Provided is to provide a cylindrical printing plate with which printing of excellent solid density and high halftone dot quality is made possible, and further print medium followability and printing durability are excellent, a cylindrical printing plate precursor, a method for manufacturing a cylindrical printing plate precursor, and a method for manufacturing a cylindrical printing plate. A cylindrical printing plate includes a relief layer having a first hard layer, a soft layer, and a second hard layer in this order from a printing surface side, in which a hardness K1 of the first hard layer is 10 MPa or more and less than 20 MPa, a ratio K1/K2 of the hardness K1 of the first hard layer with respect to a hardness K2 of the soft layer is 2.7 or more, a ratio K3/K2 of a hardness K3 of the second hard layer with respect to the hardness K2 of the soft layer is 1.2 or more, a thickness of the first hard layer is 0.05 mm or more and 0.3 mm or less, and a thickness of the soft layer is 0.3 mm or more and 2.0 mm or less.

A printing plate having a recessed area to be filled with a print material to be transferred to a substrate includes at least one step situated in at least part of the recessed area and having a different depth than a bottom face of the recessed area.

A method for depositing a functional material on a substrate is disclosed. A plate having a first surface and a second surface is provided. A layer of light scattering material is applied onto the first surface of the plate, and a layer of reflective material is applied onto the second surface of the plate. After a group of wells has been formed on the second surface of the plate, a layer of light-absorbing material is applied on the second surface of the plate. Next, the wells are filled with a functional material. The plate is then irradiated with a pulse of light to heat the light-absorbing material in order to generate gas at an interface between the light-absorbing material and the functional material to release the functional material from the wells onto a receiving substrate.

A gravure printing roll that enables printing of fine dots with a size close to that of cells and enables printing on a print subject, such as a printing substrate, without changing the appearance of the print subject. The gravure printing roll includes: a gravure printing roll body; and cells formed in a peripheral surface of the gravure printing roll body. Each of the cells has an opening with a ratio between a dimension in a circumferential direction of the gravure printing roll body and a dimension in an axial center direction of the gravure printing roll body (dimension in the circumferential direction/dimension in the axial center direction) being 1.15 to 7, and have an opening area of 3900 m.sup.2 or smaller.

A fully automatic gravure preparation processing system having high degrees of freedom, which is capable of manufacturing a gravure printing roll more quickly as compared to a conventional case, achieving space saving, performing an unattended operation even in the nighttime, flexibly customizing a manufacturing line, and satisfying various customer needs. The fully automatic gravure preparation processing system includes a processing room-A having a handling area of a first industrial robot for chucking and handling a roll to be prepared and a processing room-B having a handling area of a second industrial robot for chucking and handling the roll to be prepared. The first industrial robot and the second industrial robot are configured to transfer the roll to be prepared therebetween when preparation processing is performed.

An apparatus for exposure of a relief precursor having a first side and an opposite second side includes a light source to expose the relief precursor during relative movement between the light source and the relief plate precursor; a moving means to cause a first relative movement between the light source and the relief precursor to expose the first side of the relief precursor, to cause a second relative movement between the light source and the relief precursor to expose the second side of the relief precursor, and to move the light source between a first position and a second position. The first and second positions are on opposite sides of a plane of the relief precursor. At least one of the first and the second relative movement is a reciprocating movement.

An apparatus for treating a relief plate precursor, such as a printing plate precursor, with a liquid, includes a treatment compartment for treating the relief plate precursor with a liquid, and a transport system for use with one or more transport bars. A transport bar thereof is configured to be coupled to a relief plate precursor. The transport system is configured to move the transport bar with the coupled relief plate precursor through the treatment compartment. The transport bar is provided with a coupling portion configured to couple the transport bar to the transport system. A protection system is configured to guide and evacuate liquid such that the transport system is protected against wetting with the liquid of the treatment compartment.