Flexographic Printing
Your packaging competes on the shelf before it ever reaches a consumer’s hands. Glenroy’s award-winning flexographic printing operation delivers the print quality that makes that first impression count. With over 100 flexographic printing awards and long-tenured press operators, we bring the precision and consistency that brand owners demand from a high-volume flexible packaging printer.
Flexographic Printing
Your packaging competes on the shelf before it ever reaches a consumer’s hands. Glenroy’s award-winning flexographic printing operation delivers the print quality that makes that first impression count. With over 100 flexographic printing awards and long-tenured press operators, we bring the precision and consistency that brand owners demand from a high-volume flexible packaging printer.
Glenroy’s Flexographic Printing Capabilities
Our flexographic printing press capabilities are built for accuracy, repeatability, and high-speed production on flexible packaging film. Using the latest technologies in platemaking, color control, and inline inspection, our capabilities include:
- 10-Color Central Impression Flexographic Printing: award-winning print quality across complex, multi-color designs
- Reverse Printing: wide-web printing with ink buried between substrate layers for scuff and chemical resistance
- Surface Printing: wide-web printing on full lamination with gloss and matte overprint varnish options
- Advanced Plate Mounting: camera system capability for precise registration on every print job
- Inline Defect Detection: continuous quality monitoring throughout the printing process
- Sophisticated Ink Blending: in-house custom color matching using a spectrophotometer color control
- Accurate Barcode Printing: reliable reproduction for retail and supply chain requirements
- Digital Watermarking: digital watermarks for brand protection and authentication
We offer both solvent-based inks and water-based inks to meet your product, regulatory, and sustainability requirements.
How Flexographic Printing Works
Flexographic printing uses photopolymer printing plates with raised images to transfer ink onto a substrate at high speed. In the flexographic printing process, ink is picked up by the anilox roller from an ink tank or pan, metered based on ink viscosity, and applied to the substrate via the plate cylinder. Flexo-specific factors like dot gain require careful prepress management, particularly on flexible film where ink behaves differently than on rigid substrates.
Compared to screen, digital, or offset, flexo printing delivers lower costs at volume across a wide range of film substrates. Unlike rotogravure, which etches images directly onto a printing cylinder, flexographic printing uses a photopolymer plate as the image carrier, making it more cost-effective for most flexible packaging print runs. At Glenroy, the flexographic press feeds directly from our prepress operation, where printing plates are produced, and soft proofs are approved before a single impression hits the press.
State-of-the-Art Printing Press Investments
Glenroy invests in the latest flexographic printing technologies, adding new printing presses in 2023 and 2026 to deliver exceptional print quality, greater efficiency, and faster lead times. Advanced automation, including integrated defect detection technology, ensures consistent, vibrant graphics while streamlined job changeovers and waste-reduction capabilities improve productivity and sustainability. Our state-of-the-art presses strengthen Glenroy’s commitment to providing innovative, high-performance packaging solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.
Award-Winning Print Quality & Certifications
Glenroy has earned more than 100 flexographic printing awards, including FTA Excellence in Flexography Gold and Best of Show Awards, and Printing Industries of America Premier Print Awards. These honors reflect the consistently high print quality our flexographic printers deliver across thousands of print jobs each year.
Glenroy is also a GMI (Graphics Measures International) Certified Print Facility. GMI is a global leader in packaging quality services that certifies, monitors, and measures the performance of packaging suppliers, holding them accountable to established brand owner standards. GMI certification gives brand owners confidence that Glenroy’s print quality meets rigorous, independently verified benchmarks.
Glenroy has been a proud member of the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) since 1987.
Environmentally Responsible Printing
Glenroy’s flexographic printing process is designed with environmental responsibility in mind. In addition to offering water-based inks as lower-VOC alternatives to solvent-based flexographic printing inks, we capture and destroy over 98% of volatile organic compounds using catalytic and regenerative thermal oxidizers. Solvents and printing plates used in the printing process are recycled rather than disposed of as waste.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between flexographic printing and rotogravure printing?
Flexographic printing uses a flexible photopolymer plate as the image carrier, with raised images that transfer ink to the substrate. Rotogravure printing etches the image directly onto a printing cylinder with no plate. Flexo printing is generally more cost-effective for flexible packaging at a wide range of volumes, while rotogravure is typically reserved for extremely high-volume, long-run print jobs.
What ink systems does Glenroy use for flexographic printing?
Glenroy uses solvent-based pigment inks as our primary flexographic printing inks and also offers water-based inks. Ink viscosity is carefully controlled throughout the print run to maintain consistent ink transfer via the anilox roller and ensure repeatable color from the first impression to the last.
What is reverse printing and why is it used in flexible packaging?
Reverse printing, also called subsurface printing, prints on the back side of a clear outer substrate with a mirrored image. When that substrate is laminated to the rest of the flexible packaging structure, the ink is buried inside the package layers, protecting it from scuffing and chemical exposure. The result is a right-reading, high-quality printed surface on the outside of the finished package.
What is a press approval and how do I arrange one?
A press approval allows you to be on-site during the flexographic printing process to approve colors and the overall look of your package as it runs on press. To arrange a press approval, contact us at the beginning of your project so it can be scheduled into the production process.
Flexographic Package Printing
