As all carton printers know, the business of folding cartons has become increasingly difficult in the past several years. Customers demand the highest quality printed products, while simultaneously hammering converters for lower and lower prices. The resulting squeeze has driven some out of business, and forced many others to consolidate to stay afloat.

Fortunately, not all the news is bleak. Many carton houses have discovered a wonderful tool to combat these forces in the form of web-fed inline flexographic presses to produce folding cartons. Modern-day flexography can produce quality that rivals offset and is quite acceptable for the great majority of carton work. The web-fed inline press design, by reducing most carton production to a one-pass proposition, has given converters the economic efficiency needed to thrive even in these tough market conditions.

This article is intended to give those unfamiliar with the basics of flexographic folding carton production a general idea of what is involved, pointing out some of the differences and similarities between flexography and offset in the process.