Screen printing has proven itself as an effective method of
decorating three-dimensional items and unusually shaped products
at high production speeds. This article introduces the printing
systems used for such jobs and the innovations they feature to
accommodate challenging products. By Harald Gavin Servo-based
screen-printing machines overcome the disadvantages and
potential problems of mechanically driven machines. About a
decade ago, servo technology had developed to a point where
screen-press manufacturers could utilize this technology at an
economic price. The price for servo technology accounts for not
only the hardware, but also for the required programming of the
man-machine interface and the drives for the servomotors. The
prices for servo hardware and servo programming tools suitable
for screen-printing machines have come down, driven by the
demand from packaging-machine OEMs. The number of packaging
machines manufactured annually is several times that of screen-
printing presses; nevertheless, manu