pantone estimates that advanced flexographic printing can now match more than 90% of the known spectrum of colours. Photographers, graphic designers (i.e. for artwork, advertising posters), and ‘glossy’ publications now overwhelmingly favour CMYK-OGV flexo printing, but is an 8 or 10 colour press a worthwhile investment for packaging and label printing businesses?
A full colour CMYK-OGV press is required if users: want a press that can adapt and scale to lots of different tasks and configurations; want the best possible colour finish and range for their clients; the client wants premium, eye-catching packaging that stands out from other consumer products; and users want to get ahead of the curve. High-quality flexography is steadily becoming cheaper and easier to run for commercial packaging.
FOCUS LABEL MACHINERY
https://www.focuslabel.com
