Nilpeter Expanded Gamut Seminar Packs the House

If you’re a press operator, would you rather manage 100 inks or just seven? This question was top of mind for attendees at an Expanded Gamut seminar hosted by Nilpeter at its Cincinnati Technology Center.

“With expanded gamut you’re able to optimize inks before you print, reducing waste and makeready," explains Paul Teachout, vice president of sales and marketing at Nilpeter.

Creating or obtaining the right color, is a never-ending challenge for converters. Whether specific colors are bought or mixed, getting it exactly right can be a time-consuming and even elusive quest. Expanded Gamut, when part of a complete system, changes the game. To educate converters and showcase some new technology, Nilpeter recently gathered 100 pros for an in depth overview of the Expanded Gamut process. At the event, Nilpeter and its partners shared the press profiling, fingerprinting, and characterizing processes they undertook to bring this technology to narrow-web converters, then showed it come to life on the new Nilpeter FB-3 servo-driven flexo press.

“The process allows press operators to optimize ink before going on press,” says Teachout. “It takes seven calibrated colors, Esko Equinox software, profiled anilox rollers, and on-press automation.”

That automation comes in the form of Nilpeter’s new FB-3 press, which the company says offers the highest level of automation in its class. According to Nilpeter, the FB-3 has job-save capabilities, automated plate cylinder positioning, and can recall all operating parameters of previous production runs. These features make it a good fit for implementation of the Expanded Gamut fixed color set process which requires numerically accurate color, specific anilox rollers, tight registration and precise web tension to ensure accurate color matching and repeatability. The seven calibrated colors stay in the press to build spot color and process graphics, reducing wash-ups, make-ready, and downtime. A simple plate change and job recall allows the press to be up and running faster with higher profitability.

Flexo Color Rock Stars
"It’s a great feeling to be presenting in a 'packed to capacity' audience that has the potential to realize enormous quality and economic benefits from Expanded Gamut, says Mark Samworth from Esko. “We particularly value a press company partnership because Equinox EG technology is only as good as the quality of your printing."

"Nilpeter has a ‘no compromises’ approach to integrating Expanded Gamut,” notes Ken Pavett from Flexografix. “Our joint intention is to educate customers on Expanded Gamut to compete with digital printing. Based on the conversations I had at the open house, participants were excited about the program's quality and with the results we achieved."

Other key players sharing their expertise with attendees were from Actega, Harper, and Tesa.

“With the advancements in the flexo process in combination with the FB-3’s ability to hold extremely tight register and perform automatic job recall, digital printing has even less of an argument against the flexographic printing process,” says Chris Baldwin, Nilpeter Technology Center manager.

If you missed the open house, you can catch the FB-3 in action at LabelExpo USA, at Nilpeter’s booth in Hall B, booths 3105 & 3205, September 9-11 at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

Our Take
We know that using flexography or digital presses is not an either-or decision. Now, presses like the FB-3 with Expanded Gamut may make that choice more difficult. Advocates of digital presses are usually quick to point out the shortcomings of flexo presses with respect to maintaining color consistency in the face of shorter runs and fast job changeovers. Being able to automate the process of creating accurate color is a big deal and the FB-3 and use of Expanded Gamut color shows that flexo press suppliers and their partners have more than a few tricks up their sleeves.