Taking our services further
We combine product handling and printing services. We provide the right solution for your requirements, whether you need big or small print runs, stitched or stapled, or want the manuals translated into 10 languages.
Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, our in-house studio provides a seamless digital workflow of artwork origination, from web viewer to plate making, so you can see clearly each step of the process.
At our specialised printing and documentation facilities, we not only print the manual, the CD-ROM and the packaging for a product, but we also handle every aspect of product fulfilment and collate the final components into ready-for-use kits, removing complexity from your supply chain.
Our print processes
Having the right structure for the box is mandatory. But in order to assure communication, identification and recognition, the right printing is just as important. Whether it is a logotype, a barcode or a full colour branding, there are different printing techniques to choose from.
Within the packaging industry, we offer the following printing processes:
Flexo printing is the most common used type of print within the corrugated industry. The ink used in flexo is water based.
Pre-print flexo
In this case the outside liner is taken from the paper mill to a printing press before the liner is made into a corrugated pack. The outside liner is printed like a magazine, using a flexo printing process.
We print the corrugated pack before we glue or die-cut the case in order:
- To minimise dust present at the printing stage
- To give the corrugated board more stability
Printing the paper before it is being corrugated provides clear advantages:
- Very close print registration
- 5-6 colours
- Varnish can be used to give a gloss finish
To be cost competitive, pre-print should only be used for large print runs
Post-print flexo
As soon as the polymer plate with ink on the raised surface comes into contact with the outside liner of the pack, the fibres of the outside liner absorb the water based ink.
When the outside liner is clay coated paper, the ink is absorbed by the fine clay particles. This results in a sharper print finish than printing onto the fibres of an outside liner.
Sheets of solid board are printed on a high quality offset printing machine. The ink used in the offset process is oil based.
Advantages:
- Very close print registration
- The oil inks match the pantone range of colours
- Less then one paper reel can be printed
- Varnish can be used to give a gloss finish
After printing, the offset sheets are taken to the corrugated factory where they are then laminated onto the outside of the corrugated pack.
Screen printing requires a special machine. Here the outside liner is printed by making a screen of the required print. The ink passes onto the corrugated sheet in the exposed areas on the screen and no ink passes onto the corrugated pack in the unexposed areas on the screen.
Advantages:
- Close print registration
- The oil inks match the pantone range of colours
- 5 to 6 colours
- Varnish can be used to give a gloss finish
After printing, the corrugated packs are dried and can then be shipped to the customer.
The corrugated pack is printed on a flexo machine especially designed to achieve similar results to pre-print.
To achieve this, the HQPP machine controls the pressure on each printing section to a very high degree. In addition special inks are used and the corrugated board is held very tightly as it passes through the machine.
Advantages:
- Very close print registration
- 5-6 colours
- Varnish can be used to give a gloss finish
In the last few years, SCA Packaging has invested in such new printing technologies as digital printing. Digital printing allows the linking of printing presses to computers.
Advantages:
- Faster turnaround times
- Reduced production costs
- Production of smaller quantities
- Personalisation for retail customers
Our packaging can be printed with certain coatings. These make possible certain additional packaging features. By adding a given coating, the packaging can become anti-static, water repellent, oil resistant or corrosion proof.
Types of coatings
- Electro Discharge Packaging (ESD), anti-static
- Waxed
- Silicon-coated
- PET-coated
- Corrosion-proof