Greg Hrinya, Editor10.14.21
The challenges facing label converters today continue to grow. Customers want products more quickly and cheaper than ever before. It’s not enough to deliver a product quickly, though. The labels must jump off the shelf and drive market share.
As is the case with manufacturing equipment, prepress software must become more connected and automated. “With a range of demands being placed on the label industry, there is a need for converters to do things differently – to digitize, automate and connect,” explains Jan de Roeck, marketing director at Esko. “Processes need to become more integrated to create a smooth workflow, from incoming artwork to label shipments. Avoiding manual intervention in the process, optimizing production efficiency, and ensuring right first-time manufacturing to minimize waste and costs are all key. This is the promise of today’s prepress software.”
According to Bret Farrah, VP of sales and marketing at Xitron, the right prepress solution can dramatically change a label converting business. “If it’s the right software, it immediately impacts production, and the ROI is measured in months, not years,” he says. “If a company doesn’t have the right software, usually the results are costly errors in press runs or margin-eating work arounds.”
But how does prepress software work? Once an MIS drives the job specs and business information through customer service and sales, a complete prepress software system should be able to accept all of the relevant job information and perform the tasks, such as preflighting, color management, trapping, screening, proofs, to make it print ready – deliverable to a digital or traditional press.
“A really good prepress system should be able to send job information back to the MIS,” explains Mike Agness, executive vice president, Americas, Hybrid Software. “Utilizing today’s technology, PDF files – and open systems in general – have the ability to drive more items/jobs through the shop in less time, with less effort. If implemented correctly, the right prepress software reduces errors, can improve quality, and increases productivity. It should allow prepress operators to focus on the pure, value-added challenges.”
The wrong prepress software can create numerous forms of waste. “When viewing waste from a Lean Manufacturing perspective, waste can be identified in seven forms: overproduction, inventory, motion, defects, over-processing, waiting, and transport,” notes de Roeck. “Waste slows down operations and drives up costs through lost time, materials and unnecessary labor, ultimately resulting in a lack of competitive edge for the converter. There are obvious sustainability disadvantages, too, in terms of wasted materials and energy.”
“Beyond inefficiencies and, perhaps, subpar quality, the wrong software could provide an opportunity for your competitor to ‘steal’ your customer with a better customer experience and faster turnaround times,” adds Agness.
Esko recently released a new version of its workflow server software Automation Engine, more particularly a new deployment option hosting the workflow automation server in the cloud. Under this Software as a Service model, companies can avoid IT overhead costs and complexity by standardizing workflows, even across multiple geographically distant production sites, further driving up efficiency and performance.
A connected workflow is one way to reduce waste. Esko, for example, has designed its software to integrate with all MIS systems on the market today. “With data and files moving from department to department, with various employees involved, mistakes and time delays can occur,” says de Roeck. “With connectivity and integration, there is now only one source of validated and approved truth.”
For converters implementing solutions like Esko WebCenter, all stakeholders can work on the same version of an artwork and its constituting components – logo, images, symbols, text, etc. – avoiding unnecessary duplications and versioning errors. “Fundamentally, a connected workflow simplifies, streamlines and standardizes each step of the prepress process, making it easier to manage, identify issues and resolve problems before they occur,” comments de Roeck. “It delivers proactive, positive control with optimized headcount to minimize costs and waste.”
Even with the inroads being made by digital printing, flexography still accounts for the majority of printed labels. Prepress software plays a vital role in delivering high quality plates.
Xitron has developed RIPs, workflows, and TIFF Catchers that can drive hundreds of the computer-to-plate devices, imagesetters, proofers, digital presses, high-speed copiers, and inkjet printers currently on the market. The nuances behind Xitron’s software help generate the kind of quality that elevates a brand on-shelf.
“Xitron’s SmartFlexo allows users to choose the precise points at which the screens change from AM to FM in highlights and shadows,” states Farrah. “This means that the software adapts to the specific plate, anilox and press conditions for each shop. It also provides a means to add supporting dots to help hold highlights, and the ability to remove pixels in solids for better coverage with reduced mottling.”
Using data shared between MIS and computer-to-plate systems to drive workflows helps reduce errors. Using data from one source allows all in the production supply chain to see the same data. By reducing errors and increasing efficiencies for each job, print providers can increase profits. For digital reprints, a connected workflow would only require an OK before it goes to press, with virtually no human touches, says Hybrid Software’s Agness.
