OEC Graphics Combines ITR and HD Flexo

MIAMISBURG, Ohio—OEC Graphics, a flexographic prepress supplier to converters and consumer packaging companies, is diverting business from gravure and offset following the January 2010 installation of its EskoArtwork CDI Advance 1750 with EskoArtwork HD Flexo version 2.0 and inline UV capability.

Nine months after the installation, OEC combined two technologies: EskoArtwork HD Flexo paired with in-the-round (ITR) sleeve production for high-definition flexo imaging and screening of sleeves. Said to be the first solution of its kind in North America, the use of HD Flexo and ITR is the result of combing two leading-edge technologies: EskoArtwork's HD Flexo version 2.0 with Seamex® and OEC's proprietary seamless photopolymer sleeve solution.

Now closing in on 100 years of operation, OEC's 220 employees provide digital platemaking, press-side consulting, expanded gamut separations, digital and analog color management, wide-format graphics, prepress facilities management, and digital asset management. It installed one of the first CTP devices in 1997, developed a digital ITR sleeve nearly 20 years ago, and was one of the first EskoArtwork HD Flexo version installations in the U.S.

“We were the first to have digital in-the-round and the first to use it with HD Flexo,” says Brad Vette, corporate managing director, OEC Graphics, Inc. “We installed the CDI 1750 with HD Flexo version 2.0 because we were looking to meet our customers' demands for higher line screens and increased gamut. Our goal is to create ITR solutions that are equal or better than flat plates. We were the first to win an FTA (Flexographic Technical Association) award with HD Flexo flat plates, and we want to replicate that quality level throughout ITR sleeve production.”

Although both EskoArtwork HD Flexo and the CDI 1750 can be used for flat plates as well as sleeves, OEC uses the imager primarily for ITR sleeve production. With a total of 11 flexo CtP devices, 10 of which are EskoArtwork CDI units (4 HD), OEC has a “platform where we can take a digital plate in any plant that we have and replicate it everywhere,” says Vette.