Flexography in practice. A flexo press meters ink through an engraved anilox roller onto a raised photopolymer plate, which transfers the image to the substrate. Inks may be water-based, solvent-based, or UV-cured. Central-impression presses hold the web against a single large drum for tight registration on stretchy films; stack presses arrange separate print units and suit corrugated and paper. Plate cost and mounting time are the main setup expenses, which is why flexo favors repeat designs and medium-to-long runs.
Digital in practice. Toner (electrophotographic) presses dominate digital labels and cartons; inkjet presses, including single-pass machines for corrugated, are growing fastest. Digital wins when a buyer has many designs in small quantities — seasonal versions, regional variants, test markets — because there is nothing to amortize but machine time. Its limits are narrower spot-color gamuts on some devices and higher per-unit cost at very long runs.
Screen and textile methods in practice. Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh stencil; the thick deposit gives opaque color on dark substrates, durable outdoor graphics, and tactile effects, at the cost of slow setup per color. For promotional bags and POP textiles, small shops typically combine screen printing with DTF transfers (full-color, no weeding, good on cotton blends), dye sublimation (vivid, permanent, but only on polyester or coated surfaces), and heat-transfer vinyl (sharp single-color logos and numbering). Each method has a distinct durability and hand-feel profile, so the choice follows the fabric and the use case.