Printing questions,
answered plainly.

It depends on the product and the process. Offset printing carries a fixed plate and make-ready cost, so folding cartons and labels are normally quoted from around 1,000 units to make economic sense. Digital printing skips plates entirely, so short runs of a few hundred — or even 100 for a sampling run — are practical at a higher unit price. Tell us the quantity you actually need and we will tell you honestly which process gives you the better price.

There is no useful price per unit without a specification, because five things move the number: quantity, finished size, board or paper grade, the number of print colours, and the finishing (lamination, foiling, embossing, spot UV, die-cutting). The same carton can differ by several multiples depending on those choices. Send us the specification and we will send a written quote — usually within one working day — that itemises the material and finishing so you can see where the cost actually sits.

Substantially, with offset. The plates, die and make-ready are one-off costs spread across the whole run, so doubling the quantity does not double the price. If you are deciding between two quantities, ask us to quote both — the break-even is often lower than people expect, and it is common for a larger run to cost only slightly more in total.

Yes. For a new carton structure we can produce a blank mock-up so you can check the fit around your product before any artwork is finalised, and a printed proof before the bulk run goes on press. Nothing goes to full production until you have approved what you are getting in writing.

Digital jobs — business cards, letterheads, short-run leaflets — are usually completed within 24 to 48 hours. Offset work typically takes a few days from artwork approval. Cartons and packaging need longer because of finishing: lamination, foiling, die-cutting and gluing each add a stage, so allow one to two weeks for a full carton run depending on complexity and quantity.

Often, yes — particularly on digital. Tell us the deadline when you enquire rather than after the order is placed, because whether a date is achievable depends on what is already on the press and which finishing your job needs. We would rather tell you upfront that a date is tight than agree to it and miss it.

We deliver islandwide from our production facilities in Malabe and Orugodawatta. For export orders we can deliver to your freight forwarder or nominated consolidator, packed and palletised to your requirements.

A print-ready PDF is ideal. We also accept Adobe Illustrator and InDesign files with fonts and linked images included. Artwork should be CMYK, at 300 dpi for images, with at least 3mm bleed on every edge and important text kept clear of the trim. If you are unsure whether your file is press-ready, send it over and we will check it before quoting.

We can prepare both. For packaging, the dieline — the flat outline showing every cut, fold and glue tab at actual size — is worked out from your product dimensions first, and the artwork is laid out on top of it so nothing important lands on a fold or gets trimmed off. Our team can also design the artwork itself from your logo and content.

Screens emit light and use RGB; print reflects light and uses CMYK inks, so some very bright screen colours are physically outside what ink on paper can reproduce. This is why we work from CMYK files and provide proofs. If exact brand colour matters, tell us your reference and we will match against it rather than relying on a screen.

Offset transfers ink from plates to a rubber blanket and then onto the sheet. Because the plate cost is fixed, the longer the run the cheaper each unit becomes, and colour stays highly consistent across the whole job — it is the right choice for volume. Digital prints directly from the file with no plates, which makes it faster and far cheaper for short runs, personalised or variable-data work, and reprints.

Yes. We colour-match against your brand reference and run controlled proofs before the press run. This matters most when a brand appears across several items — a carton, its label and the leaflet inside it. Printing them together means the colour is set once and carries across all of them, which is far more reliable than matching separate jobs run months apart.

Yes. PrintMASS operates to ISO 9001 quality management standards, and our quality policy and ISO certificate are both available to download from this site. In practice it means documented checks at prepress, on press and before despatch, rather than a certificate on a wall.

GSM is grams per square metre — the weight, and broadly the thickness, of the paper or board. As a rough guide: 80–120gsm for letterheads and leaflets, 250–350gsm for business cards and swing tags, and 250–400gsm folding boxboard for most retail cartons. The right choice depends on what the item has to survive, so tell us the application rather than picking a number in isolation.

Gloss, matt and soft-touch lamination; spot UV and textured varnish; hot foil stamping; embossing and debossing; die-cutting and creasing; window patching; and gluing. On packaging, lamination is the baseline — it stops print scuffing in transit and stiffens the board slightly. The decorative finishes need to be planned into the layout from the start rather than added at the end.

Yes to both. We stock food-grade board and coatings for products that reach the consumer directly, and we can quote recycled and kraft boards where a lower-impact specification is wanted. Tell us if the packaging has direct food contact, because it changes both the board and the coating we recommend.

A mono carton is single-layer folding boxboard — light, smooth, and the standard choice for retail cartons where print quality leads. A micro-flute carton has a fine corrugated layer laminated to a printed liner, giving noticeably more crush and drop resistance while still taking offset-quality print. If the pack has to survive a shipping lane rather than just a shelf, micro-flute is usually the answer.

Yes. We supply both direct and indirect exporters with packaging built to overseas buyer specification, including offset-printed micro-flute cartons and value-added packaging for export-oriented industries. If your buyer has issued a specification or a compliance requirement, send it with your enquiry and we will quote against it.

Yes — swing tags, price and barcode tickets, and care and content labels are a regular part of our work for apparel and footwear clients, alongside the cartons those products ship in.

Five things: the dimensions and weight of the product going inside, the quantity per run, the board grade or a sample to match, the number of print colours or press-ready artwork, and the finishing you want. If you are not sure about the board, describe the product and its market and we will recommend one.

Our corporate office and a production facility are in Malabe, and a second production facility is in Orugodawatta. We have been manufacturing since 2009. We print for banks, manufacturers, universities, government bodies, pharmaceutical companies and exporters across Sri Lanka, including Commercial Bank, Cargills, DSI, Hemas, Renuka Group, SLIIT and UNICEF.