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FPPA Member News

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News fromBASF

Improving Corrugated Printing l Laser Printing Plate Equipment

Improving Corrugated Post Printing

by David Chinnis, Technical Advisor, BASF Printing Systems, LLC

Corrugated boxes are playing new roles in the attempt to enhance product brand recognition and sales in the ever-competitive market for Point of Purchase (POP) displays. Mega-stores and warehouse clubs are requiring brand owners to supply packaging and POP devices that are visually appealing and differentiate products in order to improve inventory turns. The use of  “special or limited edition” product packaging along with such promotions as product/movie and special event tie-ins by brand owners has greatly increased the demand for color and graphics on POP displays and product packaging as well. In an effort to 

remain competitive in the corrugated market, the move from commodity “brown box” packing to this higher-end packaging becomes more of a requirement than just a desire.

The requirements to meet this opportunity for high quality post print corrugated media demands new printing plates that provide:

• longer and cleaner print runs

•  improved ink transfer

• reduced dot gain

• easier mounting

• better register

• ozone resistance

• tighter plate tolerances for finer impression settings

• reduced downtime for plate cleaning

• improved print quality through better contrasts and image clarity

Utilizing the successful polymer base that BASF developed for the nyloflex® ACE printing plate for the wide web film/paper and narrow web tag/label markets, BASF introduces the new nyloflex ART printing plate. The nyloflex ART plate allows the demands of high quality post print corrugated media to be met. It features a Shore A of approximately 42° (ISO measurement) while common sheet polymers used for post print feature only a hardness of 32°- 38° Shore A. Liquid photopolymer used for corrugated post print is often even softer with ranges between 27°- 30°shore A. The improved hardness allows for reduced dot gain, and smaller tolerances as well as better register and higher line screen within the plate.

The enhanced polymer surface of a processed nyloflex ART plate includes reduced tack, which allows for a minimal accumulation of fiber clumps being pulled from the paper surface as well as from the environments often encountered in a corrugated plant. The longer, cleaner print runs improve costly downtime by reducing the number of press interruptions required to clean the plates. The enhanced surface also provides a more even, uniform ink-transfer. An even ink lay-down in solid areas ensures enhanced solid print quality through a reduction of mottling. Fine lines and small text elements are clear and sharp due to the material stability, especially important for bar codes and legal copy.

The extremely tight tolerances present in material production leads the printer to experience better trapping, since plate shrinkage is reduced, even when large 50” x 80” plates are used. Better trapping results in improved register and shorter set-up times.

While the nyloflex ART plate is made from  a harder polymer formulation, improved flexibility offers better elasticity characteristics to ensure less deformation during impression setting. Thick photopolymer plates (.125” - .250”) deform more easily than the thinner (.112”) plates. The thicker the plate, the less excess pressure is transferred to the layers below. The thick plate absorbs most of the pressure, resulting in increased deformation and dot gain. Thinner plates in contrast must be mounted on cushion systems to raise the print height to the machine undercut. The use of thick, highly compressible polyurethane foam offers the ability to absorb the energy in the form of pressure. This cushion also improves the resilience of the material. The combination of the correct plate and cushion supports a smooth and even printing pressure setting and improves the plate system’s ability to produce an even, clear print with reduced pressure settings.  In turn, the reduced pressure settings support reduced dot gain values, which improve color reproduction.

The nyloflex ART DII printing plate, the digital version of the nyloflex ART plate, offers not only the opportunities for improvement in the areas previously discussed, but it also provides a controlled dot formation due to the influence of oxygen in the exposure step. The presence of oxygen inhibits the polymerization by slowing the chemical reaction through photo initiator saturation. Dots created under the presence of oxygen are sharper with steeper shoulders. These steep, sharpened dots provide the printer a larger color gamut and thereby improve color reproduction in process printing.

A printer will be able to improve his printing process by using the new nyloflex ART plate in conjunction with doctor- bladed press systems, quality board and top liner, and controlled, consistent inks. These improvements allow the printer to respond to the ever-increasing demands that brand owners place on printers for packaging POP displays!

nyloflex® is a registered trademark of BASF.

BASF adds versatile laser printing plate equipment to showroom

BASF Printing Systems recently installed a state-of-the-art laser in its Charlotte, North Carolina, technical center showroom which eliminates the need for film processing and produces higher print quality than conventional imaging.

