How to Choose by Product and Volume
If you print on plastic film for bags, pouches, and liners, the “best” printing method is the one that matches your order pattern, artwork difficulty, and downstream converting steps. Most wrong decisions happen when buyers compare only “print quality” and ignore what comes after printing: rewinding, slitting, lamination, curing, and bag making.
- Choose flexo when you have many SKUs, frequent artwork changes, short-to-medium runs, and you need fast changeover with controlled costs.
- Choose gravure when you have long runs, stable designs, high-end appearance demands, and you want very consistent color and solids across huge volumes.
- If you laminate, prioritize ink system + drying capacity + rewind quality first, because defects often show up after lamination or during bag making.
| What you care about | Flexo printing on film | Gravure printing on film |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Short to medium runs, many SKUs | Long runs, stable designs |
| Changeover | Fast plate changes, easier repeats | Slower cylinder changes, best for “run it forever” |
| Print look | Very good, improving fast; great for most packaging | Excellent fine detail, smooth solids, premium consistency |
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher |
| Long-run cost per unit | Can be higher as volume grows | Often lower at very high volume |
| Common pain points | Plate handling, dot gain control, anilox management | Cylinder cost, longer lead time, higher commitment |
| Works well with converting | Excellent for quick turnover lines | Excellent for high-volume integrated lines |
| Typical fit | Snack bags, labels, general packaging, frequent promotions | Large-volume food, high-end cosmetics, premium branding |
Start with your product: film type, structure, end-use
Plastic film families you’ll actually print on
Most flexible packaging printing happens on:
- BOPP / CPP for surface printing and lamination webs
- PET for stiffness, clarity, and lamination structures
- PE films including HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE for bags, liners, and sealant layers
- Stretch and shrink films where web handling and tension window become very tight
What matters is not the name of the film, but what it does in the line:
- Is it a print web that gets laminated later
- Or is it the final single-web bag film that will be sealed and converted directly
Single web vs laminated film
If your product will be laminated, printing is only step one. Your selection must consider:
- Drying capacity and ink carryover risk
- Residual solvent or odor control for food packaging
- Rewind quality because lamination exaggerates wrinkles, telescoping, and tension defects
A film that “looks fine” coming off the press can fail later during lamination, slitting, or bag making. That is why choosing the printing method should never be separated from the converting plan.
What changes when you print bags vs rollstock
Printing for bags and liners typically has:
- Higher sensitivity to sealing areas and heat history
- More visible defects from wrinkles, edge damage, and static dust
- Tighter requirements for slitting and winding stability, because those rolls must run smoothly in bag-making machines
Choose by volume and SKU: the rule that prevents expensive mistakes
Volume and SKU selection table
| Your order pattern | Best first choice | Why it usually wins |
|---|---|---|
| Samples, testing, many design changes | Flexo | Lower commitment, faster changeover |
| Short runs, frequent promotions, many SKUs | Flexo | Faster plate workflows, less downtime between jobs |
| Medium runs, repeat orders, moderate quality demands | Flexo or gravure | Depends on artwork and brand consistency needs |
| Long runs, stable artwork, high consistency targets | Gravure | Premium look and repeatability across huge volume |
| Ultra-high volume, minimal changes, brand-critical | Gravure | Lowest cost per unit at scale, very stable output |
The practical rule
- If your team often says: “We change designs every week”, flexo is usually the safer choice.
- If your team often says: “We need the same look for months and millions of packs”, gravure becomes the safer choice.
Print quality differences buyers can verify
Marketing words like “high quality” are useless unless you can point to specific artwork features. Here are the quality differences you can actually test:
Fine text, gradients, and smooth solids
- Gravure is known for very clean fine detail and smooth tonal transitions, especially on long runs.
- Flexo can deliver excellent results, but it depends more on plate quality, anilox control, and process tuning.
If your artwork includes:
- very small text
- soft gradients
- large solid areas that show banding
- premium “photographic” look
gravure tends to be easier to keep stable at huge scale.
Spot colors and consistency over time
Both methods can hit spot colors, but what you are really buying is repeatability:
- Gravure typically shines when you demand extremely consistent color over long continuous production.
- Flexo excels when you need stable quality across varied jobs, with fast setup and controlled change costs.
Registration tolerance and converting reality
In the real world, “perfect” print means:
- stable web tension
- stable rewind
- good slitting edges
because bag-making and lamination will punish weak winding and edge quality.
If your converting line is sensitive, the right decision may be: choose the method that gives better web handling stability, not only better ink laydown.
Plate vs cylinder: cost, lead time, and changeover in production
What you pay upfront
- Flexo tends to have a lower upfront commitment, so it’s easier to run:
- frequent design updates
- seasonal packaging
- multi-SKU product lines
- Gravure tends to require higher initial commitment, but pays back when you run long, stable jobs.
