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This high-speed stack type flexographic printing machine prints multi-color designs onto LDPE, HDPE, PP, and biodegradable plastic film at production speeds matching blown film and bag converting line throughput. The stack configuration arranges 2-6 print stations vertically on a single frame — each station applies one color with independent impression, plate cylinder, anilox roller, and drying control. Converters producing printed shopping bags, branded produce bags, garment packaging, agricultural film with product information, and certified compostable bags with compliance markings run this machine for high-volume film printing where multi-color registration, rapid color changeover, and production speed determine profitability.
Multi-color branded shopping bags: 2-4 color supermarket chain logos, promotional text, recycling symbols, and size markings on HDPE/LDPE bag film at 600-1200 mm width — each color is a separate stack station with independent registration control.
Produce and food packaging film: Brand logos, weight markings, barcodes, and country-of-origin text on LDPE produce bag film — printed at line speed without film stretching or distortion on thin gauge (0.01-0.03 mm).
Garment and retail packaging: Multi-color brand designs, size indicators, and care symbols on PP and LDPE garment bag film — stack configuration enables quick color changes between fashion-season print designs.
Agricultural film marking: Product specifications, UV protection ratings, and installation instructions printed on greenhouse and mulch film — durable ink adhesion for outdoor exposure.
Compostable bag certification markings: EN 13432 / ASTM D6400 compliance logos, batch traceability codes, and disposal instructions on PLA/PBAT biodegradable film.
| Application | Colors | Film Material | Key Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket bag branding | 2-3 | HDPE / LDPE | High speed, consistent registration across repeat prints |
| Produce bag text + barcode | 1-2 | LDPE 0.01-0.03 mm | Low tension for thin film; barcode clarity |
| Garment bag brand + care labels | 2-4 | PP / LDPE | Quick color changeover; sharp text |
| Compostable certification marks | 1-2 | PLA/PBAT | Temperature-controlled drying for heat-sensitive film |
Film converters who currently outsource printing to external service providers and pay a printing premium of $80-200 per ton of film. Bringing printing in-house with a stack type flexo machine captures this margin and eliminates the logistics, lead time, and minimum order quantities of external printing services.
Bag manufacturers who need multi-color brand printing on finished bags and currently print on individual bags (slow, high reject rate) rather than on the film web before bag conversion. Printing the flat film web before bag making is 3-5 times faster and produces more consistent print registration than printing on finished bags.
Producers running multiple print designs per shift — the stack configuration allows individual station setup and cleaning without disturbing other stations. A 4-color machine can run a 2-color job on stations 1-2 while stations 3-4 are being prepared for the next job, minimizing changeover downtime.
Export-oriented converters whose customers in different countries require different languages, brand elements, and regulatory markings on the same base film product. The stack flexo machine enables print design changes between batches without affecting film production.
Producers who sell only plain unprinted film or bags. If printing is not part of your value proposition, this machine adds capital cost without adding revenue. The flexo printer earns its premium only when printed film commands a higher margin or replaces outsourced printing costs.
Converters who need photorealistic CMYK process printing. Flexographic printing excels at line art, text, spot colors, and simple graphics — not continuous-tone photographic images. For photorealistic print quality, rotogravure or digital printing is the appropriate technology.
Shops producing under 300 tons of printed film per year. Below this volume, the capital cost of a multi-color stack flexo machine may not pay back against external printing costs within a reasonable timeframe. For low-volume occasional printing, consider a simpler single or two-color printer.
Producers of pre-formed bags who only print on the bag surface after conversion. If your bag production method requires printing on the finished bag (e.g., screen printing on thick bags), a flexo film printer does not fit. This machine prints on continuous film web before bag conversion.
Not sure if stack type flexo printing fits your production? Send us your print requirements and current printing costs — we'll calculate your in-house printing payback within one business day:
Your monthly printed film volume (tons) and current printing cost per ton
Typical number of colors per design and number of design changes per month
Film material and typical width
Each print station is a self-contained unit with its own plate cylinder, anilox roller, ink fountain, doctor blade, impression roller, and drying section — stacked vertically on a common frame. Unlike central-impression (CI) drum presses where all stations share one impression cylinder, the stack configuration allows each station to be set up, cleaned, and adjusted independently. If station 3 needs a plate change while stations 1, 2, and 4 continue running a 3-color job, station 3 is isolated without affecting the others. This modularity is especially useful for shops running frequent design changes — one station is prepped for the next job while the others are still producing.