“A good example is Hybrid VDP, an InterTech award recipient,” remarks Agness. “With the rapid adoption of digital presses for labels, cartons, and corrugated boxes – and the need to find a way to reduce the cost of producing multiple flavors or languages – package printers have required a better solution for variable data print preparation and output than existing offerings. Hybrid VDP is a self-contained, easy to use, variable data printing solution for labels that changes text, images, barcodes, colors, and other elements linked to variable data sources, producing an optimized file for fast printing on all digital presses.”
PACTions is one of Hybrid Software’s latest enhancements to Hybrid Packz. “Hybrid Software has always evangelized the use of the most up-to-date technology foundations to its software, such as complete PDF workflows and the use of HTML5 protocols for easier use on any workstation,” explains Agness. “The latest ‘under the hood’ version of Hybrid Packz now embraces Apple’s latest M1 chip to make this efficient software even faster.”
Meanwhile, Esko’s Print Control Wizard is a screening technology for flexo printing. Part of the Esko Imaging Engine, Print Control Wizard software adds a new level of simplification to the platemaking department, enabling operators to quickly create premium flexo plates.
“The tool uses all critical print parameters and variables – imaging resolution, exposure settings, plate, substrate, anilox, press type, inks, etc. – to standardize the generation of Crystal Screens and curves for each application, removing all non-value-added tasks from the process, driving up speed, quality and performance in one step,” says de Roeck.
The explosion of digital printing technologies has necessitated prepress software that accommodates the nature of shorter runs featuring variable data and multiple SKU work. “With the right prepress solution, a converter can become more efficient with automated file fix-ups, automated imposition, color management options and more that reduce time between receiving customer files and getting to print,” says Steve Lynn, director of labels and packaging for Durst North America. “The right prepress solution will also make variable data jobs easy and reduce work needed to prepare.”
Durst offers a comprehensive workflow solution that handles everything that is needed in label production. The software covers all processes, from data management and print data preparation to output on the printer and reporting.
Durst Workflow Label+ easily integrates into existing production environments, MIS and ERP systems. Durst Workflow Label + handles data management, print data preparation through to output on the printer and reporting of completed work and efficiency.
For converters using one of today’s high-speed inkjet presses, the award-winning Xitron Navigator DFE puts simple, productive control at an operator’s fingertips. “Coupling it with Hybrid’s powerful Stepz software for digital printing brings lights-out automation and condenses the prepress cycle dramatically,” adds Farrah.
Getting started
Prepress software suppliers have made it easier than ever to get started using any number of new solutions on the market today.
The one inherent advantage of working with Global Graphics is its extended network of companies. Global Graphics Software, Hybrid Software, Meteor Inkjet and Xitron can all deliver products for a wide range of prepress needs.
Xitron’s Farrah believes this network is especially advantageous for those companies looking to bring platemaking in-house. “Xitron’s Navigator Flexo Suite offers an economical approach to shops that may consider bringing platemaking in-house due to the influx of less-expensive imagers on today’s market,” he explains. “The package includes the workflow, Harlequin-based Navigator RIP, SmartFlexo hybrid screening, and plate assembly software for around $15,000. By all measures, this is a remarkable entry price.”
For Hybrid Software’s Agness, converters should identify the software provider that will best meet their specific needs, as this decision is truly a partnership. “Look to work with a software company you want to work with today and in the future,” states Agness. “Seek out a software company whose systems are based on modern, open standards. This assures two things: software will always need to adapt to your business as it changes, and this process will be easier. Also, software based on an up-to-date technology foundation will be able to provide new features much easier and faster.”
Esko’s software, meanwhile, has been designed to cover “the entire journey of a label’s artwork,” from inspiration to artwork to press-ready separations. “It is important to know that Esko software scales along with your business requirements,” says Esko’s de Roeck. “It enables you to tackle the most urgent problems first and expand as you go, scaling up the software capabilities as the business grows.
“To get started, Value Stream Mapping is a great way to identify the most urgent sources of waste that need tackling,” adds de Roeck. “Esko packaging experts can provide that service in a workshop together with your team and define the roadmap for implementation.”
Once deciding on Hybrid Software’s Hybrid VDP, it’s important to note that the technology is applied at the prepress stage, not in the pressroom. According to Agness, this eliminates the up-front template creation that slows down the other VDP solutions.
Color management
Printers are expecting color management to be easier, more reliable and more capable. The rise of digital printing also means color management needs to work across multiple print platforms. More technologies mean more sophisticated workflows.
Today, converters need to prepare work for multiple print technologies. That requires more disciplined practices using prepress software that can transform artwork color so that it will proof and print accurately, no matter what the print process.
