As a true Product Marketer l have a particular fondness for customer quotes. There's this weird equation that exists whereby anything that my customer says is instantly ten times more believable and more powerful than what I say - even if we use the same words. Funny that! So, when I have a new product launch coming up and a press release to write I'm always on the lookout for great customer quotes.

So here are my criteria. They should be:

1. Positive (of course)
2. Short and to the point, and
3. Preferably convey a sense of emotion.
4. Oh, and here was my dilemma recently, they have to be clean and printable!!

I was asked for customer quotes a week or so ago to include in this week's Kodak press release announcing enhancements to the Flexcel NX System. We've been doing some really interesting things recently in wide web flexo with Flexcel NX Plates looking at that age old issue of smooth and consistent transfer of solvent inks on flexible substrates and have seen some pretty phenomenal results. The new DigiCap NX Screening feature we just announced applies a micro screening pattern to the surface of all printing elements on the Flexcel NX Plates (tones, lines and solids) and as a result dramatically improves ink transfer - without compromising highlights!! It means you can get higher densities, with less ink, retain highlight detail and use more combination plates.

Sound too good to be true? That's what I thought. But it works, it really really works. So much so, that the results of some unbelievably challenging process color tests recently with designs that would normally have demanded split plates have generated some fairly emotional customer quotes.

My favorite was from a press operator during one of these trials a few weeks back. His two word utterance, as the color just came right in beautifully on start up, said it all and inspired the title of this blog. Loosely translated I guess he was trying to say "Gosh, darn it, I'm really quite surprised. This looks pretty spectacular." Okay, so it loses a bit of impact on transIation and of course I didn't get to use it in the press release .......... but it still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that a new product feature can inspire such strength of reaction in a user. It's what makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Just 6 weeks or so after the first visit to South America and Colombia I find myself back in the beautiful country with interesting and beautiful people. It is a visit that opens up my eyes even further to the changes and potential that this will become a power house for packaging, and particularly flexible packaging in the future. To reinforce the warning that the US&C risks falling behind countries like Colombia when we start to come out of recession, the first orders for Flexcel NX Systems in Colombia were taken, all into printers, both narrow and wide web. Combining the newest equipment with the best in plate technology will allow these printers to easily move forward and reinforce their positions as suppliers to the biggest brand owners.

One of the examples of where the newest press combines with the newest press, was a print trial on an OMET XFLEX. The XFLEX won the FFTA Technical Innovation Award last year, as did the Flexcel NX System this year. This is the first time I have seen these two industry leading innovations for Flexo together, and I have to say it was a beauty to behold. The speed to color, ease to change anilox rolls, print cylinders between jobs, ink tray loading unloading, minimal web path during the job, auto registration all worked simply and perfectly. The printer actually setup the first job twice, to prove to the prepress manager, and just to confirm that the press and plates combination really was so fast coming to commercially acceptable print together.



The picture in this Blog comes from a visit to the old Spanish capital in Colombia, and we have titled it "The 3 Tom's Looking For Dr John", where I shot a panoramic, and Tom accidentally managed to move into every shot, looking a different direction each time! It is a little freaky in some ways, but an interesting shot, automatically produced using a Kodak Easyshare M1093IS. The other lesson from that trip is distance as the crow flies is not important, how big a mountain you have to go up and down the side of controls travel time, and the degree of headache at the other end!

Colombia seems to be the country in South America with the highest penetration of traditional digital flexo plates, high percentage of Comexi wide web presses, and a smaller percentage of gravure to flexo.

Chile on the other hand was very different. From the flight from hell overnight Sunday with all the families returning from vacations, to arriving at the hotel to go to bed in the dark, and the getting out of bed at noon for the first appointment, to opening the curtains to see for the first time the snow covered Andes mountains seemingly a few blocks away, that was a real WOW sight to wake to!

