Tools Your Print Provider Should Be Using

The printing industry has radically changed over the years. In order to continue to produce high quality projects there are certain tools that are invaluable to a printer. Here at Hackworth, we utilize these tools to help businesses with professional level print work. Here are five tools of the printing industry that provide the best possible results for clients.

Digital Printer

The digital printer is a fast and productive tool that also prints great quality. It is the most common type of printer in the printing industry. Unlike traditional printers, the digital printer does not have plates that you need to swap out, and it can function much more independently and precisely at the same time. It has also proliferated capabilities such as print-on-demand, short turnaround time, image modification and allowed the use of different designs across the same print job.

Wide Format Printer

While many printing jobs utilize a standard letter or a legal size, and sometimes even smaller, other projects require larger output. For jobs such as posters, flyers, banners, wallpapers and vehicle wraps a printer that can handle large rolls of paper is necessary. The wide format printer does that job. This printer most commonly uses some variant of inkjet or toner-based technology to produce a printed image. It is more economical compared to other printing methods such as screen printing. Without a wide format printer, it would be impractical to create large banners, posters, signs, etc. However, with these machines, you can print these types of projects very easily. Also, you have the option of printing them in sections to assemble them later.

Flatbed Printer

Flatbed printer, typically used for commercial purposes, is characterized by a flat surface where a material is placed on top to be printed on. It is capable of printing on a wide variety of materials such as photographic paper, film, cloth, plastic, acrylic, glass, ceramic, metal, wood, leather, and many more. A flatbed printer uses UV curable inks that are made of acrylic monomers which will then be exposed to strong UV-light to cure them. In that way, printing on wood or canvas carpet, tile, and even glass is made possible. The flatbed printer, although limited only to flat materials, is a versatile tool that could produce the most creative and unique materials.

These tools, perhaps, are the most overlooked part of the printing businesses. With all the technology now available, computers are updated and upgraded so often that a 1-month old computer can become obsolete! However, when the correct technology is purchased this problem can be avoided. Another requirement is high quality HD monitor to see every aspect of the graphics and images on screen. This is necessary to avoid wasted material on test prints, color proofing, resolution and sharpness.

Another thing to consider is computer software. In our company, we make use of the Adobe Suite such as the Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign, which are industry standards. They produce the best results with their complex yet very detailed tools that make designing and printing projects possible.

Flexo vs. digital printing: Which technology is better for your brand’s labels?

There isn’t a clear-cut answer to this question. In fact, “versus” is the wrong word to use when comparing digital and flexographic label printing; neither technology is inherently better or worse than the other.

Which press technology makes the most sense for a particular job will depend on a host of brand-specific factors, including run size, promotional opportunities, lead time, design complexity and more.

And because there are so many factors to consider, there’s no quick rule of thumb you can reference: “If X, then digital is the best technology for your brand. But if Y, then flexo is the better choice.”

So, with no simple answer to this question, how do brands choose?

Well, it requires a conversation with a label converter. And not just any label converter — one that has experience printing millions of labels on both digital and flexo presses. Converters with the capability to print with either technology will give you an unbiased take on which is best suited for your brand’s unique needs.

And while there’s no substitute for a conversation with your converter, in this article, we’ll walk you through the basics of each technology, and certain scenarios in which each might be “better” for your brand.

How To Start Paper Bag Making Business

With the rising toxicity and pollution levels in the environment, eco-friendly products have become the need of the hour. The governments and various companies across the world are finally discouraging the use of plastics which causes disastrous environmental issues. This has paved way for paper bag making businesses. Paper bags are in great demand nowadays for their recyclable and sustainable features in nearly every commences activity.

Consumer Market Areas of Paper Bags

Following are some of the major areas where paper bags are used:

• Gift packaging
• Food packaging
• Shopping
• Medical use
• Jewelry packaging
• General purposes
• Advertising

Market potential and opportunities

Paper has no real competing product. Plastic bags, once regarded as a substitute for paper bags have lost their market over time. Moreover, the establishment of consumer stores and shopping malls has further increased the demand for paper bags. Hence, the paper bag making business is a booming opportunity for new and aspiring entrepreneurs.

As paper bag making is generally a small-scale business, it will require minimal investment. The main areas of investment will be the cost of machinery, labor, and land. Maintenance, transportation, and marketing will contribute to variable investments.

The price of one fully automatic paper bag making machine is around 5 – 8 Lakhs INR. The price is dependent on the production capacity of the machine. One fully automatic machine can produce 15000 pieces/hour. Researching and proper planning as to where to spend and the choice of suppliers will also reduce your cost to a significant extent.

How are Plastic Bags Made?