The new equipment features the HelioFlex™ F2000 XL laser, which is designed for computer-to-plate (CtP) digital laser exposure of specially coated photopolymer plates and sleeves. It is capable of imaging plates with dimensions up to 52” x 80”, so it can be used for large size plates such as those used in corrugated board post-printing, as well as for smaller plate sizes such as those used in flexible packaging applications. BASF is using the laser equipment for customer support and in-house training programs.

“The HelioFlex laser provides exceptional quality and consistency,” said Holger Neumann, Industry Manager Printing Plates. “The improved dot shape that results in digital imaging allows for smooth tonal gradations and more open reverses.”

Additional advantages of the CtP process include excellent reproducibility even among different production sites, and a more environmentally friendly process since the need for film processing chemicals is eliminated.

“Digital imaging of photopolymer plates requires a different plate composition, such as the one found in the nyloflex® digital plate line offered by BASF Printing Systems,” Neumann said. “The photopolymer plate material is adhered directly to a carrier film substrate and coated with a layer of carbon black only a few microns thick. The black layer is ablated by the laser beam resulting in a digital image on the surface of the plate, which negates the need for negative film processing. The printing plate is subsequently processed like conventional photopolymer plates by main exposure, washout, drying and finishing,” she explained.

The versatility of the new laser equipment allows BASF to service virtually any flexo customer from its Technical Center in Charlotte, rather than having to go outside to conduct special evaluations. The data format required by the HelioFlex is TIFF or LEN, both of which are common in the graphics industry.

In addition to the new laser equipment, the BASF Printing Systems’ technical center houses a full installation of platemaking equipment for flexographic and letterpress plates that are also used for customer presentations and training programs, as well as a technical service laboratory for plates and inks. The Charlotte facility is the central location for BASF Printing Systems’ sales, technical and marketing support groups in North America.  

DuPont Wins Flexographic Technical Association's Innovation Award for Cyrel^® FAST Digital System

DuPont Imaging Technologies has received a Technical Innovation Award for its Cyrel^®FAST Digital Flexographic Platemaking System from the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) and Flexo Market News magazine. The award recognizes outstanding and innovative technical achievement that benefits the entire flexographic printing industry. The award was presented during the FTA Annual Forum and INFO*FLEX 03 exhibition in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“DuPont has earned this recognition because the judging team made up of expert flexo printers and prepress providers felt the Cyrel^®FAST Digital system represented a high level of 

technical achievement and helped users of the system achieve excellence in flexography,” said Mark Cisternino, President, FTA. “The return on capital employed was also an important factor in selecting the winner based on a cost-benefit analysis.” 

Adds Ken Lowden, Market Development Manager, DuPont Imaging Technologies, “We are extremely proud to receive this honor for the second time from an important organization like the FTA. It’s a key acknowledgement of our continued investment in the technological growth of flexography, as well as our on-going leadership that began nearly 30 years ago when DuPont introduced the first photopolymer flexo plate.”

The Cyrel^®FAST Digital System allows trade shops, printers/converters and others to produce high-quality flexo plates quickly by combining the efficiency and speed of digital platemaking with the productivity and environmental benefits of dry, thermal plate processing. In particular, plates processed on the Cyrel^®FAST thermal developer can be made up to 75 percent faster than conventional solvent washout systems without the use, storage and recycling of wet chemistry. “This is the only platemaking solution available in the packaging market that provides the workflow benefits and superior print quality of digital technology, as well as the environmental advantages of thermal processing,” says Andy Kannurpatti, Technical Leader - Cyrel^®FAST Digital.

The complete system consists of two, specially-formulated thermal photopolymer plates (Cyrel^® DFM and Cyrel^® DFH); a digital, computer-to-plate imagesetter from firms like Creo, Inc., or Esko-Graphics; the Cyrel^®FAST ultraviolet exposure unit to set the image into the plate; and the Cyrel^®FAST thermal developer that creates the relief structure on the plate in about 15 minutes. “The Cyrel^®FAST Digital System moves flexo to a point where it is now capable of embracing and benefiting from a fully distributed digital workflow,” says Ray Bodwell, Cyrel^® Digital Marketing Manager for DuPont Imaging Technologies.

The print quality and agility of the Cyrel^®FAST Digital Platemaking System lets flexo printers compete very effectively with rival offset and gravure printing systems, therefore opening the door to new business opportunities previously closed to flexography.

