EXPANDED COLOR GAMUT
(ECG) FLEXO

Expanded Color Gamut printing (ECG) is the practice of using a set of 4 or more inks (typically 7): Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK) plus Orange, Green, and Violet (OGV) to achieve a larger color gamut than that of CMYK. It is also used as a solution to replace spot colors.

CMYK

4 color process printing

4 color process printing

CMYKOGV

Expanded Color Gamut printing

ECG printing

Benefits of ECG (Flexo ECG 7-Color vs CMYK + 3 spots)*

INK SAVING
21%
REDUCED CO2
50%
REDUCED SUBSTRATE WASTE
63%
REDUCED MAKE-READY
72%
REDUCED WASH-UP SOLVENTS
97%

Source: Lankinen, Kai, 2021 (PhD thesis: Evaluation of Expanded Gamut Printing in Flexography)
For a wide-web flexographic process with a consumption of 50 million meters annual production (3,333 print-jobs), material width of 100 cm.

Watch the video:
ECG - The Visual Marketer's Dream

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The reduced use of solvents is good for the environment and another cost saving for the business
Envaflex, Flexible Packaging Printer, Spain

Environmental
sustainability

As an environmentally responsible brand owner, using an ECG printing process is the most effective and least damaging printing process for the planet.
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Better, brighter,
and bolder

The color gamut is expanded and a wider choice of designs allows you to experiment with your packaging creativity. Using a standard set of ECG inks, global repeatable color is achieved.
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Faster speed
to market

As more printers adopt ECG, these 7 inks will form the basis of their stock room shelves. They will be ready to print your packaging and label designs without delay.
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Reduce solvents & waste

By moving to ECG, you can reduce the number of press wash-ups and plate changes during production.
We’re converting more jobs to expanded gamut; this is helping customers reduce job setup times and waste – a typical example of this is from 2 hours, down to 20 minutes.
Fotograbados Lynch, Argentina

Increase productivity

Make-ready time is faster and you can composite or 'gang' multiple jobs on the press.
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Cost savings

You reduce the amount of ink used in the printing process and as there are fewer press wash-ups, you reduce the amount of solvents used.

The converter has reduced the time on press by one hour per job due to faster make-ready times and removed waste. They've quantified this to be a 30% reduction in costs per job.

Flexographic Solutions S.L. (FGS), Spain

What's happening in the pressroom?

Before ECG implementation ~ 60 mins

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* Based on 1hr change over time required for a typical 8 color CI Flexo press

With ECG...

With ECG implementation ~ 35 mins

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Faster change over = ~ 40% gain in production efficiency

The outstanding ECG results produced by Bellissima increased the pressroom’s utilization while reducing materials, ink, and waste
Catapult Print, USA
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Conventional AM-based screening is the current standard of screening used for flexographic printing, however, it has its limitations and challenges in an ECG environment:

To print high lpi AM screens, printers typically have to reduce the running speed of the printing press in order to print the high-fidelity. This lengthens the time that a job will run on press and reduces its productivity to produce sellable output.

To register 4 colors can be challenging, and when misregistration occurs on the press, color can shift which causes waste. Moving to an ECG environment with AM-based screening increases registration problems as you have register up to 7 colors, and by doing so, the chance of waste from misregistration increases.