Editing Flexography (section)

==History==
In 1890 the first such patented press was built in [[Liverpool]], England by Bibby, Baron and Sons. The water-based ink smeared easily, leading the device to be known as "Bibby's Folly". In the early 1900s, other European presses using rubber printing plates and [[aniline]] oil-based ink were developed. This led to the process being called "aniline printing". By the 1920s, most presses were made in Germany, where the process was called "gummidruck", or rubber printing. In modern-day Germany, the process continues to be called "gummidruck".

During the early part of the 20th century, the technique was used extensively in food packaging in the United States. However, in the 1940s, the [[Food and Drug Administration]] classified aniline dyes as unsuitable for food packaging and as a result, printing sales plummeted. Individual firms tried using new names for the process, such as "Lustro Printing" and "Transglo Printing", but met with limited success. Even after the Food and Drug Administration approved the aniline process in 1949 using new, safe inks, sales continued to decline as some food manufacturers still refused to consider aniline printing. Worried about the image of the industry, packaging representatives decided the process needed to be renamed.

In 1951 Franklin Moss, then the president of the Mosstype Corporation, conducted a poll among the readers of his journal ''The Mosstyper'' to submit new names for the printing process. Over 200 names were submitted, and a subcommittee of the [[Packaging Institute]]'s Printed Packaging Committee narrowed the selection to three possibilities: "permatone process", "rotopake process", and "flexographic process". Postal ballots from readers of ''The Mosstyper'' overwhelmingly chose the last of these, and "flexographic process" was chosen.<ref name="wmich1">{{cite web |title=Rubber Stamps Online |url=https://www.stamp.com.pk}}</ref>

===Evolution===
Originally, flexographic printing was rudimentary in quality. Labels requiring high quality have generally been printed using the [[offset printing|offset]] process until recently. Since 1990,<ref name="kipphan976-979">{{Cite book | last = Kipphan | first = Helmut | title = Handbook of print media: technologies and production methods | publisher = Springer | year = 2001 | edition = Illustrated | pages = 976–979 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VrdqBRgSKasC | isbn = 3-540-67326-1}}</ref> great advances have been made to the quality of flexographic printing presses, printing plates, ink systems and printing inks.

The greatest advances in flexographic printing have been in the area of [[photopolymer]] printing plates, including improvements to the plate material and the method of plate creation.

Digital [[direct to plate]] systems have seen a good improvement in the industry recently. Companies like [[DuPont]], [[Kodak]], [[XSYS]], and [[Esko (company)|Esko]] have pioneered the latest technologies, with advances in fast washout and the latest screening technology.

Laser-etched ceramic [[anilox]] rolls along with chambered ink systems, have also played a part in the improvement of print quality. Full-color picture printing is now possible, and some of the finer presses available today, in combination with a skilled operator, allow quality that rivals the [[lithography|lithographic]] process. One ongoing improvement has been the increasing ability to reproduce highlight tonal values, thereby providing a workaround for the very high [[dot gain]] associated with flexographic printing.