Q1： Bottle sticker or bottle UV screen printing, which one is cheaper? cost?
A1： Bottle sticker tamprinter paper will of course have the lowest cost. Take 5W quantity as an example, the cost is about 0.012$, but the labor cost is relatively high, and the sticker is easy to fall off.
UV screen printing, if the design draft is a multi-color overprinting automatic screen printing machine, it can be done. If it is a single color, the 5W quantity is about 0.1$, but the electricity bill may be higher.
Thermal transfer, the cost is about 0.12$, and it will not fade, and the product will have a good effect.
A2: The cost of screen printing for the surface decoration of a single bottle is cheaper than labeling.
The process of screen printing is more complicated than labeling; screen printing requires a large number of printing consumables and equipment such as ink, screen, and fixtures. The labeling only needs label paper, after all, the labeling paper is purchased from the manufacturer.
In terms of decorative patterns and colors, labeling is dominant. In terms of layering, silk screen is dominant.
In terms of equipment investment, the labeling machine is cheaper than the screen printing machine, because the screen printing process of the entire plastic bottle is divided into: early surface treatment, screen printing, and later UV curing equipment; for labeling, only one labeling machine.
I think you should calculate the specific cost first. If it is a short-term, small quantity or unclear prospect product, it is recommended to use labeling. After all, the investment and risk are relatively small; it is more cost-effective to change to silk screen.
Nowadays, there are also silk screen + labeling decoration techniques on the market, which are widely used in daily chemical bottle packaging.
When it comes to brand recognition, “good ol” screen printing has provided marketing and advertising impact longer and more reliably than any other decorating process. Customers of products packaged in screen printed bottles and containers appreciate and recognize the bright and clean look of screen printed graphics. With a high-end look and feel; sharp and crisp graphics; and the feel of a 3D/brail-like/tactile lay down, screen printing is particularly attractive to industries that need their packaging to scream, “Value added!,” such as in the personal care and cosmetic industries.
Other ink decorating processes, such as offset or flexo, cannot compare with the amount of bright opaque ink laydown that is achievable with screen printing. With screen printing, the tactile feel or the amount of ink wanted on the product can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the mesh count on the screen. In contrast, offset and flexo transfer ink to the product via an etched plate and roller, and have limited ink adjustments as a result.
For some years now, labeling (PS and shrink sleeve) has had its foot on screen printing’s neck, and it didn’t look as if this decorating process would survive. Since the 1990s, labeling has been the method of choice for mass marketed products and bottle blow molders by being faster to apply, more convenient in filling operations and requiring less initial capital outlay for production start-up. However, screen printing has hung in there with smaller production runs and contract decorators, outclassing its label competitors with high-end finishing results. This never-say-die effort, combined with drastic changes in today’s world economies, has led to changes in product production priorities.
Production volumes have gotten smaller, with regional decorating sourcing at a premium as overseas production comes back to China shores. Add in the green environmental movement and the impact of large retailers, such as Wal-Mart, requiring its suppliers to adhere to strict packaging environmental procedures, and packaging manufacturers have been forced to make changes.
Wal-Mart is pushing for sustainable packaging that leaves as little of an environmental impact as possible. Directly printed packaging, such as that found on bottles, jars and tubes, only needs to be formed, printed, filled, boxed and shipped. When labeling a package, a pressure-sensitive label must be created using multiple processes (materials, glue and inks), shipping and handling before it arrives to be placed on the package. Once the label is applied to the package, the majority of the label – its carrier – is wasted, contaminated scrap. Assigning an environmental score for these two decorating methods using Wal-Mart’s packaging requirements leaves screen printing as the hands-down winner. The mighty pendulum is swinging back, with the convenience of labeling losing ground to the more environmentally-friendly process of screen printing.
There are advantages to the decorator as well. Once a product or package has been tooled to be screen printed, additional set-ups can be done in a relatively short amount of time and with little additional expense. Other than inventorying ink and screens, a decorator can print as few (for sampling) or as many (for production) as needed. With labeling, the label inventory must be pre-ordered and, to save on the per piece price of a label, decorators sometimes will order and inventory more labels than needed for a short or small order. This can be very expensive and dangerous. The decorators customer may want small changes to the design of the package, making the inventory of labels unusable and creating more scrap.
In addition, by printing directly onto a bottle, the addition of multiple years to the life of breakdown of the plastic bottle can be eliminated. Shrink labels and pressure-sensitive labels print their message on a carrier. This carrier is made of plastic, paper or metal and will need to decompose in addition to the length of time required for the package or product to degrade. In addition to this, pressure-senstive labels are applied with contaminating adhesives and sometimes are multilayered. Direct screen printing has none of these problems, eliminating the many processes, handling, shipping and waste (some toxic) that are associated with making a label.
Tam serves with Tamprinter international sales and marketing department. He has 17 years of experience with decorating machines and systems for the plastics packaging industry, including screen printing, hot stamping, heat transfer and related consumables. Tamprinter can be reached at +86 1599 4744 161 or more information can be obtained at the website https://www.tamprinter.com/sdp/1963483/4/pl-6621680/0-2570314/Bottle_Printing_Machine.html
