Can the gravure industry leverage the technology of digital printing to its advantage? What will be gravure's role in the future of printed electronics? These were only two among the wide range of topics covered at the PLGA Global's 11th Operational Conference (www.plga.com). More than 200 industry professionals attended the program recently in Miami. Printer and contract packager Karlville (above) was one among dozens of tabletop exhibitors at the event.

Although gravure's high speed limits the ability to run digital-print in-line, there are still opportunities for gravure printers to apply the high-tech process' flexibility. Sean Skelly, marketing director for EFI, Jetrion industrial inkjet systems, and Jeffrey O'Reilly, national sales manager for HP Indigo, covered how the competing technologies of inkjet and toner digital printing can work with gravure to help converters capture more market share and offer new packaging looks to the marketplace.

What converters are likely to find for the foreseeable future appears to be digital's use limited primarily to mono-color hybrid presses for adding VIP, UPCs, lot codes, etc. to already gravure-printed webs. There are some systems available, however, with faster continuous-inkjet stations on gravure presses, and certainly on offline finishing equipment using fast-curing UV inks.

If any print process has high potential to make printed electronics a reality, it's gravure. Some of the latest advancements toward that end as well as new research into gravure's potential role for tomorrow's printed electronics were detailed by several speakers.

Jay Sperry, a faculty member in the Dept. of Graphic Communications at Clemson University, covered current benchmarking studies into gravure, flexo and screen for printing electronics. Collaboration is definitely needed among vendors, material suppliers and printers to make printed electronics a reality because the slightest defect equals failure of the device, he says.

Bill Ray, senior research fellow with Nth Degree Technologies in Tempe, AZ, brought up two major problems facing investigators. In terms of materials, nothing that really works seems to be available now. In manufacturing, “people are playing with inkjet, pad printing, flexo and gravure. However, without the materials problem being resolved, much doubt remains” about the viability of truly printed electronics.

Alejandro de la Fuente, a doctoral student in electrical engineering/computer sciences at the University of California-Berkeley, described the results of current research into gravure applications as well. Silver-flake inks appear to allow much thinner line resolution, and that this is not equally clear using nanoparticle inks.

The speakers' conclusion: Gravure's consistency, micron-level engravings and line work, and integrated digital accuracy may prove the key to breakthrough printed-electronics technologies.

—Mark Spaulding