Each station has dedicated impression pressure adjustment and longitudinal/lateral registration control — micro-adjustable during printing without stopping the line. On multi-color designs, registration errors between colors produce blurred text, misaligned graphics, and visible color halos that customers reject. The stack configuration's independent registration per station allows the operator to correct a single color's registration drift without adjusting the entire machine — turn one knob on the affected station, not recalibrate all stations.
A hot air drying section follows each print station, curing the just-applied ink before the film enters the next station. Wet ink transfer between stations causes color contamination — blue ink from station 1 smudging onto the station 2 anilox roller turns the station 2 print from red to purple within a few hundred meters. Inter-station drying prevents this by ensuring each color is dry before the next is applied. Drying temperature is adjustable per station — thinner film uses lower temperature, thicker film tolerates higher temperature for faster curing.
Free print trial — send us your film roll and artwork, receive printed samples. We'll run your film and design on our demo line and provide:
Printed film samples showing multi-color registration accuracy
Print quality assessment: color density, line sharpness, and ink adhesion
Recommended ink type and drying parameters for your film material
No cost. You supply the film roll and artwork file. Arrange your print trial here.
External printing minimum order quantities (MOQs) forcing inventory build-up. External printers typically require 3-5 ton MOQs per design — a converter with 12 bag SKU designs must order and stock 36-60 tons of printed film. In-house stack flexo printing eliminates MOQs — print exactly the quantity needed per design, when needed. Inventory carrying cost and obsolete-print stock are eliminated.
Print registration drift during long runs on single-impression machines. On machines where all colors share a common impression setting, film tension changes as the unwind roll diameter decreases cause progressive registration drift — the first 500 meters print correctly, but by 5000 meters the colors are visibly out of register. The stack configuration's independent per-station registration allows the operator to correct individual color drift without affecting others.
Color contamination between stations from wet ink transfer. Without adequate inter-station drying, partially wet ink from station 1 transfers to the station 2 impression roller and then back onto the film — producing ghost images and color mixing. The inter-station hot air system cures each color before the film reaches the next station, preventing cross-contamination even at high speed.
Thin film (0.01-0.02 mm) stretching under excessive web tension through multi-station presses. Each print station adds drag on the film web — across 4-6 stations, cumulative tension can stretch thin LDPE film by 1-3%, causing print-length errors and bag-size mismatches downstream. The stack configuration's individually adjustable dancer rollers per station control local tension — the web is not pulled through all stations by a single main drive tension.
| Scenario | Colors | Film Material | Setup Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket bag branding (high volume, few designs) | 2-3 | HDPE 0.015-0.025 mm | Standard drying; 800-1200 mm width; long runs between plate changes |
| Garment bag multi-brand (medium volume, frequent changes) | 2-4 | PP / LDPE 0.03-0.05 mm | Quick-change plate mounting; independent station prep for next job |
| Compostable bag certification + brand | 1-2 | PLA/PBAT 0.015-0.03 mm | Reduced drying temp 40-50°C; low tension for heat-sensitive film |
| Agricultural film marking (outdoor durable) | 1-2 | LDPE 0.05-0.15 mm | UV-resistant ink; higher drying temp for thick film; corona treater recommended |
Film unwinding & tension control: The film roll mounts on the motorized unwind station with closed-loop tension feedback. Dancer rollers maintain constant web tension as roll diameter decreases.
Station 1 — First color: The ink fountain transfers ink to the anilox roller; the doctor blade meters a controlled ink film. The plate cylinder picks up ink and transfers the first-color image onto the film. The impression roller maintains constant contact pressure. Hot air dryer cures the ink immediately after printing.
Stations 2-N — Subsequent colors: Each additional color is applied at its own stack station with the same ink-fountain → anilox → plate → impression → drying sequence. Inter-station drying prevents wet ink from contaminating the next station.
Final drying & film exit: After the last color station, a final drying section ensures complete ink curing. The printed film proceeds to the rewind station or directly into a bag making line.
