Consumables-General - Plates

Plate mounting demands accuracy, and today’s plate mounting equipment and tapes help operators achieve just that. With available state-of-the-art equipment, what was once a painstaking manual process can now be done with computers and machines. According to Paul Zeinert, product manager, Anderson & Vreeland, the biggest change in plate mounting procedures has been “doing things automatically and using computers to make it repeatable.” These advances lend themselves to the pinnacle of plate mounting—a precisely, consistently, and easily mounted plate. In view of today’s plate mounting tapes, operators are now better equipped than ever to mount, demount, and reposition plates for accurate positioning. Some tapes

The Flexographic Prepress Platemakers Association (FPPA) convened its ninth annual convention last month in Amelia Island, Fla. During the three-day conference, presenters from the supplier and provider communities shared their insights on a variety of topics. Following a keynote address by Bill Raaths, CEO of Great Northern Corp., sessions included “The Effect of Simultaneous Imaging and Direct UV Main Exposure on Digital Plates and Sleeves” by Ian Hole of Esko-Graphics; “Remote Digital Proofing: Contract Color and Content Proofing at Remote Sites” by Deborah Hutcheson of Agfa Corp.; “Forensically Invisible Brand Protection Packaging” by Kevin Harrell, Creo/Kodak; “In-the-Round Production Technology” by Dan Rosen of Flint

DuPont Packaging Graphics’ portfolio of products includes Cyrel brand photopolymer plates (analog and digital), Cyrel platemaking equipment, Cyrel round sleeves, Cyrel plate mounting systems, and the Cyrel FAST thermal platemaking system. Analog plates include the durable Cyrel EXL low durometer capped plate; Cyrel HIQS for very fine screen and line work; and the Cyrel NOW flexible plate for fine halftone, line, screen, and sold printing. The company describes its DuPont Cyrel round Classic and Cyrel round Thin as “a complete digital sleeve production solution” consisting of a family of ready-to-image printing sleeves supported by complementary equipment for UV exposure, processing, drying, and finishing. From

With digital assets representing a large investment by brand owners, organization and management are of critical importance. WHAT'S IN A package? Prior to the addition of cereal, hand cream, aspirin, or bug spray, the essential elements of a package or label include text; graphics; regulatory information; photos; CMYK, RGB, and 3D images; templates; line art; logos; layouts; and PDFs—to name just a few. The process of making that package involves every stage in the packaging supply chain, from engineering to marketing and legal to purchasing and production. Factor in additional legal requirements and regulatory information for food, pharmaceuticals, and other regulated industries, version

Industry experts lend their advice on the best ways to approach remote proofing for packaging. IT HAS BEEN observed that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except that she did it backwards and in high heels. It's the same with proofing (Fred) and remote proofing (Ginger). Throw in the complex proofing requirements of packaging printers and a straightforward series of dance steps becomes an intricate high-wire act, in which the accurate long-distance reproduction of graphics, text, placement, and structure—as well as the matching of special brand or logo colors—can make or break an important job. Like commercial printers, packaging printers can save

PDF (portable document format) may be the greatest thing since sliced bread (or at least since PostScript), but it takes more than bread to make a sandwich that will satisfy a hungry customer. TODAY'S SHORTER PRINT runs depend on reliable, high-quality print output, delivered with minimal turnaround. The addition of JDF (job definition format) production language to PDF-based workflows increasingly is seen as a way to dramatically reduce print production time and costs while ensuring consistent, reliable output—even when last minute changes are required. In packaging applications, the benefits of JDF-enhanced or JDF-enabled workflows show up in better customer service; faster time to

Extended color printing could be the next best thing to the eye of the beholder in the package-printing industry. PHILOSOPHICALLY SPEAKING, THE exact nature of color may be in dispute forever. As far as brand owners and the package and label printers who work with them are concerned, however, color is a concrete, measurable reality and the most critical component of print quality. If the job of the packaging or label designers is to create shelf appeal and ensure brand recognition, the job of packaging and label printers is to lock in those attributes by reproducing those designs as faithfully, efficiently, and affordably as

Soft proofing technology can do the job, but its success depends largely on good discipline and the printer-client relationship. "SOFT" PROOFING GOES by several names—monitor, virtual, online—and comes in an array of "flavors." No matter what you call it, however, the ultimate goal is as straightforward as it is universal: shrink production cycles, eliminate rework, reduce costs, and move everything faster. Unlike traditional hardcopy proofing, in which handling and transmission of the physical proof increases both cycle time and the potential for error, soft proofing depends on workflows in which color-accurate proofs can be viewed on calibrated computer monitors under controlled lighting conditions.

When it comes to packaging, commercial printers could take a page from flexo's book. EXTRA! COMPUTER-TO-PLATE goes mainstream! Granted, it's not much of a headliner these days. The basic principles of computer-to-plate (CTP) are well-established in both the offset and the flexographic worlds, both technologies having come to market about a decade ago. Since then, however, their adoption curves have differed sharply. Offset CTP took off primarily in the commercial side of the business, where concerns about its viability and the expense associated with its adoption were quickly overcome. The same has not been the case in the flexographic market—until recently. According to

Automation in prepress can significantly improve time to market through workflow process integration. THE AIM OF workflow automation is to be able to respond to customer requirements quickly. This is accomplished by minimizing or eliminating, as completely as possible, the manual steps that can lead to the costly waste of time, materials, and labor. While developments in workflow automation for packaging tend to mimic those in the commercial printing world, software and equipment vendors continue to develop and refine a variety of integrated tools designed to accommodate the special needs of packaging operations. According to Jan De Roeck, marketing director for packaging