“Prepress departments need to step up their game. Legacy practices that are designed for only one type of traditional press no longer work,” says Marc Levine, director of business development at GMG Americas. “Advances in hardware color capability have only accelerated expectations and demands for color performance and consistency. Extended gamut printing using fixed color sets has never been used so widely in both conventional and digital print. The need for competent color production tools, for both prepress and print, has never been greater.”
The right printing software can optimize artwork so that it can be produced with greater consistency, says Levine. It can also help printers produce the right colors while minimizing the inks necessary to make it. This leads to greater color stability on-press, and the presses can run faster, as well, reducing production costs and increasing the capacity of existing equipment. Along with this higher capacity per machine comes a better ROI when buying a new press.
According to Levine, color management is becoming increasingly centralized so that it can be automated and integrated with other workflow pieces. Integration helps color transformation happen upstream so that color can be handled in a standard way and proofed accurately, regardless of the print technology used. Historically, there have been multiple tools and ad-hoc processes to communicate separated color to the print buyer. However, in many cases, results were neither optimized nor repeatable.
GMG has designed a wide range of solutions to meet converter and brand expectations for color management. GMG ColorBook prints spot colors directly from the Pantone coated book on the print providers’ own presses, using a fixed set of inks. GMG ColorServer can also transform artwork directly into different print conditions, helping teams create artwork that matches from press to press – and across different print technologies.
“Utilizing GMG OpenColor technology, GMG ColorBook is the first to be Pantone certified, assuring color is always accurate,” says Levine. “It changes the face of color management by really focusing on the quality and accuracy of spot colors and making it easier than ever to produce spot color simulations that can be trusted for both internal quality control and with customers to help set accurate expectations. Great printing software not only helps printers produce the right color faster and with greater consistency, it also means printers can expand their solution sets into new applications more easily.”
High quality, repeatable, and affordable graphics are no longer a specialty but a requirement for most flexographic printers. Sooner or later, all flexo printers learn there is no such thing as a quality finished product without expertly produced graphics and high-quality plates. When that realization occurs, this is the niche service Imageworx proficiently fulfills. In turn, what Imageworx has learned is that to earn a customer’s business, it is a requirement to produce a provably better-quality plate combined with the corresponding technical and customer service required.
From humble beginnings, Imageworx has consistently advanced its capabilities, assembling innovative equipment, technology, and personnel to meet the requirements of even the most demanding customers and their projects, with excellent results.
“Flexographic printing is a controlled process as long as the entire process is maintained, understood and managed properly by everyone involved,” says Imageworx president Jeff Toepfer. “A large amount of our customers produce a percentage of their plates in-house, so it is essential for our business to continually offer prepress solutions that far exceed current expectations. Imageworx service rarely ends when plates are shipped. We want to fully understand what challenges our customers face and actively assist with their solutions. It’s vital to offer print customers technical assistance and education on prepress functionality, but also willingly accept feedback from the press operators and supervisors to help achieve their goals.”
Based in Levittown, PA, USA, Imageworx owns and operates a modern 31,500 square-foot facility shared with several industry partners, principally MPS, a manufacturer of high-end flexo and hybrid printing presses, and Cyngient, a manufacturer of technology-driven inks, coatings and adhesives. Together with over a dozen industry partners, the companies have formed a research and development center for the advancement of the flexographic print process.
Imageworx has developed Sero HDM (Smooth-Zero, High Definition Modular), first introduced at Labelexpo Americas in 2018. This screening method has been created with the purpose of broadening the printed color gamut for flexo printers by delivering a smoother breakdown of highlight dots. By utilizing a carefully engineered minimum dot structure, Sero is able to balance highlight tints in a way that allows gradients to fade away completely without a visible edge, the company says. The combination of high-resolution imaging, Kodak Flexcel NX and MacDermid ITP-60 plates, and finely tuned microscopic dot structures, now offer flexo printers a viable and economic solution to overcome the most difficult process and screen tint issues.
“After careful evaluation of all commercially available screening options, our conclusion was the flexographic process still had room to improve in how highlight detail and gradient fades in general are handled,” explains Toepfer. “Our goal from the inception of Sero was to create a screening option that allows flexo printers to attain the lowest achievable dot percentage measurements in their highlight areas while running at high line screens and high press speeds, with no visible dot or edge as the highlight dots transition to 0%. To further assist in the print quality of Sero HDM screening, we have developed a set of 13 dot compensation curves that produce the smoothest vignettes, from 0 to 100%, that the industry has to offer. Combining our customized curves with multiple renditions of Sero dots offers our narrow and wide-web customers dozens of well-tailored screening options to optimize the print process no matter what equipment they own or what the print quality requirements may be, with zero additional cost for screening options.”
