Editing Flexography (section)

==Applications==
Flexo has an advantage over lithography in that it can use a wider range of inks, water based rather than oil based inks, and is good at printing on a variety of different materials like plastic, foil, acetate film, brown paper, and other materials used in packaging. Typical products printed using flexography include brown corrugated boxes, flexible packaging including retail and shopping bags, food and hygiene bags and sacks, milk and beverage cartons, flexible plastics, self-adhesive labels, [[disposable cup]]s and containers, envelopes and wallpaper. In recent years there has also been a move towards laminates, where two or more materials are bonded together to produce new material with different properties than either of the originals. A number of newspapers now eschew the more common offset lithography process in favour of flexo. Flexographic inks, like those used in [[gravure]] and unlike those used in lithography, generally have a low [[viscosity]]. This enables faster drying and, as a result, faster production, which results in lower costs.

Printing press speeds of up to 800 meters per minute (2600 feet per minute) are achievable now with modern technology high-end printers. Flexo printing is widely used in the [[Converter (industry)|converting]] industry for printing plastic materials for packaging and other end uses. For maximum efficiency, the flexo presses produce large rolls of material that are then slit down to their finished size on [[slitting]] machines.