The Cyrel^®FAST Digital Platemaking System has been commercially available for about two years. The FTA’s Technical Innovation Award has been presented annually since 1996, and this is the second time DuPont has been named as a recipient. The DuPont Cyrel® Digital Imaging system was recognized in 1998 as the first complete computer-to-plate system for photopolymer flexographic printing.

Pat Janssen Joins MacDermid Printing Solutions

Pat Janssen, who lead MacDermid Graphic Arts prior to its acquisition of Polyfibron Technologies in 1999, has returned to MacDermid as Vice President and General Manager of the Packaging Division of MacDermid Printing Solutions. Since leaving MacDermid, Ms. Janssen has served as Vice President and General Manager of BASF Printing Systems Division, and Chief Executive Officer of Conversion Technology Graphics.

Dynamic Dies/CSW Show Customer Appreciation

The affiliate companies of Dynamic Dies, Incorporated and CSW Incorporated (a.k.a. the DieGraphics Group) came together. VIP Customers were invited to join the scores of Managers, Sales Representatives and Product Specialists for a “Customer Appreciation Workshop”. The one hundred plus audience received a wonderfully delivered presentation by a nationally known motivational business speaker Mr. Robert Stevenson. The purpose of the conference was to express a huge thank you to the VIP Customers and create a forum where the DieGraphics Group people and the corrugated box converters they serve could come together to learn how to grow business through better communication.

The VIP Companies represented were American Corrugated, Columbus, Ohio - Bay Corrugated, Monroe, Michigan - Green Bay Packaging, Fremont, Ohio - Tri-Wall Company, Butler, Indiana and Weyerhauser Company, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

The presentation was based on Mr. Stevenson’s book, How to Soar like an Eagle in a World Full of Turkeys. (Stevenson was a presenter during the FPPA 2002 Fall Management Workshop)

News from Esko-Graphics

Users Group Meeting l CDI Compact Flexo Platesetter

Esko-Graphics Customers Receive Prepress Update and Training at Users Group Meeting

Attendees of the Association of Esko-Graphics Users Group (AEG) annual meeting, held May 1-3 in St. Louis, left with substantial appreciation of Esko-Graphics’ prepress applications and a greater knowledge of current prepress technologies. The sessions, which included a full agenda of prepress updates, provided a helpful platform for users to learn how to maximize their investment in their Esko-Graphics solutions to solve prepress challenges. Many sessions were aimed at helping users become more effective with their software solutions. The User Groups provide a rich learning environment where users can have direct questions answered by Esko-Graphics product and research and development staff.

Many sessions were aimed at helping users become more effective with their software solutions. In addition to the hands-on demo lab, where users could have questions answered by product developers and professional service consultants, an extremely popular session was 'Tips and Tricks', where users shared some of their product pointers with others.

New Esko-Graphics CDI Compact Flexo Platesetter Expands Scientific Games' Printing Capabilities

Esko-Graphics announces that Scientific Games International, Inc. has successfully installed a CDI Compact flexo platesetter with PowerBeam optics. It will be used to produce plates for the tickets it prints for domestic and international lotteries.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Scientific Games International, a subsidiary of Scientific Games Corporation, a publicly held (NASDAQ: SGMS), multinational corporation that serves, among others, the lottery industry. Scientific Games produces billions of high quality, secure

instant lottery tickets annually on its state-of-the-art printing systems. Scientific Games also provides promotional game cards to companies around the globe.

Based on the award winning technology of the premier and most productive device for flexo imaging, the Cyrel™ Digital Imager (CDI) Compact specifically addresses narrow and medium web flexo applications, including the flexible packaging and folding carton market. It is available for plate sizes up to 48" x 35". PowerBeam optics provide the highest throughput of any flexo platesetter.

Scientific Games operates three presses, including a 15-station gravure, a combination flexo/offset capable of up to 17 colors, and a 21-color flexo. Scientific Games now operates a complete digital, direct-to-press workflow. The CDI is responsible for successfully supplying all flexo plates for both the combination press and the 21-color press.

News from Creo

New Prepress Technologies l Creo Named Company of the Year

Creo Launches New Sleeve-Imaging Flexo CTP and New Prepress Technologies for Packaging and Converting

Creo has released the next generation ThermoFlex® imaging device with sleeve imaging. The new ThermoFlex images variable repeat sleeves, yet retains the ability to image digital flexographic and rotary letterpress plates, and film with formats up to 52 x 80 in. (1321 x 2032 mm). This design provides flexibility for trade shops and converters that run digital plates, digital plates-on-sleeves and continuous sleeves, depending on the requirements of a specific customer or job. 