We use a lot of plastic bags in the world today. In fact, nearly 1 trillion of them are created every single year. Plastic bags can be found in many different places and have a versatile mix of uses, from carrying books to separating items to carrying groceries and all in between.

Plastic bags are popular for a number of reasons and can be customized for any company or product. Some are very cheap and can be used for so many different purposes. And, despite what many people think, plastic bags can also be recycled and reused a number of times.

Creating polyethylene bags can be a simple process, which is one of the reasons that they are so popular. Of course the process of creating the plastic bags is one that must be completed in a shop that has the right equipment, however, despite this fact, the bags are easy to make.

To create a plastic bag, the process is similar to the process for creating a book. Both are very easy to create, but the plastic bag is far easier to create than a book. A company must have special equipment to create the bag, however, there are just two steps required to make the bags.

The First Step

A process called extrusion is the first step in making a plastic bag. An extruder is used to heat the polyethylene plastic to a temperature of about 500 degrees F. This temperature will melt the pellets, at which time the molten plastic is pushed into the machine and a die that determines the thickness that the bag will have. After this happens, the plastic film is pushed into a bubble by the outside air and through a cooling process. Next, the film is cut into the appropriate size and then placed onto a spindle.

The Second Step

Once the plastic bag is placed onto the spindle, it is sent to what is known as a conversion department. This team unwraps the film roll and cuts it with a heated knife that also seals each of the sides of the bags together. Once this is completed, the conversion also adds all of the special characters of the bag. Next, handles are cut out using a heat process, and logos, designs and text is added to the bag.

Creating Plastic bags

As you can see from the information above, creating plastic bags is a fairly simple and easy process that a company can do quickly and without a lot of trouble. Thousands of bags can be produced in only a minute of time, and since the process is so easy, it keeps the cost of the plastic bags down to an affordable price.

The Bottom Line

Plastic bags are very easy to create and they have so many different purposes that make them handy in our everyday lives. Now that you know how the bags are created you can feel so much better about using them! It is a process like none other.

How Pouch Filling Machines Work

Across the world and across industries, pouch filling machines are becoming more and more popular for industrial packaging. Pouches are flexible, lightweight bags that offer many advantages over traditional packaging such as metal cans or glass bottles.

Pouch filling machines are usually of two types: vertical form fill seal (VFFS) and horizontal form fill seal (HFFS), with VFFS being the more preferred technology.

Let’s see how VFFS packaging machines work.

A vertical form fill seal machine is a kind of pouch making and filling machine with a vertical structure. It’s mainly used for industrial packaging and processing and provides a more convenient and effective way of automatic packaging, saving time, material wastage and cost.

Understanding the main components of the VFFS pouch filling machine will explain how these machines work:

Film Pulling System: This system consists of an unwinding roller and tensioner. A rollstock of film (usually laminated PE, PET, aluminium foil) is placed on the unwinding roller, usually situated at the rear of the machine. Using servo motors and the tensioner, the film is firmly and precisely unwound and pulled into the system.

Printer (Optional): The film passes by the printer where the date, production batch code etc will be printed on the film.

Pouch Former: After printing, the film moves to bag forming. The process overlaps the edges of the film to shape a pouch. Vertical and bottom sealing is done by sealing jaws.

Filling & Sealing Machine: Filling is accomplished by connecting the bagging machine to multi-head scale or other filling machine, such as an auger or volumetric filler. Those two machines are synced electronically, so that as soon as the bag is ready, the product is dropped in automatically.

Once the product has dropped into the bag, the top is sealed. The sealing jaws press the 2 parts of the overlapping material and weld them, often with heating, to create a side or centre seal.

Pouch Cut: The filled and sealed bag is cut away. That top seal on the first bag becomes the bottom of the next bag, and the process repeats. The cut pouch falls to a collection system, typically a belt conveyor that brings the pouch to the next packaging step.

Control Cabinet: On the side of the vertical form fill seal machine, is a control cabinet. It contains all the electrical parts inside. PLC, contactor, servo motors, pneumatic cylinder, solenoid valves, PLC expand mode, low-pressure electrical parts. HMI makes operating and controlling the machine easier.

There are many pouch filling machine manufacturers offering multiple machines for diverse applications. Whether you are looking for an oil pouch packaging machine or searching for a reliable milk pouch packing machine manufacturer; whether you wish to package powder, liquid, viscous or granular products into flexible pouches – Nichrome is your best bet.

Four decades of experience worldwide, intensive inhouse R&D, state-of-art manufacturing, technology tie-ups with global majors, thousands of successful installations, strong nation-wide service network – few pouch filling machine manufacturers can match the knowhow, capabilities and track record of Nichrome. For your pouch filling machine, call Nichrome.