Flexo: The ‘holy grail'

In order for the quality of flexo printing to rival offset, the flexo plate maker needs to use the combination of high resolution optics with an exceptional screening technology, according to global supplier EskoArtwork.

The company says it is ‘revolutionising’ flexo plate making with the introduction of HD Flexo, a system that combines 4,000dpi HD optics with special screening technologies to take advantage of sharper and more accurate imaging. This technology will be available on new Cyrel Digital Imagers (CDI) and can be upgraded on all existing CDI systems.

“EskoArtwork has driven developments in digital flexographic imaging technology since 1995,” says Jürgen Andresen, the company’s VP, Flexo Business. ‘In fact more than 90% of all digital flexo plates and sleeves are imaged on CDIs.

“Step by step we have introduced a number of industry milestones to help automate the plate making process, including in-line main exposure at drupa last year,” he continues. “The ‘holy grail’ for flexo has always been the promise of developing a system that matches the quality and ease of use of offset CTP. With HD Flexo, we close that gap by offering consistent colour and print quality.”

The new system’s high resolution optics are claimed to deliver more accurate, sharper imaging of text and line art. With the higher resolution, the optics also deliver more clearly defined, better shaped screen dots, because the dots are made of more pixels. As the dot shape is more round, this means that they are more stable on press, resulting in longer print runs; and the press has to stop less often for wash-ups.