Rewinding: The printed film is wound onto finished rolls with taper tension control — roll build-up maintains consistent tension from core to full diameter.
| Option | What It Does | Suited For |
|---|---|---|
| Shaftless pneumatic plate mounting | Air-expansion plate cylinder grip — plate change in under 10 min per station | Shops with 3+ design changes per week |
| Corona treater (inline) | Treats film surface to raise dyne level above 38 mN/m before printing | PP film and aged LDPE film with low surface energy |
| EPC web guide system | Edge position control — photoelectric sensor keeps film web centered through all stations | Wide-web above 800 mm; multi-color registration-critical jobs |
| Motorized registration control | Servo-driven longitudinal and lateral registration adjustment from HMI | High-speed production where manual knob adjustment during running is impractical |
| Automatic ink viscosity control | Closed-loop solvent dosing maintains ink viscosity within set range | Long production runs where solvent evaporation changes ink consistency |
| Video inspection system | Real-time camera monitoring of print quality with defect detection | High-value multi-color printing where print defects must be caught during production |
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh — shopping bag manufacturer and exporter
Machine: 4-Color Stack Type Flexographic Printing Machine, 1000 mm width
Print product: 3-color supermarket branding on HDPE shopping bag film, 0.018 mm × 800 mm
Before: Outsourced printing at $140/ton premium over plain film cost. 5-ton MOQ per design. Monthly printed film purchases: ~45 tons at ~$6,300 printing premium. 3-4 weeks lead time per order.
After: In-house printing. Ink, plates, and labor: ~$35/ton. Monthly printing cost: ~$1,600. Net monthly saving: ~$4,700. Print-on-demand — no MOQ, no inventory, 1-day turnaround on design changes.
Payback: 14 months from captured printing margin; faster when accounting for eliminated inventory carrying costs.
15+ years manufacturing film processing equipment in Jiangyin, Jiangsu — machines running in 30+ countries.
CE-certified electrical and safety systems on all export machines. Each ships with wiring diagrams and spare parts catalog.
Pre-delivery FAT on every machine: We run your print design on your film at production speed before crating. Printed samples and video provided.
2-year warranty on main drives, 1 year on electrical. Critical spares (anilox rollers, doctor blades, plate cylinders) stocked — shipped within 48 hours.
Remote video-guided commissioning as standard; on-site engineer available. Training covers color registration setup, ink formulation, drying temperature profiling, and preventive maintenance.
HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP film, and biodegradable films (PLA/PBAT). Drying temperature is adjustable per material — PE and PP tolerate 60-80°C for fast curing; biodegradable films use 40-50°C. Not suitable for aluminum-metallized film (conductive surface affects ink transfer) or heavily embossed/textured film surfaces.
Standard configurations: 2, 4, or 6 color stations. Each station prints one color. Stations can be added to an existing machine frame — a 2-color machine can be expanded to 4 colors later. The practical maximum is 6 colors in a single stack frame.
Print repeat length is determined by the plate cylinder circumference — interchangeable cylinders support repeat lengths from 300 mm to 1200 mm. For designs requiring different repeat lengths, cylinder sets are swapped. Plate mounting uses a shaft-based or shaftless pneumatic system depending on configuration.
Standard: 40-55 working days. Custom width or non-standard station count: 55-70 working days. Sea freight: Southeast Asia 7-10 days, Middle East 15-20 days, Africa 20-30 days, South America 25-35 days.
Number of colors, maximum film width, typical film material and thickness, print repeat length range, and monthly printing volume. Share your print design artwork for plate cylinder sizing and station count confirmation.
Daily: clean anilox rollers and ink fountains after production to prevent dried ink build-up. Weekly: check doctor blade edges for wear; inspect inter-station dryer air filters. Monthly: check plate cylinder bearings and impression roller alignment. Doctor blade replacement every 15,000-20,000 meters. Anilox roller reconditioning every 6-12 months depending on ink type and production hours.
With shaftless pneumatic plate mounting: 10-15 minutes per station for plate + ink + cleaning. A 4-color changeover takes 40-60 minutes with one operator. Conventional shafted mounting: 20-30 minutes per station.
Training covers: plate mounting and registration setup, ink formulation and viscosity control, drying temperature profiling per film type, and daily cleaning procedures. Written SOPs in English. Free refresher within warranty.
Tell us your printing requirements — we'll configure and quote within 3 working days.
Number of colors required
Maximum film width and typical film material / thickness
Print repeat length range (min-max in mm)
Monthly printing volume (tons)
Typical number of design changes per month
Factory electrical supply and floor dimensions
