Process	Offset printing
	High-speed, economical printing method for wide mouth rigid containers (jars, tubs, etc.), and, recently, flexible packaging. It offers multicolour printing at low cost, since up to five colours can be applied at one time. Ink is transferred first from a plate to a rubber blanket, and then from the blanket to the paper. The rubber blanket and the plate, are mounted on cylinders. The paper picks up the image as it passes between the rubber blanket and an impression cylinder. The printing image on the plate is rendered grease receptive and water repellent, and viceversa for the non-printing areas. The ink used in offset printing is greasy, so that it only wets the image areas which are transferred to the blanket.
Danish Name	Offset trykning
Category	Surface treatments, Printing
Materials	Substrates: Paper, Card board Transparent films ( PE PP ) Aluminium
Typical products	Labels (e.g. on bottles) Brochures
References	Drent Graphic Machines Lerman Container Company
Price notes	Initial costs (plate charges) are higher than in silk screen printing.
Environmen- tal notes	When UV-inks for printing of plastic substrates are used, a very unpleasant smell is produced. This prevents the diffusion of this method for flexible packaging for food. When used, sucking hoods with carbon filters are needed.
Additional info	The quality of the printing tends to be flat compared to that of silk screen printing. Lacquer overcoating is recommended to protect labels with large areas from scratching.
Photo	Tomas Benzon (Computer graphics)
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