The Flexo industry in Chile was different, far fewer CTP for Flexo, about 20% of Colombia, much more analog, very good analog, more Italian presses than anything, and a higher percentage of gravure than in Colombia. But here again a market ready to transition, Chile is a big exporter, so their packaging appears on our shelves all of the time, and they will continue to grow this trend. Here converting Flexo is really also going after gravure conversion, so the densities that can be produced with as few colors as possible is important.

As I visit super markets in other countries, that gets really interesting trying to explain you are "just looking" with a loop when you don't speak Spanish, it is clear that there are some significant market differences too. Quantities are smaller, many weekly instead of monthly purchases as in US, more flexible packaging, stronger brighter colors, more competition for sales. You come to the conclusion that the packaging in Latin America is at least as good and in most cases better than the majority in the US today. This too will help understand how they can become a threat to the US producers.

The next issue of the blog will come from Argentina and Uruguay, and my verdict to date on the beef, and who for Latin America reins supreme!

Minnesota is the home of the Flexo Center of Excellence R&D and Applications for Kodak, so it is a regular place for me to visit. This is also the Kodak flexo center for customer support and demonstrations for the Americas, where customers regularly come to gain hands on experience and learn more about our flexo solutions.

Minnesota is an interesting place, but I am really glad the weather for my two visits over the last month was MUCH better than the -45 F plus wind chill In February, which was the coldest I have experienced anywhere.

One of my recent visits included attending a multi-supplier banded anilox test that demonstrated the ability of Flexcel NX Plates, with the right inks, tape and anilox, to truly match the densities of gravure for process and spot colors on wide web flexible packaging. There is a huge level of interest from flexible packaging buyers and printers to be able to match the capabilities of gravure with Flexo. It is clear that there are 3 components to this:

1. Resolution (around 175 lpi (70 lpcm))
2. Consistency
3. Solid Ink Density

With Kodak's latest technology, it is now possible to offer all three via the Flexcel NX System.

Realistically, to achieve this you do need the right press components, files, and application in combination. Some printers are ready, but many are not. The Flexcel NX System is capable of 300 lpi so 175 is no problem, and the flat top dot with 1:1 image transfer from the digital file provides the consistency, but without the right components for anilox, tape, and ink this is still beyond the capabilities of many in wide web flexo today. With the banded roll test results, which will be published as a white paper, it confirmed the requirements and procedure for successful implementation.

The challenge for flexo has been ink density, ink lay down, and visual impact on the shelf, without needing the high numbers of spot colors of traditional digital flexo. This is now addressed, allowing gravure-like high ink densities with process printing and spot colors. This promises to open up the capabilities of Flexo even further.

Not all flexible packaging flexo printers will want gravure quality. For those that have no need to move to higher screen rulings and don't want to make significant press room changes, the Flexcel NX System enables improvement in tonal range, contrast and density that will open up opportunities to grow the market. But for those willing to optimize their printing process the Flexcel NX System opens up a world of possibilities.

During the last trip I also visited Geoff Aker at SGS in Minneapolis, my first time in the facility, one of the largest and certainly one of the nicest I have visited. A clear signal of the investment and commitment required in the modern fast turn around flexo industry.

Minnesota is also home to Joe Tuccitto, FFTA Education Director and a place where we have worked and fished together in the past.

On a completely different topic, I will be the chair for the Emerging Trends & Technology Session at the FFTA in Las Vegas 2010, along with co-chair David Galton of Asahi Photoproducts in Europe. I encourage anyone interested in presenting a new technology, or anything else for this event to submit your up to 250 word abstract to www.flexography.org. If you don't submit an abstract then you have no chance of presenting, so get your thinking caps on and call David or I if you have any questions, or even if you have an idea and want to talk it through. Over the years I have worked for and been a member in many associations, and I have learnt that with associations the world over, the more you get involved the more you get out of it, so don't be shy in coming forward.

My next trip to Minnesota will be in the Fall, when the extra layers may be needed at night, but at least not the heavy winter coat and thermals!

See you next time