It certainly is an exciting time to be a part of the world of flexographic printing. Print results are being achieved today that would have been determined unimaginable by this process as recently as a couple years ago. Even more exciting is to be a part of the team that is making this possible...with the award- winning Kodak Flexcel NX Digital Flexographic System.



I had the opportunity in early March to be onsite for the printing of the Canadian Printer magazine "over-cover" at the Cenveo McLaren Morris and Todd facility in Mississauga, Ontario. Given the rare chance to demonstrate the current capabilities of the flexo print process compared side by side to the traditional offset-printed magazine cover, the enhanced reproduction gamut enabled by the Flexcel NX system proved itself once again!

With challenging four color process graphics expertly prepared by the staff at Autumn Graphics, and printing on what can be considered as a somewhat unforgiving substrate, it was immediately recognized by everyone present how quickly the job came up to and fell into color match. Of greater significance is that the graphics were output with screening of 20 micron stochastic on the outside and 200 line AM on the inside-all reproduced in four color process and printed in-line over a printed white. Attempting to pull something like this off before the introduction of Flexcel NX in this industry would likely have seldom been considered possible.

What had been scheduled for the possibility of an all-day "tweak and coax" was wrapped up and mission accomplished in only a couple hours. A great deal of the credit for this, naturally, goes to Marcelo Marziali and his staff at Cenveo, as well as Ben Abray and the folks at Autumn. While it does require the right combination of components to accomplish these types of results, Flexcel NX proved to be the enabler.

With Flexcel NX providing the capability for expanded tonal range and repeatable, consistent results, flexo is reaching uncharted waters in competing with offset and gravure on a daily basis and providing even greater value for our customers.

Just a few more comments on this topic ...

Our initial response to the ESKO press release prompted a few questions. We wanted to be able to answer these clearly and at the same time comment on an article published on the same topic in the Flexo Magazine for April 2009.

Before we go any further we feel that it is important to stress that there are many points in the article that we agree with. We totally support all efforts to enhance and move the Flexo industry forward, through such evolutionary steps, with higher print capabilities, better on press performance, longer plate life, and greater sustainability for the process as a whole. These are all things that will assist the Flexo industry as a whole to perform better and grow. However, where we disagree is in the use of marketing buzz words like "Revolutionary" and "Novel" for things that are neither. We run the risk that when things that are truly exciting and new really do need such titles they will be worn out and without impact.

The message remains the same, combining existing technologies together is evolutionary, and LAMS Plates Are Not New - Nor Is Hybrid Screening. ESKO themselves state that "digital imaging was introduced with laser ablative masks system (LAMS) CTP plates in 1995", and "About 10 years ago, a hybrid screening technology was created". The FLEXO article states that "recently, technology was developed that allows digital LAMS plates to image at 4000 dpi", yet it is a standard upgrade on most of the CDI line of products and has been for some significant time, if not since their introduction. A simple search of the internet with "4000 dpi CDI" will produce results from at least 2005, so recently is relative to what?

A Matter of Speed with A Pixel At A Time!
Let's try and clear up the imaging speed question. In the FLEXO magazine article the comments "while a 4,000 dpi pixel is not going to be noticed by an increase in imaging time", and "because the dots consist of more pixels", can be tied together to confirm that the time to image each pixel is similar, but there is an increase in imaging time due to more pixels to image with the same optics. In long standing calculations by Kodak engineers, changing from 2540 dpi to 4000 dpi will be an increase of approximately 2.7 times in 1). Pixels to RIP, and 2). Pixels to image. This is potentially a very significant slowing of the imaging process for LAMS plates. It's just an important question that should be asked. It is also understood that trade shops in Europe who have had the 4,000 dpi option available on the CDI for some time tend to charge more for LAMS plates imaged at this resolution due to the most expensive hardware component in the process, the plate imager, being tied up for much longer for each plate.

Dot Holding Enhancement
A technique to use some form of light values to improve the dot holding capabilities is also nothing new. Based on research and development from several years ago, Kodak possesses proprietary plate resolution enhancement technology that includes several granted patents. Upon Kodak's introduction of this proprietary technology, referred to as "HyperFlex" that enables holding of smaller dots and graphic elements on flexo plates, it won the 2003 GATF InterTech Technology Award, 2004 FTA Technical Innovation award, and 2005 FPPA Technology Innovator of the Year award. The HyperFlex technology involves the imaging of light valves (equivalent to small dots or holes) in the LAMS layer around the required dots to increase the UV energy, assisting the required dots to build stronger structure, with more robust format and better performance on press, but the light values do not form any structure that prints. This proprietary technology is in daily use today in many plate makers. Kodak HyperFlex technology can be applied to Maxtone (Kodak's hybrid screening) and AM screening.

