Consumables-General - Plates

Presentation is everything—up to a point and down to a dot. WITH RESPECT TO proofing, package printers must be prepared to be all things to all customers, or nearly so, and still be able to assure their customers that the proof they receive will reproduce accurately and consistently on both plates and press. To accomplish this, the printer will choose the technology or technologies that will provide him the tools to keep that promise. Few would argue that packagers have special proofing needs. These include: • Ability to proof on a wide range of packaging substrates, whether coated or uncoated, glossy or flat,

AGFA Offers the Thermostar P970-ideal for VLF applications-and the Thermostar P971 thermal imaging plate. Write 207, Visit www.agfa.com, ANDERSON & VREELAND Offers digital prepress systems and conventional photopolymer processors and plate mounters. Platemaking materials include a range of solvent and water-wash sheet photopolymer, liquid photopolymer, rubber compounds, matrix and accessories. Write 208, Visit www. andersonvreeland.com BETA INDUSTRIES The Betaflex 334 Flexo Plate Analyzer eliminates bad plates early in production cycle. Measures flexo plates, negatives, proofs, prints for true dot area, ruling, dot quality. Write 209, Visit www.betascreen.com BPS Printing Systems Offers state-of-the-art nyloflex® and nyloprint® brand photopolymer printing plates for printing

Integrating packaging design with the realities of process capabilities is key to a project's success. WHY DO WE reach for one package and not another on the grocer's shelf? What makes a package unique? On the continuum from concept to production, where does innovation live? The answer, in a word, is design. The transformation of an idea into a dimensional shape with identifiable characteristics begins with a designer's aesthetic and emotional connection to that idea. As the creative cycle builds, additional factors come into play: the requirements of the product engineers, marketers engaged in product development and brand extension, procurement personnel, and printer/converters, whose

DARMSTADT, Germany—The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4), Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) and NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES) today announced a one-day, one-time "JDF Developers Tutorial" that will be held on Sunday, April 24th, 2005 at PIA/GATF's headquarters in Sewickley, PA in conjunction with the CIP4 members' Technical Meeting and Interoperability Meeting April 20th-30th, 2005. A similar JDF Developers Tutorial was held in January at Heidelberg's headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany and it was a very successful event - leading to the decision to bring the event

In the world of packaging and package printing, digital asset management is also dynamic asset management. IT HAS BEEN suggested that packaging and advertising will mount the last defense of ink-on-paper against the onslaught of digital and virtual technologies. Try packaging a box of Wheaties on CD-ROM or wrapping a birthday gift in a graphical user interface. Now that the drama has subsided, the rhetoric has also cooled, leaving the industry to deal with new and evolving realities, among them, the proliferation of digital workflows and data requiring identification, categorization, and storage. What? Why? How? Any digital media file with value to an

The world of flexo plating moves from flat to round. THOUGH IT MIGHT be tough to remember, it was only a few years ago that computer-to-plate (CTP) for flexo was considered a speculative technology. Today, with many hundreds of digital flexo imaging machines installed around the world, it's fair to say that flexo CTP technology is here to stay. And, as is typical of our ever-changing industry, when one technology matures, another is bound to emerge. The new kid on the flexo platemaking block is in-the-round, or ITR imaging. ITR differs from standard digital flexo imaging in that the photopolymer plate material is actually

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Creo Inc. (NASDAQ: CREO, TSX: CRE), a premier supplier of prepress systems used by commercial printers worldwide. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Creo is the world's No. 1 provider of workflow software used by printers to manage efficiently the movement of text, graphics and images from the computer screen to the printing press. By adding Creo to its already impressive line-up of digital and traditional printing products and solutions, Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) reinforces its status as a leading industry participant able to provide customers with

Today's flexo platemaking systems offer printers a variety of options to match their costs, quality, and speed needs. FOR MORE THAN a few flips of the calendar, flexography has held top billing as the fastest growing printing method for labels and packaging. Boosted by an impressive succession of technological advances, this once red-headed stepchild of the pressroom has become our industry's new darling. Despite a developing threat from digital printing just over the horizon, flexo appears capable of maintaining its favored position, too. Its attractive economics and suitability for a wide range of packaging applications—especially for flexible packaging—are certain to keep flexo's popularity on

Short-run printing is no easy task, but when done right, the rewards can make it all worthwhile. PACKAGE PRINTERS ARE facing a future marked by shorter production runs that may pose challenges for even the best of today's printers. Meeting these challenges head on will require investment in technologies that are geared toward the ultimate in flexibility. Printers will be getting all the help they need from press manufacturers who are making tremendous strides towards maximizing the uptime potential of their new press offerings. "The well-known trend in the market is toward smaller runs for various reasons," observes Terry Trexler, product manager

Plate mounting product manufacturers offer some suggestions and tips to help smooth out the plate mounting process. TRAPPED AIR BUBBLES. Plates lifting during printing. Damaged plates from residue. Constant press adjustments. Low print quality. … Plate mounting has potential to be a nightmare for some press operators, but help is here to overcome some of the stresses brought on by the simple act of plate mounting. packagePRINTING spoke with some plate mounting material manufacturers to find out some tricks and hints, and a few new products that may soothe a frazzled plate mounter. Be gentle to your plates Flexographic plates, although tough, do need