Rotogravure printing is a printing technique in which an image is embedded over a surface. This type of printing is quite common in food and beverage packaging industry. It is used particularly in the manufacture of stand up pouches in which an image is etched over a cylinder.
The initial stage in this type of printing is to prepare a cylinder on which image is to be engraved. The cylinders used in the process are mostly made out of steel. A plain sheet of steel is rolled into the shape of a cylinder with the help of an industrial roller. Once the cylinder is made, it is joined with a steel core. After that, the cylinder is assigned a unique number for identification purposes.
Later, the cylinder is polished and buffed after it is coated with a layer of copper. This is when the cylinder is engraved and required impression is etched on its surface with the help of a rotary printing press. The unit is then coated with steel to increase its strength and resilience. After a thorough review and inspection of the resulting product, cylinders are covered to protect them from damage, before transferring them into production.
Most of the flexible food packaging like stand up bags and plastic pouches are manufactured using Rotogravure printing technique that offers good image quality, low cost of production, and long life of printing cylinders.