The new ThermoFlex includes semi-automatic changeover from plate imaging to sleeve imaging and accommodates sleeves with repeats up to 42 in. (1050 mm) and lengths up to 72 in. (1829 mm) in both continuous digital photopolymer sleeve and digital plate-on-sleeve formats. Sleeve-imaging productivity—regardless of repeat size—matches or exceeds current plate-imaging specifications, providing the fastest sleeve-imaging capability available. Sheet-to-sleeve-mode turnaround is greatly aided by storing the sheet-imaging drum on the ThermoFlex. In less than three minutes, the drum can be decoupled and safely stored without using heavy lifting equipment. This minimizes capital expenditures and space requirements, allowing even small trade shops and converters to benefit from this new technology. 

Enhanced Productivity 

The ThermoFlex device significantly improves the productivity of today’s plate-on-sleeve workflows. It also produces sleeves with staggered seams or lanes to a level not previously seen. A built-in sleeve load/unload system minimizes sleeve handling and potential damage to the sleeve’s digital mask and substantially reduces the time required and difficulty associated with changing from one sleeve to the next. The complete sleeve system from Creo also includes a production hub that facilitates sleeve handling between the ThermoFlex and auxiliary equipment, including the plate-mounting and UV-exposure steps required in a sleeve workflow. 

New Flexo Screening Technologies 

For high-quality flexographic printing, Creo offers MaxTone™ screening, a hybrid AM screening solution that overcomes highlight and shadow reproduction limitations. MaxTone uses high-quality Prinergy® AM screening through the main part of the tone scale. Highlight and shadow tonality is managed with larger dots that are more printable, and tonality is controlled by varying the number of dots using sophisticated FM screening techniques. MaxTone allows users to specify different dot sizes in highlights and shadows, independent of screen ruling, angle and dot shape. MaxTone is available in version 2.1 of the Prinergy Powerpack™ workflow. A brand-new technology from Creo, called HyperFlex™, complements MaxTone. It aids in the exposure of small dots or graphic elements on a photopolymer plate. HyperFlex helps to reduce the relief depth in between dots and expands the base of the shoulder so the dots are better formed and ready to stand up to the wear and tear of normal use. HyperFlex preserves the size of the dot and the intended tonality, but makes it possible for printers to work with smaller highlight dots. Users configure MaxTone and HyperFlex to suit the behavior and leverage the capabilities of their manufacturing operation. 

New Features in Pandora 2.0 

The latest version of the Pandora® step-and-repeat application includes many new features for flexographic converters and trade shops. Pandora 2.0 now supports JDF, the industry-standard for exchanging data and processing instructions within a workflow process. This makes integrating Pandora into existing workflows, even easier than before. Other new features include: Editable non-rectangular bleed paths automatically derived from CAD die line information; Bleed overlap detection with advanced, easy-to-use tools for automatic overlap correction; Die-station ordering with fully automated placement of die-station number marks; Die mirroring for the creation of double-sided layouts. 

Creo is a world leader in solutions for the graphic arts industry. Core product lines include image capture systems; inkjet proofers; thermal imaging devices for films, plates and proofs; professional color and copydot scanning systems; and workflow management software. Creo is also an Original Equipment Manufacture supplier of on-press imaging technology, components for digital presses, and color servers for high-speed, print-on-demand digital printers. Creo trades under the symbols CREO on NASDAQ and CRE on the Toronto Stock Exchange. www.creo.com

Creo Recently Named Company of the Year

Creo Inc. was recently selected as 'Company of the Year' by the BC Technology Industries Association. The award is presented each year to a high tech company that demonstrates superior business development, leadership and vision.

"We're very pleased with the recognition from the technology industry for our great company," said Judi Hess, Creo president. "The Creo team is devoted to providing our customers with exemplary attention every day." Creo is an advanced manufacturing company that produces imaging and software technology for the prepress segment of the printing industry. Creo is also active in digital printing and the creative desktop market, and also applies patented technology to other industries. Creo has nearly 700 patents (issued and pending).

Creo has also been honored as one of the 50 best ethical stocks for Canadians, one of Canada's top employers, and for outstanding achievement in export excellence, technology innovation, business excellence and entrepreneurship.

Previous BCTIA Company of the Year award winners include Crystal Decisions, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates, and Pivotal Corporation.