It's the Little Things That Count

Many of us have relayed the line, “it’s the little things,” in response to something we find funny or which made us feel good. It’s the same for your print jobs—“little things” play crucial roles. Critical components of flexographic or gravure print jobs are the anilox rolls or gravure cylinders and the doctoring systems that work to control the ink that lays upon the finished product. Properly installed and maintained doctoring systems also go a long way toward improving your bottom line, as they can directly impact whether or not your rolls or cylinders last as long as they should. “Eighty percent of all anilox rolls are damaged before they wear out,” says Jazmin Kluttz, ­Harper Corporation of America. “One of the leading causes of this high mortality rate is [a contaminant] in the ink system, which becomes trapped between the doctor blade and the anilox roll, leaving a bright line around the anilox roll. These lines are visible to the naked eye on the anilox roll, and in print are referred to as ‘score lines.’” The advantages of avoiding score lines are obvious when you consider the cost of gravure cylinders and failure to use them for their entire life spans.