ROTHTEC® provides a wide range of gravure services to be sure we are able to meet each and every customer’s needs. Providing personalized service to each customer and building strong collaborative customer relationships are strengths of our business. Initial inquiries are welcome in whatever manner you are most comfortable, through the website or by phone at 508.995.4601. We will typically follow up with you by phone to be sure we understand your needs.
Gravure CAD Services
When we begin working with a new customer, the typical first step is to have you send in a sample of art. ROTHTEC®’s gravure services include a full service CAD department. If you prefer to do you own color separations, we are happy to work with them. But, if you prefer not to do them, we are also happy to do gravure separations for you. We can prepare files for a four color process or spot color. Bottom line, we will take your piece of art, and follow it through to the end of the engraving process.
Gravure Fingerprinting
Gravure fingerprinting is a process by which we are able to calibrate your presses, ink, and substrates with our engraving machines, to ensure that you get the final product you desire.Without finger printing, we cannot guarantee the output of your gravure cylinders.
We have a standard four color test file that we like to use for fingerprinting, but we are happy to add to it any images that you would like to have tested while we are fingerprinting. We do fingerprinting for spot color work as well, but here we will presume four color printing. Once we have settled on the total test file, we engrave four cylinders/sleeves for you to test on your presses. Using the cylinders/sleeves we send, you print the test file on your press, with the inks and substrate you plan to use. Together, we compare the test print to what is desired, and we decide what adjustments need to be made in the engraving curves.
After making the desired adjustments, we engrave a new set of cylinders/sleeves for you to test. You again print the test file on your press with your inks and substrate. As long as you are happy, you then sign off on the engraving curve, and we permanently save these settings so they can be used each time we are engraving cylinders/sleeves for you.
Gravure Cylinder/Sleeve Production
Once fingerprinting is complete, we move on to production mode. When you need new cylinders/sleeves you send us your files and we color separate them if needed. If you are using cylinders, we recondition your cylinders if they have been previously used. We copper plate the cylinders/sleeves; we engrave them; and we proof them. Presuming that they look flawless in the proofing step, we package and ship them to you.
Cylinder Inventory Tracking
If you are working with cylinders, we keep track of the inventory of your cylinders in our possession and email you a summary spreadsheet each week so you know how many in each size we have on hand.
As always, we welcome custom requests. If there are services you are looking for that we have not mentioned, please reach out to ask. We aim to please.