Today, carton users are increasingly demanding corrugated carton packaging. In addition to excellent physical properties, carton packaging also has a more beautiful appearance of printing, and more tends to the commercial advertising requirements in order to achieve sales promotion. To achieve satisfactory printing results, the matching of cardboard, printing plates, water-based inks, machines, and printing operations needs to be just right. Among them, the use and management of water-based inks is particularly important, but many carton companies have not attracted enough attention. Here we talk about the management of water-based ink in the carton plant, talk about our own opinions, and communicate with the carton industry peers.
Supplier selection, management
With the rapid development of the flexo printing of corrugated boxes and the preprinting technology of domestic carton boxes, the environmental protection water-based ink market has developed rapidly. At the same time, the domestic manufacturers of environmentally-friendly water-based inks have also rapidly increased, but the quality of products of various manufacturers is very different. Therefore, the following points should be noted for the selection of printing water ink suppliers:
First of all, we must understand the situation of various environmentally friendly water-based ink products and manufacturers on the market, select suppliers with stable product quality and reasonable prices, and have a good reputation in the market. The so-called “shopping and purchasing of three companiesâ€.
Establish detailed suppliers' files, including detailed descriptions of suppliers, product procurement, technical support, contact details, product quality assurance system (certifications of various quality systems), and internationally recognized laboratory reports on product environmental requirements, such as SGS's water-based Ink test report sheets to ensure that the water-based ink products are environmentally friendly, safe, and healthy, and that when the food packaging users or products are exported, they can provide written information that satisfies the required inspection reports.
Establish a corresponding quantity of water-based ink product usage statistics and product quality evaluation records with each supplier, and link with the payment program to perform quality management on suppliers.
Water-based ink quality management
The quality management of the water-based ink in the carton factory shall be performed by the person in charge of the ink-delivery technician. A separate ink distribution department can be set up. Its responsibility is to take charge of the quality inspection of incoming water inks, ink preparation, ink inventory management, and the resolution of quality issues related to water-based inks in carton production and printing processes. The quality management of water-based inks can be done in the following ways. First of all, establish a corresponding water-based ink inspection and acceptance standard documents, set inspection requirements for water-based inks, and strictly control the quality of water-based inks.
The ink distribution room was established and the ink distribution technician was responsible for the original black inspection and ink distribution work. The ink distribution chamber should be equipped with corresponding water-based ink inspection and configuration tools.
Water based ink inspection basic tools:
Manual color development wheel, standard color model, coated 4# cup, PH tester, chemical reagents (other items can be detected on the outside)
Basic tools for water-based ink preparation:
Milligram electronic balance: An electronic scale that measures the weight of three digits after the decimal point.
Ink-knife: It is similar to the production application. It is more suitable to prepare different sizes.
Glass: General test can be used 18 〃 × 36 〃, according to the amount of ink transfer rule.
Proofing machine (manual color development wheel): The instrument that can print the ink on the printing material evenly, control the thickness through the ink amount, also can use the manual color development wheel.
Substrate: To establish a database, it is recommended to choose paper that does not contain fluorescent whitening agent, which can be divided into two types: coating and non-coating, and can fully express ink color.
Water-based ink: Based on four-color printing, it is equipped with commonly used spot colors CMYK, clear ink, white ink, purple ink, green ink, and orange ink, etc. In order to provide the most special spot ink with the minimum ink type. (In the future, these 10 inks will be the main color types)
Standard color light box: Ideal for use with UV lamps, D50, D65, and A light sources. In this way, the same-color heterogeneous spectrum can be observed simultaneously under different light sources.
Electric stirrer: Mixing with ink mixing tool, speed can be adjusted to good.
(to be continued)