ERA met in Thessaloniki

Gravure – the Sustainable Print Process

The European gravure industry met at ERA’s Annual & Packaging/Decorative Gravure Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, from 21st to 23rd September. Despite the ongoing corona restrictions over 80 delegates followed ERA’s invitation to discuss face-to-face challenges such as sustainability in packaging printing and alternative galvanic technologies. The conference pointed out an encouraging perspective for gravure’s future, and it was noted as a success of the ERA that the EU Commission finally approved the authorization to further use chromium trioxide until 2024. To secure the future of chromium plating using chromium trioxide beyond 2024, Kaspar Walter has made an application at the European Chemical Agency which covers gravure cylinders and embossing cylinders. Furthermore, during the conference, promising alternatives to the traditional cylinder plating were presented by Rossini (Ecogravsystem), Contitech (Dynasurf) and Kaspar Walter (HelioChrome Neo and HelioPearl). And finally the press manufacturers Bobst and Uteco presented their solutions of press enhancements for use with water-based inks, which will further improve the sustainability of the gravure process.