Gravure and the Future of Printed Electronics

As the print world continues to grow and continues to be wasteful, the potential for the future and the advancement of printed electronics is a topic on a lot of people’s minds. The overall goal is to create low cost electronic components, increased efficiency and less waste in the print industry.1 Many have said that gravure is a “dead” process, because of the growth in digital media, short run accelerating technological change, expense and time of engraving cylinders, and a shortage of skilled labor. However, its unique attributes give the printing mechanism promise to address the demand for cost-efficient, long run production of RFID tags and other electronic applications. There is potential that the gravure printing process combined with new advancements in printed electronics will revolutionize the print industry in the near future.