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Small is beautiful
A big printing machine makes a big visual statement so it's hardly surprising that wide format screen, digital and litho systems have a habit of dominating the news. However, as newsworthy as these systems are, they only represent one facet of the UK's diverse printing sector.
Last year, SPDI's screen features editor, Peter Kiddell, and myself decided to introduce a series of application based features designed to promote the diversity of the UK's screen printing sector. Just two issues into the new year and I am again staggered by how much screen printing offers UK manufacturing industry.
This month's feature spotlights pad printing. The machines might be a little smaller than a four colour wideformat screen line but they have the capacity to add just as much value. The secret to value added pad printing is not the size of the image but image quality and application complexity. Quite simply, pad printing often goes where other processes fear to tread.
Over the years I have worked in a variety of industries as both an engineer and editor. I can't think of a single sector that was untouched by pad printing. For example, I once visited an electronics manufacturer to investigate the production of aircraft connectors, a highly regulated and quality controlled process. One of the final manufacturing steps involved printing the product number on the curved connector shell. These tiny characters needed to be clear to read and capable of surviving for years in a hostile aerospace environment. How was the number applied? Pad printing naturally.
Jon Barrett
Editor
