Flexo review

5 June 2006




Parkside follows 10 colour trend

Parkside Flexibles has added a Primaflex CM 10 to its other Windmöller & Hölscher eight colour presses running at Normanton, UK. The investment has been made in response to the growing demand for high quality 10 colour flexo printing. “We see the Primaflex CM 10 as the best value in achieving this goal,” says Mike O’Neill, Parkside managing director.

Indeed, the launch of the press last March is W&H’s response to this on-going trend on the international market scene towards 10 colour CI flexo printing. Based on the eight colour Primaflex CM and CS, of which more than 50 systems are installed worldwide, the new press can print repeat lengths up to 800mm and is available with printing widths of 1,000mm and 1,270mm, reports W&H.

The CM 10 features Procontrol TS, the company’s latest touchscreen operator console, which is said to allow for the most convenient and reliable input of production data and machine control commands. Optionally available are a 400m/min speed enhancement package and the Turboclean wash-up system, as well as sleeve extractors and the Port-a-Sleeve cart system to ease sleeve handling on change-overs. Fast impression setting and waste reduction is achieved through the Easy-Set system, another optional feature of the press.


York Reprographic pushes boundaries

UK prepress house YRG Group is the first in Europe to install an Esko CDI Spark 4260. With Multi-beam Optics 80, the equipment upgrades and replaces a CDI Twin Beam operational since 1996 at the York site. YRG has three Esko installations across sites in York and Manchester supported by Esko’s Scope integrated packaging software suite and colour management software for packaging and labels.

Group director Dave Cowley says, “YRG is a specialist centre for flexo plate and sleeve production, multi process reprographics and brand management for the printing industry, as well as a wide range of end user clients and brand owners. Our recent investment in the CDI Spark 4260 is an evolution of our strategy to push boundaries and continue investing in the latest equipment on the market. The CDI Spark 4260 is a bigger, faster high end machine, giving us maximum speed and productivity, thereby dramatically improving our turn-around times.”

“The CDI Spark 4260 is a part of a larger investment programme, which includes a plate processor for thermal photopolymer processing,” says Bob Hollingsworth, YRG technical director. “We are delighted with the results to date. The laser technology in the new CDI Spark 4260 has improved considerably and has new intelligence allowing the laser head to skip as it passes non image areas during the imaging process.”

“All our equipment is calibrated and integrated. We can process multiple jobs at any time – selecting required jobs, assigning the relevant ticket and launch. It couldn’t be easier,” he continues. “Another extremely useful feature of the Esko software is the option to automate communication. When a file is released to the CDI, an email can be sent to the customer with a pdf attached. Customers really appreciate the ability to see the exact progress and status of their jobs within the workflow. We also use Esko’s Kaleidoscope colour management tools. Colour management is a challenge for printers today. In the old days we would produce a plate for each customer. Today, however, we work much closer with our partners and execute meaningful fingerprints on their presses, allowing us to provide high precision, colour accurate proofs which can be matched easily on individual presses.”

Established in 1974, YRG has expanded significantly, especially over the last five years, with multi million pound investments in processes and people, including a purpose built sleeve factory in 2003. The company operates multi process facilities, including flexo, litho, letterpress, silkscreen and gravure. Its digital operation began in 1989. Seventy five per cent of production is for the label market within the food industry.


Name change follows press success

Labelpack, in the UK, has changed its name to MPS Systems (UK) reflecting what it says is a very successful business relationship with Dutch machine manufacturer Multi Print System. The company reports a very successful year in 2005/2006 with six fully servo driven flexo presses being installed in the UK.

Latest installation is at Clondalkin Group company Chadwicks of Bury.

The press will primarily produce yoghurt lidding, but is also capable of providing a wide range of packaging materials such as shrink sleeves, sachets and heatseal wraps. Complete with eight print units, it is capable of printing at 410mm wide and will run at up to 200m/min, claims MPS Systems.

The investment, which represents the largest in the company’s history, is the culmination of an exhaustive testing programme of narrow web machinery. The MPS machine was chosen for “its ability to run the widest range of materials and the ability to produce superb print quality consistently at the highest possible line speeds with very little waste”.

Installed during the first week of May, it produced line jobs during the second week of the month.


TecnoFlex gets exact

TecnoLink’s new TecnoFlex division in Milton Keynes, UK, is the first European company to install the eXact 5280 high definition flexo exposure system from Cortron. Used in conjunction with an HP502 wash, it is claimed to produce plates of a higher quality than other machines. It has a single source plasma light for exposure, which is said to improve definition of the dot and ensure floor depths across the plate are consistent to produce a better quality plate.

The eXact 5280 is a larger format version of Cortron’s earlier eXact 3040 model. It can expose any materials up to 52 x 80in and is said to offer an inexpensive alternative to CTP for the wide web industry and trade shops.

