Editing Flexography (section)

===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.