Esko claims its new Full HD Flexo offers a combination of smooth highlight printing and gravure-like solid ink densities for flexible packaging. First introduced at drupa 2012, the technology's outstanding benefits have now been proven in more than 20 flexo tradeshops and converters worldwide.
"Our flexo customers are asking for the combination of the benefits of HD Flexo together with a gravure-like ink laydown and a fully digitally controlled platemaking workflow," explains Jürgen Andresen, Esko vice president, flexo business. "This is what Full HD Flexo brings. Our patented technology stretches the possibilities of flexo printing, allowing it to perfectly match gravure and offset quality for flexible packaging."
Full HD Flexo is also said to add "supreme platemaking consistency and the only fully digitally controlled platemaking workflow available in industry".
The Full HD Flexo dot shape is said to deliver a superior flexo plate suitable for the highlight, shadow and solid areas of a print job. "We went beyond the binary discussion of flat top or round top dots, and created the best possible combination of print dot structures on one plate," explains Jan Buchweitz, Esko's senior product manager digital flexo. "This is a giant step forward for flexible packaging converters as the result is high quality flexible packaging that stands out. In addition, users report better performance of the flexo plate on the press for print consistency and printing speeds."
One of those users is Austria's Glatz Klischee. "In the first printing tests using the new Full HD Flexo plates, we had the 'luxury problem' of solid densities over a density of 2.0," reports technology manager Holger Stier. "This was completely unexpected with the fine anilox rollers used. The tests proved that the option of combining flat top and round top dot technology on one printing form offers previously unheard opportunities in high quality flexo printing."
