Labels are an integral part of commodity packaging and can be found everywhere in our lives. Label printing stands out from special printing and is based on its vast development space. The development and change of China's label printing industry is the result of China's printing industry's adherence to opening up and label companies' efforts to innovate and develop.
Overall, since 1985, 15 years of accumulation, 15 years of rapid growth and the high quality of today's development constitute the development track map of China's label printing industry.
The 15 years of accumulation has laid a solid foundation for development. In the early 1980s, self-adhesive printing was still a new thing in China, and its equipment, materials and related consumables were mainly imported. In January 1985, the Beijing office of Lindeco Co., Ltd. was established. This is the first foreign company to sell and produce products such as label materials and letterpress printing equipment in China. In the 1990s, label printing equipment was mainly based on letterpress printing equipment, and Japan Lindeke, Shanghai Ziguang, and Beiren Fuji were major equipment suppliers. In 1995, the first narrow-format flexographic printing press in the United States settled in Beijing, and began a long journey of flexographic printing in the Chinese label printing market. Since then, private and foreign equipment manufacturers have begun to enter the Chinese label printing market.
15 years of rapid growth has become the foundation for international solidarity. In the 21st century, label printing was separated from special printing and gradually gained attention and promotion and development. The newly established label printing companies, with the characteristics of the new century, serve emerging industries and pay more attention to integrating information technology into products. At this time, the label printing equipment has changed from a single processing type to a diversified and multi-functional direction, and the manual and high-efficiency finishing equipment has been gradually favored by the market. At the same time, the rotary offset labeling machine began to prevail; the combination printing method of adding wire mesh, glazing, bronzing and the like to the flexographic printing process has also received much attention. At this point, label printing has shifted from a single type of letterpress printing to a variety of printing methods, namely, embossing, offset printing, flexo printing, digital, screen and combined printing.
During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, label printing shifted from high-speed growth to high-quality development. The label printing industry has shifted from traditional printing methods to emerging printing methods. It is being integrated with new technologies in other fields, which brings a new situation of blooming and arguing. It is reflected in the new breakthrough in digital printing technology and the rapid development and flexibility of digital printing. The printing technology has rebounded strongly and the waterless offset printing technology has been highlighted. It can be said that the Chinese label printing industry has a lot of room for future development.