To maintain fast exposures, the 5280 uses two plasma sources. The patented concentrating reflector technology is said to create shoulders that resemble those created by CTP devices. Collimated light is distributed evenly across the entire plate surface with no fall-off, says Cortron. The reflector controls the angle of light between 0 and 26 degrees, and stray light is eliminated to produce consistent shoulders across the entire surface.

Mark Canavan, head of TecnoFlex, enthuses: “We are delighted that printers have noticed the difference in quality through our investment in the latest technology.”

Time saver at Tempo

Designed to produce with more efficiency and higher print quality at a lower cost investment level, an eight colour 1,200mm wide Chronos is the third gearless press delivered to Tempo Plastics, of Innisfil, Ontario, Canada, by Flexotecnica.

Tempo Plastics specializes in the production and converting of low and high density PE for various bag formats, as well as laminated materials for speciality packaging especially for plastics containers with special zip or tap closures in stand-up pouches. The new line includes turret winders for automatic splicing, quick release doctor blade chambers; edge guides before printing and rewinding, inking and the Speedy Clean automatic wash-up system, integrated viscosity units, video camera for web inspection and automatic register control. The management of the print process relies on the FNC-3000 numerical control system, which allows Tempo to enter and store all the printing parameters and recall them for repeat runs.

Flexotecnica claims the equipment represents the most consolidated CI sleeved gearless press it has introduced. It showed the print section on its stand at the recent Converflex and the 10 colour version of the Chronos at its plant in Tavazzano for the period of the show.


Clever Carint combination

New in the Carint Cyberflex stable of CI presses is the OF.G, a servo driven machine offering a combination of offset gravure and flexo. The gearless equipment is provided with 8 or 10 colour stations with pressure cylinder external diameter of 1,986mm. Printing speed is up to 370m/min, claims Carint. Print width is 1,000-1,500mm. Print repeat is 420-780mm.

It is understood that an eight colour version has recently been delivered to a customer in the USA for production of a specialized patented product in the flexible packaging market.


Lüscher reports IPEX success

Lüscher, of Switzerland, has reported record sales of its XPose! range of CTP imagers. Senior vice president, Lars Janneryd said that the launch of the XPose! UV conventional computer to conventional plate (CTCP) imager was a highlight of the show. “The new CTCP model made an instantaneous impact on the market. Thanks to the substantially lower prices of standard UV conventional plates compared to those for thermal types, printers recognized that the XPose! UV conventional could provide them with the means of coping with the low margins on their printed products,” he declared.

Lars Janneryd revealed that orders were taken on the stand for 19 XPose! imagers – thermal as well as UV conventional models. Other orders included two for FlexPose! direct laser-ablation systems employed in engraving plates, sleeves and cylinders for flexo printing and one for a JetPrint 3530 UV Very Large Format (3.05 x.3.5m) inkjet digital printer.


Screen enters flexo market

At Ipex Screen expanded its range with the addition of its first platesetter for the flexo market - the PlateRite FX870. A thermal CTP system capable of imaging digital flexo plates up to 870 x 735mm, it has been developed to support a wide range of flexo applications including labels, flexible packaging, corrugated, carton and security printing, says the company. It will be available from September.

This new high performance platesetter incorporates Screen's thermal laser technology to image advanced digital DuPont Cyrel and Asahikasei flexo plates. Imaging at a choice of 2,400 or 2,540dpi resolutions with screen rulings up to 200 lpi, the PlateRite FX870 is claimed to produce consistently high quality plates - very competitively. It is compatible with Screen's specially developed packaging workflow PackStudio SE, which is based on Artwork Systems ArtPro software and is being integrated into Screen's established Trueflow workflow. In addition, the FX870 can be integrated with any other PDF based workflow.



Contacts

Carint
Tel: +39 02 9217071
Cortron
Tel: +1 763 572 1555
Esko
Tel: +32 9 216 95 79
Flexotecnica
Tel: +39 0371 4431
Lüscher
Tel: +41 62 767 76 22
MPS Systems
Tel: +44 (0)161 406 6066
Screen
Tel: +31 020 456 7800
TecnoLink
Tel: +44 (0)1332 695030
W&H
Tel: +49 (0) 5481 14 0





External weblinks
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W&H
Esko
MPS Systems
Screen
Lscher
Carint
Flexotecnica
Cortron
TecnoLink

Spark 4260 a Spark 4260 a "first" for YRG
Carint's OF.G combines offset gravure and flexo Carint's OF.G combines offset gravure and flexo
Primaflex at Parkside Primaflex at Parkside
Chronos is Flexotecnica's Chronos is Flexotecnica's "most consolidated CI sleeved gearless press"
Sales make Lüscher happy Sales make Lüscher happy


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