Since joining Kodak at the end of 2007, a key part of my role is evangelist for flexo, internally and externally of Kodak, and globally to grow the flexo industry. To date I have been to Europe, North, Central, and South America plus Asia. As I travel all over the world visiting Flexo printers and trade shops, as well as other packaging printers, I learn a lot that people like me to share.

It has been suggested that as I do this I could share my findings in a blog series titled "Where in the Flexo World is Dr John?"



The latest trip was to Colombia, my first to South America and now completing a full count for continents visited except Antarctica. In the current economy, Colombia was a real surprise. There are a few reminders of their troubled past, like each motor bike rider is required to have ID vests, but the country has had 8 years of stable government. Everywhere you look there is construction, investment, and signs of growth (they did not take the bad loans as in the US) and their economy is only a little soft, but doing very well.

What we saw at every printer visited were new investments, many presses less than a year old in every site, the newest and most advanced technology, and a client list of who's who for the top packaging brand owners. They also are keen to listen and learn more to improve the print quality they can achieve. They employ many engineers, and apply total quality management and preventive maintenance throughout their operations. They are often self sufficient operations, with film blowing or ink manufacture operations.

There are some of the best analog printers we have ever seen, achieving resolutions and results that mean that going to traditional LAMS digital plates will be a clear step backwards for them.

It is clear that much of the print is for local use, but increasingly it is for export to the US and Europe, and with the investments they are making now, there is the potential that as the world economies recover and demand increases they will take high quality print from other countries in the Americas, and become a major export force, like Turkey does in Europe, especially flexible packaging.

This is a country Tom Kowalski and I look forward to returning to very soon and continue to learn more before extending our introduction to Latin America with Walter Murillo, with a trip to several of the southern cone countries soon.

Two personal lessons from Bogota is that in traffic red lights and stop signs are only optional, but a U-turn will get you a special spot fine from the police, and yes you really need at least 3 hours at the airport for international flights.

Throughout my first year since leaving the Flexographic Technical Association as Technical Director to join the rapidly growing Flexo and Packaging team for Kodak, I repeatedly heard people question if Flexo really needs to be able to print at higher resolutions with higher consistency and repeatability. I've even heard comments like "as Flexo printers you don't need to be able to print the Mona Lisa." All these remarks amaze me.

As Flexo printers you need to be able to print what your customer wants, and if that is the Mona Lisa, 0.8 pt micro text for security print, 300 lpi, 10.6 micron SQUAREspot, or on lenticular lens material, then not being able to do that just holds back your company. If you can't do it then your customers will be going to someone who can, and that will mean more market share and work for rotogravure, offset, digital, or screen printing, and less for you!

Lenticular printing is a classic example, traditionally printed offset because Flexo can't do it at all well, using analog, digital or direct engraved plates. Pacur, the leading manufacturer of lenticular lens material, have been attempting to print lenticular jobs using Flexo for almost a decade with no acceptable successes. This has meant the need to use sheetfed offset, with thicker and more expensive lens materials, and offline processing, all driving up complexity and costs. 

In the fall of 2008, Pacur and their prepress partner, Pixalen Studio, learned of a new Flexo plate from Kodak that was said to be doing things that Flexo has never done before. The Flexcel NX Digital Flexographic System used SQUAREspot technology, the same imaging technology used for offset lenticular, so they decided to see what it could do. They set up a test at a local printer using a Mark Andy 2200 to compare direct laser engraving plates to the Kodak Flexcel NX Plates. After 15 minutes on press the direct laser engraving was given up on--still no hope for lenticular. Then the Flexcel NX plates were put on, starting a new age for lenticular printing using Flexo.

Lenticular printing requires lines of precise size and location that combine to produce sharp crisp images and perceived depth. Because the Flexcel NX System transfers data precisely from the square pixels via the Thermal Imaging Layer to the Flexcel NX Plate as a 1:1 transfer, it fit the requirements for lenticular perfectly. The plates are used to print on the back of the Lenstar Lenticular Lens material, and when viewed from the front the image appears 3D. According to the people at Pacur, who really know lenticular printing, the Flexcel NX Plates printed as sharp or sharper than offset. 

I have repeatedly seen the enthusiasm and wonder from printers, trade shops, and consumer goods companies around Flexcel NX—from seeing samples at major exhibitions to witnessing demos such as at the Dallas open house where Narnia movie posters were printed at 300 lpi. But never have I seen such incredible excitement from the printers who had repeatedly tried to print lenticular using Flexo when they realized that there was now a viable option. At Pack Expo in Chicago recently we showed samples of lenticular printing from three print runs at three different printers, using Mark Andy, Nilpeter, and Gallus presses, with one set also printed and converted inline to be self adhesive labels. All 3 trials used a 10 mil Lenstar material and were printed using Flexcel NX.