Lead time risk and re-order stability
If your customers reorder unpredictably or change artwork frequently, your supply chain becomes the bottleneck. Flexo workflows usually handle that better.
If your business is built on predictable, high-volume reorders, gravure’s stability becomes a major advantage.
Storage and repeat orders
Repeat order stability is not only “printing method,” it is:
- cylinder or plate management
- color management discipline
- consistent film and ink supply
The printing method is just one part of a stable system.
Inks, drying, odor, VOC, and food packaging reality
For plastic film, ink and drying choices often decide success more than the press type.
Ink system fit
- Many flexible packaging jobs still use solvent-based systems because they perform reliably on films.
- Water-based systems can work well in the right configurations, but require careful drying and process control.
- EB and UV solutions exist in some markets and applications, but are typically chosen based on compliance goals, substrate, and line investment.
Drying capacity and residual risk
When printing a lamination web, you must manage:
- insufficient drying that leads to odor or setoff
- solvent retention concerns in sensitive packaging
- blocking or “print transfer” during rewind or storage
A common buyer mistake is choosing a printing method without validating:
- drying capacity
- line speed targets
- rewind temperature and tension control
because those factors decide whether the job survives lamination and bag making.
Web handling that decides final results: tension, static, rewinding, slitting
This is where “printing” becomes “printing and converting.”
Tension window and gauge variation
Film gauge variation and tension instability show up as:
- registration drift
- wrinkles and bagginess
- uneven ink appearance
Even if printing is technically correct, unstable web handling will ruin output consistency.
Static problems on film
Static creates:
- dust attraction
- ink defects and pinholes
- winding issues and blocking
Static control is not a side topic. It directly affects print quality, rewinding, and downstream slitting.
Rewinding quality is print quality
Rewinding defects cause real production loss:
- telescoping rolls
- uneven edges
- trapped air
- wrinkles that later become lamination defects
Slitting after printing
Printed film often needs clean edges and stable roll geometry for:
- lamination
- pouch making
- bag making
If slitting is unstable, your “printing quality” fails at converting.
Typical use cases: which method fits which packaging
Product-to-method selection table
| Product type | Common film structure | What matters most | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snack and food bags | BOPP or PET laminated to PE | odor control, lamination performance, stable rewind | Flexo often wins for SKU variety; gravure for huge volume |
| Coffee and premium pouches | PET / aluminum or barrier / PE | premium appearance, consistent solids | Gravure commonly chosen at scale |
| Daily chemical packaging | BOPP/PET to PE | brand colors, repeat orders, cost control | Both; depends on run length and SKU count |
| Industrial liners | HDPE/LDPE/LLDPE | strength, seal reliability, stable bag making | Flexo if many variants; gravure if massive stable orders |
| Rollstock for converters | PET/BOPP | rewind, slitting, lamination readiness | Both; web handling is key |
| Shrink or specialty film | specialty structures | tension window, distortion control | Choose based on line stability and artwork demand |
Printing and converting equipment support from WilsonMachines
If you are building or upgrading a flexible packaging line, the goal is not only a “printing machine.” The goal is stable production from film to finished bags.
WilsonMachines supports a full equipment scope for flexible packaging production:
- Film Blowing Machine for producing PE films used in bags and liners
- Printing Machine for plastic film printing workflows
- Slitting Machine for clean rewinding and downstream converting readiness
- Bag Making Machine for converting printed or unprinted rolls into bags and liners
- Pelletizing Machine for recycling edge trim and production waste back into usable pellets
If you tell us your product type, film structure, and target volume, we can help you map a safer selection path for printing and converting equipment.
FAQ
Which printing method is better for plastic film packaging
It depends on your volume and SKU pattern. Flexo usually fits short-to-medium runs with frequent design changes, while gravure becomes attractive for long runs with stable artwork and premium consistency requirements.
When does gravure become cheaper than flexo
Gravure tends to become more economical when you run very large volumes of the same design, because the higher upfront commitment can be spread across a high number of finished units.
Is flexo good enough for high-end packaging
For many brands, yes. Modern flexo can produce excellent results when plate quality, anilox control, ink system, and web handling are well managed. The deciding factor is often repeatability and converting stability, not only image sharpness.
Which method is better for laminated film
Either can work, but lamination success is strongly tied to ink system, drying capacity, and rewind quality. If those are not controlled, defects appear later even if the printed web looked good off the press.
What causes most “printing defects” that are not actually printing problems
Web handling issues such as tension instability, static, poor rewinding, and inconsistent slitting edges are common root causes. These defects show up during lamination or bag making, so they often get blamed on printing.