The following examples illustrates the process: HyperFlex Technology extends the minimum reproducible dot size for Maxtone Screening, e.g. 35 micron Maxtone Screening - 0.5% tint



Without HyperFlex Technology: Dots have not formed at all, or have fallen over - even though they are imaged at normal min dot size (Note that the only dots forming on plate are adjacent to the line element)



With HyperFlex Technology resolution enhancement: All dots develop. File integrity is maintained: if there is a dot in the data, there is a dot on the plate

When we read the explanation of the revolutionary screening, "a novel solution was developed: a new "differentially modulated" screening technology. Dots remain on a regular grid as standard halftones, but in the highlight they change size at different rates. There is a mixture of mostly smaller dots with a few larger dots.

In extreme highlights, the very small dots do not actually print. They build up the plate around the remaining larger dots, so that these print in a stable way." Based on prior technology, it does not seem to be so new or novel. Come on guys! Let's save the "novel" and "revolutionary" adjectives where they truly appropriate.

Quick Comment On Gray Levels You May Have Missed From Part I
Anonymous Comment:
"300 lpi for Flexo doesn't seem very realistic to me, have you calculated the number of gray levels you can reproduce with 300 lpi at 2400 dpi? 65!"

"This comment would have been true for early RIPs (circa 20 years ago), which did not use supercell technology. Kodak has been using supercell screening in all its workflows for a very long time (and I would be very surprised if there are any workflow vendors left that do not). Rather than calculating grey levels at the individual halftone cell level, supercell screening calculates grey levels over an area consisting of many halftone cells and uses pixel dithering to render very accurate tones within the supercell area, no matter how high the frequency. The only limitation to imaging grey levels on a Kodak system is the underlying data in the input file. 8-bit contone and 8-bit vector objects can only be rendered at 256 grey levels, but objects created with smooth shade operators can be rendered with 16-bits, which produces 65,536 grey levels. Of course, in real life, TIFF measuring tools can only distinguish tones to about 0.1% accuracy. But even with this limitation, I can demonstrate 1000 grey levels in a device-ready TIFF rendered at 300 lines at 2400 dpi, from any of our workflow systems" answer provided by Stephen Zmetana Technical Specialist, Packaging Workflows, Kodak Product Development. Thanks Stephen!

The More We See:
As the weeks go by and more and more is revealed about this competitive "revolutionary" and "novel" technology, it looks more and more like an attempt to match the 300 lpi capabilities with full tonal range of Flexcel NX - and that's great. As suppliers we have a responsibility to continually move the industry forward.

We embrace truly novel advancements that will allow us all to do so. It is clear to us though that using a round laser to image square pixels will NEVER match the 1:1 imaging capabilities of the SQUAREspot Technology used in the Flexcel NX system. That Oxygen Inhibition in plate making means that the dots are still rounded and bullet like, even if they are a little smoother, and will still suffer point loading and narrower impression latitude and shorter life than a flat top dot structure. Then there is the imaging time, significantly more data to RIP and image will slow the process, all driven by the need to increase resolution just to match a technology running at 2400 dpi, just like its offset counterparts, that today images the Thermal Imaging Layer for a 31.5" x 42" plate in 6 minutes.

At the end of the last blog we said it was evolutionary for ESKO instead of revolutionary for the Flexo industry, and the more that comes out the smaller an evolutionary step it seems.

OK. Let's stop. Enough said on the topic. We'll draw a line there and move on. Let's all get back to developing and promoting solutions truly deserving of the superlatives.

This post was co-written by Dr John Anderson, Global Future Marketing for Flexo at Eastman Kodak.

As we all look to grow the flexo industry the growth does not always come in expected ways. Instead, the true benefits in production can come from unusual directions, often with a simple financial justification, critical in the current business climate.

