Statistical Analysis of the Possibilities and Limits of Flexographic Process Modelling

Several research programmes are aiming at a standardisation of the flexographic printing process. To obtain viable results, it is necessary to distinguish between different steps in the scientific approach to the problem. The first one is to formulate a useful definition of printability in flexography. This definition will then, at a final stage, allow a statistical analysis based on parameters defined in advance. One of the intermediate steps of the work consists of a comparison of the different possibilities of modelling the flexographic process. The goal is less to pass a judgement than to find a correlation between the different methods for future investigations. In this study, we have compared 2 different industrial production presses, a laboratory press and 2 simulation systems. The results obtained are positive: the parameter printing press can, within certain limits, be fixed as a constant for future investigations.