Off-set printing is a type of printing that guarantees a high-definition product, making the images faithful and of quality, free from imperfections and characterized by precise details and a wide range of colors. 

It is an indirect printing process based on the repulsion phenomenon between water and inks. Instead of printing the sheet in direct contact with the aluminium plate, printing takes place through the use of three cylinders in contact with each other. The printing is obtained by the ink transferred from the aluminium plate to the rubber and from this to the paper. 

The result is an extreme definition, a high resolution given by the principle of water/oil repulsion. The rubber cylinder allows maintaining a high printing quality even on non-smooth surfaces to print on any kind of paper.

In off-set printing the ink is introduced into the inkwell, from there it passes to the grinding group formed by numerous rollers which, by rotating, make the ink itself fluid. The plate is wound on a cylinder and touched by wetting and inking rollers. The inks, which are greases, adhere only to the worked part of the slab (graphism), while the water, due to the principle of water repellency, does not wet the same graphics because the ink rejects it.

The plate then transfers the images onto the blanket of rubber that receives the ink but not the water, which transfers the print onto the sheet with the help of the counter pressure cylinder. The sheet is inserted into the machine through an apparatus called a sheet feeder consisting of a series of aspirators which lift the sheet and place it on a sliding surface. 

On the latter, the sheet is positioned thanks to a square to allow the pressure cylinder’s clamps to hook it always at the same point. The operation ensures that printing takes place at a constant and univocal distance: the so-called “register”.

The windowing is a process that makes visible the product contained in a box. 

The windowing process has the function of allowing the view of the product contained in a box. It consists of applying transparent plastic (PP) windows of various sizes and shapes with special glues on the packaging. In the case of products with a particular appeal, the windows are extremely useful for enhancing the product’s appearance.

In the case of products with particular appeal, the windows are extremely useful for enhancing the appearance of the product. 

Die cutting is an operation that allows you to make a precise cut of a sheet product. 

This type of processing takes place thanks to the use of the punch. It is an instrument, generally made of wood, equipped with a steel strip with a sharp upper profile that - reproducing a certain shape - is used to cut paper, cardboard or similar materials in complex abstract shapes. 

The die-cut is used to make identical and precise cuts. The production process includes a CAD drawing of the development of the object to be produced (eg box). The drawing file is sent to the laser that cuts the sheet defining the external format and the shape. The same file is also sent to one or more machines, which are always managed by the CAD, which makes the cuts to size by curving the blade and making the bridges inferiorly. 

An operator then inserts all these steel elements in the matrix with appropriate tools. The laser cutting allows precision, such as making a certain interference between the blade and the wood, preventing it from coming out during the punching stage. Afterwards, rubber strips are glued to the sides of the blade so that the material to be cut does not get stuck to the punch but is rejected. The result is a sort of mould that, resting on the sheet of paper, can cut the defined shape. The die-cut tool, once produced, must be inserted into a machine which, opening and closing alternately, with the insertion of the sheet to be punched, allows a complete cut to be made.

The Embossing  is the result of a process that makes a unique and refined packaging through the creation of reliefs on the cardboard. This type of printing serves to give evidence and prominence to an image or a particular form. 

Dry printing (or embossing) does not use color. The result is elegant and decidedly refined. It is a mechanical processing of the paper support, with which a relief is obtained on the desired surface. 

The embossing is obtained thanks to the use of two plates (one positive and the other negative), among which the paper gets a relief that will leave the back of the concave support. The deformation of the paper takes place through special matrices. 

In this case no color is applied. The shadow created along the deformation of the paper emphasizes the relief that can be further accentuated with a colored print or a hot foil printing. 

The hot foil stamping covers the substrate with a thin layer of metallic material. In this way, the exclusivity and elegance of the packaging increase. 

Hot foil stamping (also called a relief printing process) is a direct web printing system. With this particular printing technique, thanks to the use of pressure and heat, the contrast element is transferred to a temperature between 90 ° and 130 °. The foil is made of heat-transferable material and at the time of printing it is transferred onto the substrate. In particular, the hot foil printing technique takes place in this way: the plate is fixed to the platen (moving part of the printing press). Once the latter heats up, it is able to transfer (thanks also to the strong pressure) the coloring layer of the foil which in this way detaches and transfers to the substrate to be printed. 

The hot foil printing technique can be combined with relief printing in order to obtain processing that characterizes and embellishes the packaging. Hot stamping can also be used to apply effects such as marble, leather, wood grain, pearlescence, repeated motifs, holograms, pigments or soft colors, matt or gloss finishes, and classic gold and silver.

Prototype, from the Greek prôtos (first) and týpos (shape, figure) is the first model or exemplar of an object intended to be reproduced. It is a strategic phase during the process of cardboard boxes creation.

Pringraf is organized not only to make prototypes on unprinted cardboard, but what is more important, can realize printed short runs. Printing takes place directly on the material choosen for the industrial production. The  result is to be considered as a real production in short run.

UV varnish is a printing technique that can be used to embellish the details of a print giving greater shine to the color and protecting, at the same time, the painted parts. UV varnishing takes place through a varnishing passage of the sheet already printed using specific machinery. This technique requires acrylic resins, with glossy or opaque finishes. Drying, thanks to this technology, is immediate. 

Lamination  is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance or other properties from the use of differing materials. The lamination is carried out by spreading directly on the material mixtures of acrylic or latex resins in aqueous solution, normally containing also ammonia. 

Thanks to a squeegee, the compound is spread on the support material and this is joined to another material with a sandwich arrangement. The coupled is then passed between heated cylinders, which cause the mixture to dry. The result of this phase is a corrugated sheet suitable for the specific production to be made.