Rotogravure – driven by internationalization and brand owners
Focus point: Quality and cost efficiency
Trends in the rotogravure market
The continuing trend of internationalization is seen as the decisive driving force for the rotogravure industry. In the area of magazines and catalogues for the mail order business it is the mail order houses, catalogue and magazine publishers, who supply their customers with millions of copies of quality rotogravure print products. In Europe alone the capacity of rotogravure printing exceeds 5 million tons per year.
In the area of packaging printing it is the large brand owners who define the standards. The high demand both in terms of quality and print volume strengthens the demand for these rotogravure products further. A survey conducted by the market research institute GfK showed that eight out of 10 brand owners chose rotogravure as their preferred print process. The key criteria were consistently high print quality, brilliant colours and colour consistency throughout the entire print run.
Printing quality and cost-effectiveness of the printing process
Discussion over the advantages and disadvantages of rotogravure, when compared to offset and flexo printing, are continuing. Depending on the print products, the required print quality and circulation the most suitable and economical print process is selected. Thanks to technological advancements, such as a high degree of automation in the entire process, the digital data processing and direct conversion of data for the engraving equipment rotogravure could firmly assert itself against other print processes. The trend to lower press runs of 200,000 to 300,000 copies can be economically printed with rotogravure thanks the combination of available processes and the high degree of automation – all with the proven and commonly recognised advantages of superior colour brilliance and consistent print quality of rotogravure even with very large print volumes.