From the first trial to the exhibition it was only 3 weeks, and so as great as the results were, even better is knowing that this is just the start. Now that it has been proven that high quality lenticular samples can be produced in-line using Flexo, more sophisticated effects such as motion will be tested. This could be the beginning of a new growth market for Flexo, with the sharp printing capabilities and significant potential cost benefits of printing and converting inline on a Flexo press. It will be a significant differentiator for companies using the Flexcel NX System, the only one capable of this. 

I joined Kodak to advance and grow the capabilities and market of the Flexo process, and this is a clear and significant step on that route. Even if lenticular is not for you, the capabilities of the Flexcel NX System will continue to open new doors for Flexo. This is not about little dots, or software magic, it is about the 1:1 transfer of the pixel from your digital file to the plate, and the huge improvements that can bring in print consistency and repeatability on press, where the Flexo industry must succeed. If your plate supplier can't achieve the stability of 1:1 image transfer from digital file to plate, talk to Kodak to see how we can help to add depth to your Flexo printing capabilities.

My latest marathon trip rounded off three weeks, 6 hotels, 4 countries and 9 flights. Lost track of my room number by the end of the trip, but added two more new South American countries to my list, first Argentina and then Uruguay.

Before you start looking for a map, Uruguay is a small country between the north of Argentina and south of Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, about the same size as Italy, with just 3.3 million people, but 30 million sheep and 15 million cattle.

The flexo market in Argentina is large, about the 3rd largest in Latin America, similar to Colombia, significantly smaller than Brazil and Mexico, but again with a relatively small percentage of traditional digital LAMS flexo plate making. Here few of the printers seem to have their own plate making operations The vast majority of Flexo plates are made by trade shops, but only half a dozen or so of the largest trade shops have traditional LAMS digital flexo plate making, meaning analog is still the most common plate making method used.

There are however clear signs that this will change in the next few years. Concerns about supply of silver-halide film, the push for higher print capabilities, and more printers indicating a desire to make their own plates, show that this is likely to be a significant transition.

Again, like in Chile, there are a great deal of Italian and southern European presses here, with new equipment in many facilities. When visiting Argentina I learned that there are many Italian descendents and speaking Italian is common in the southern cone of South America, explaining the strength of these manufacturers. There is also a good percentage of gravure here, indicating high print quality again.


 
The visit to Uruguay focused on a new Flexcel NX System installation in Cromograf, who were the first to order a system in Latin America, and a significant trade shop for some of the biggest international brand names, currently exporting plates to as far away as Peru and Chile. The new purchase represents a huge step up for Cromograf with all new plate processing as well as the Flexcel NX System. The team from Cromograf, the dealers, Lumila and Kodak personnel are shown here.

Miguel Angel Acosta Stabile, Director of Cromograf, third from the left, with 35 years experience in Flexo, and achieving amazing things with his team, demonstrated to us an incredible amount of flexo knowledge, know how, and experience. Part of the joy for me of doing these types of trips, is the people I meet and what I learn along the way. Between the Kodak team of Tom, Walter and I we have over 60 years of Flexo experience, and even though Miguel out ranks us all, he is happy and amazed to see what he can now do using Flexo, and still learns more every day.

The team was joined in Uruguay by Paul Lancelle, Kodak flexo specialist and former FFTA chairman, who had come to work with Cromograf and Lumila on the setup of the new Flexcel NX System. Paul can be seen here demonstrating the system to Cromograf customers who were so curious after press trials that they just had to see for themselves.


 
Uruguay is an interesting country. It supposedly has great beaches for the summer - not that I got to see them, as it is winter there now (pretty mild compared to US winters though!) and Montevideo has great places to eat. I am sure I will upset my colleagues from Argentina when I tell you that to date the best beef I have eaten was in Uruguay, along with some of the best meals overall. I guess I'll reserve my final verdict on the best beef in Latin America until I've ticked Brazil off the list.

I know that the team all enjoy working with the flexo industry in Latin America, in many ways an industry on the edge of transformation. The customers and team members are excited, looking to learn, with the full knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of all of their options available. The people are really what make the flexo industry such fun, even in the current economy, and Latin America is no exception.

I'll next blog from Latin America at the start of another 3 week trip that kicks off with the Brazilian FTA event in Sao Paulo, where I am presenting and looking to learn more. I look forward to sharing those learnings with you all.