The anilox market in Italy: who are the actual users in flexo printing, cleaning, and regeneration?

The survey provides a snapshot of the anilox market through a sample of companies where flexo printing, anilox cleaning, and anilox regeneration are already strategic drivers

In the latest survey conducted by Converting Magazine in partnership with Simec Group, the respondents have a very clear profile: the majority are companies actively involved in printing and converting at the production level, not just in theory. Fifty-three percent of participants are packaging printers, while 13% are converters active in lamination, coating, and die-cutting. Next are paper converters at 12%, the label and narrow-web sector at 9%, and other players in the graphic arts supply chain at an additional 9%. In other words, the surveyed audience represents the operational heart of the market-those who use anilox rolls every day and measure their impact on quality, print consistency, and operating costs.

Northern Italy and well-established SMEs lead the sample

The geographic distribution also confirms a picture consistent with the industrial geography of the packaging sector: 38% of companies have their main facility in the Northeast and 30% in the Northwest, while the Center and South account for 12% and 14%, respectively. In terms of size, the group is diverse but far from marginal: at least 20% of companies report less than 5 million euros in revenue, another 20% fall between 10 and 25 million, 15% between 25 and 50 million, and 14% exceed 100 million. The number of employees also points to a well-structured industrial base: 30% have between 11 and 50 employees, 21% between 101 and 250, 18% between 51 and 100, and 16% have more than 250. It is therefore a sample consisting largely of advanced SMEs and industrial companies capable of managing an anilox fleet using technical and organizational criteria that are already fairly well-established.

Flexo remains central to anilox management

The survey clearly shows that the anilox theme is closely linked to the prevalence of flexo printing. Only 28% of respondents state that they do not use this technology; for all others, flexo plays a role of varying but often significant importance: in 26% of cases, it accounts for between 76% and 100% of the printing technologies used in the company, while in 20% of cases it accounts for between 51% and 75%. Among the 80 respondents who completed the technical section, the largest group consists of those with 3–5 operational flexo presses, accounting for 31.25%, followed by those with 1–2, accounting for 23.75%. The anilox fleet also appears significant: 27.5% report fewer than 10 cylinders in use, but over 40% already have between 10 and 50 units, and nearly a quarter have more than 50 anilox cylinders. This data is interesting because it confirms that, in companies where flexo truly matters, anilox is managed as a critical resource and not as a simple spare part.

Anilox cleaning and anilox regeneration: pragmatism prevails

However, it is regarding usage practices that the survey becomes most revealing. Anilox refurbishment is far from marginal: 47.5% of respondents consider it their primary management approach, while a further 33.75% report using it in at least some cases, alongside the purchase of new anilox rolls. Only 8.75% state that they regularly directly replace worn rolls with new ones. When it comes to anilox cleaning, the picture is equally pragmatic and operational rather than ideological: chemical cleaning is the most widely used method at 51.25%, followed by external service providers at 27.5%, manual cleaning at 25%, and laser cleaning at 21.25%. Ultrasonic and thermal systems remain more marginal. From a technical standpoint, the interpretation of these figures is clear: the Italian market fully understands the value of recovery, but still applies highly differentiated maintenance models, often shaped by internal resources, job types and the frequency of clogging issues.

A mature market, but not yet fully standardised

Overall, the sample points to an Italian anilox market that is already aware, cost-conscious and sufficiently mature to consider refurbishment as part of the product lifecycle. At the same time, the wide range of cleaning methods and management approaches suggests that standardisation is not yet fully established. Rather than a uniform system, what emerges is a plurality of practices: some companies have already adopted a structured approach, while others still rely on more adaptive models. This is perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the survey: the anilox roll is now recognised as a strategic asset in flexographic printing, but the real competitive frontier will increasingly lie in the ability to manage it methodically – by planning cleaning, performance monitoring and refurbishment within a fully integrated industrial framework.