We thought it might be interesting to share a few of the things we have come across in the last months related to flexo printing on paper products using the Flexcel NX System. We'll try and make this a regular blog, sharing ideas and experiences that might help you to grow your business or issues that are important to the industry. Some of these blogs will relate to Flexcel NX products, others will not. The intention is to stimulate some 'out of the box' thinking for growing the adoption of flexo.

There is a huge excitement and clamor in the industry to drive up the resolutions that can be printed with flexo. The truth is higher resolutions are seen by many as sexy, and the holy grail for new opportunities. However, often true growth is achieved by addressing fundamental production issues. Being able to print consistently at the levels your customers require is a foundation block upon which to build a business and fully exploit the potential of the flexo printing process, whether that is at 100 or 300 lpi,

The stories below share a few things that printers in the US have done with Flexcel NX Plates in the last few months and how it has helped their bottom line, by differentiating Flexo against other print processes.

Example 1 - Folding carton printing in the upper midwest. Taking folding carton business away from sheet fed offset has always been a desire for flexo. We can convert inline in one pass, reduce costs for the carton, but print quality and consistency have held us back. Often there is a need to match or better offset, but without a carton redesign there is often also a need to initially convert without any customer perceivable difference. This was the example for a folding carton converter taking an offset job at 133 lpi, moving it to Flexcel NX at 150 lpi, but without a significant visible difference. You had to be able to put them next to each other without a customer noticing a marked difference. This was achieved, but why make changes in a print process if it does not look better? Well the driver was financial. Working together it made the buyer and printer both happier when they were able to take the carton board down in grade, below the offset grades normally used, reducing the cost significantly without a perceivable difference in product quality. Savings in raw materials can be very significant, carton board is often 60% or more of the cost of the job, and taking the costs down makes flexo a more competitive process. The plate life and stability using Flexcel NX Plates was critical in achieving the consistency through the run with such a board grade.

Example 2 - Label converter from West coast - this printer uses both digital and flexo printing for labels, and in line with all traditional models the on demand work was produced using the digital press and the longer runs using flexo. The longer setup time and inconsistency of their traditional digital flexo plates meant that they could not realistically use flexo for on demand printing. Now with Flexcel NX the flat-top dot structure and 1:1 reproduction from digital file to plate means that they use the Flexo press as an on demand operation as well, no longer needing to dumb down the digital press to match flexo but instead the digital press struggles to match the 300 lpi that they use today for flexo. The other factor is that the plates are so fast to color, and repeatable on reuse again and again that the time lost in the past for color matching and toning of the inks is gone, using standard process ink sets they put the job on, bring it into impression and print the job, short or long, then repeat the process for the next job. They are reusing the plates many times without issues, assisting the sustainability for flexo as well. It has allowed this company to grow its business, win awards for its printing, and make flexo both the day-to-day and the premium print process at the expense of digital.

Example 3 - Envelope printer from central region. In the envelope industry the substrate has to survive the transportation and harsh environment through the mail train and also to ensure that the contents of your letters are not all over the floor in your post office. It must a strong and practical substrate. This does not make it the friendliest material to print on, and its rough surface often causes issues with print quality and plate life. Flexo is often used to compete with offset printing, with the offset printing slowing production and printing on sheets that are then cut out before folding and gluing. Flexo has a distinct advantage, it can print on the web that is then cut, folded and glued in line, often at high speeds, but this is rough on the plates, and plate life of traditional digital flexo plates in this plant was typically about 20 hours of production. Envelopes are a very competitive business, and the flexo plate and setup costs can be a significant part of the job. The printer requested three sets (the normal for this type of run) of the 0.107" Flexcel NX demo plates to run the job, based on normal plate life, so expecting 50-60 hours of production. After two full days they came back and said it was amazing, they are going to run on with this job to see how long the set of plates lasts. Three days in they came back and asked if they can keep the two sets of unused demo plates to rerun the job in a months time, and after four days they came back and said they finally ran out of that stock while still using the first set of plates, and had now taken the plates off press. They had effectively run for so long on one set of plates that they can run the entire job in one go, with one setup, less waste, and greater consistency. This example did not take business from another print process, but it did make the printer more efficient and profitable (especially as the demo plates were free!!! - but you get the point!).

We hope that these stories and the rest to come in the future help you think about what you do, and challenge you to discover new ways to grow your business using flexo. Don't just accept the traditional limitations of the process.

This post was co-written by Dr John Anderson, Global Future Marketing for Flexo at Eastman Kodak.