Additional benefits of Sero HDM are smooth transitions and clean running plates. The additional space between dots provided by Sero does not allow for the ink buildup normally associated with clustered highlight dots. What’s achieved during setup is what should be expected throughout the run. According to Toepfer, Imageworx works to determine the exact Anilox and BCM volume to provide ideal results on your equipment, starting with the anilox inventory currently owned by the customer.
The ability to match flexo print results to a customer supplied target proof or previously printed label is critical in the flexo printing community. Standards for color accuracy have never been higher, and the ability to quickly match color targets on-press greatly improves production and limits downtime. Well-adjusted color, managed in prepress, saves printers substantial amounts of time, money and frustration.
Imageworx offers the latest in ICC proofing software, spectrophotometry tools, and printers from GMG Color, XRite, and Epson to ensure the highest level of color accuracy for flexo process colors. Starting with color space characterization from the press, Imageworx is able to fully simulate printed color by carefully developing a color space replica in their GMG system to operate with their Epson SureColor printers. Imageworx also offers solvent wash plates commercially available from Miraclon, MacDermid, and DuPont.
“Imageworx has developed a quick and reliable method of press profiling that allows us to simulate flexo process colors ahead of producing plates,” explains Toepfer. “In the past year, we have completely upgraded our color management process, including new software, hardware, and personnel to assist with the growing expectations from customers for print color accuracy.”
As is the case with manufacturing equipment, prepress software must become more connected and automated. “With a range of demands being placed on the label industry, there is a need for converters to do things differently – to digitize, automate and connect,” explains Jan de Roeck, marketing director at Esko. “Processes need to become more integrated to create a smooth workflow, from incoming artwork to label shipments. Avoiding manual intervention in the process, optimizing production efficiency, and ensuring right first-time manufacturing to minimize waste and costs are all key. This is the promise of today’s prepress software.”
According to Bret Farrah, VP of sales and marketing at Xitron, the right prepress solution can dramatically change a label converting business. “If it’s the right software, it immediately impacts production, and the ROI is measured in months, not years,” he says. “If a company doesn’t have the right software, usually the results are costly errors in press runs or margin-eating work arounds.”
But how does prepress software work? Once an MIS drives the job specs and business information through customer service and sales, a complete prepress software system should be able to accept all of the relevant job information and perform the tasks, such as preflighting, color management, trapping, screening, proofs, to make it print ready – deliverable to a digital or traditional press.
“A really good prepress system should be able to send job information back to the MIS,” explains Mike Agness, executive vice president, Americas, Hybrid Software. “Utilizing today’s technology, PDF files – and open systems in general – have the ability to drive more items/jobs through the shop in less time, with less effort. If implemented correctly, the right prepress software reduces errors, can improve quality, and increases productivity. It should allow prepress operators to focus on the pure, value-added challenges.”
The wrong prepress software can create numerous forms of waste. “When viewing waste from a Lean Manufacturing perspective, waste can be identified in seven forms: overproduction, inventory, motion, defects, over-processing, waiting, and transport,” notes de Roeck. “Waste slows down operations and drives up costs through lost time, materials and unnecessary labor, ultimately resulting in a lack of competitive edge for the converter. There are obvious sustainability disadvantages, too, in terms of wasted materials and energy.”
“Beyond inefficiencies and, perhaps, subpar quality, the wrong software could provide an opportunity for your competitor to ‘steal’ your customer with a better customer experience and faster turnaround times,” adds Agness.
Esko recently released a new version of its workflow server software Automation Engine, more particularly a new deployment option hosting the workflow automation server in the cloud. Under this Software as a Service model, companies can avoid IT overhead costs and complexity by standardizing workflows, even across multiple geographically distant production sites, further driving up efficiency and performance.
A connected workflow is one way to reduce waste. Esko, for example, has designed its software to integrate with all MIS systems on the market today. “With data and files moving from department to department, with various employees involved, mistakes and time delays can occur,” says de Roeck. “With connectivity and integration, there is now only one source of validated and approved truth.”
For converters implementing solutions like Esko WebCenter, all stakeholders can work on the same version of an artwork and its constituting components – logo, images, symbols, text, etc. – avoiding unnecessary duplications and versioning errors. “Fundamentally, a connected workflow simplifies, streamlines and standardizes each step of the prepress process, making it easier to manage, identify issues and resolve problems before they occur,” comments de Roeck. “It delivers proactive, positive control with optimized headcount to minimize costs and waste.”
Even with the inroads being made by digital printing, flexography still accounts for the majority of printed labels. Prepress software plays a vital role in delivering high quality plates.
Xitron has developed RIPs, workflows, and TIFF Catchers that can drive hundreds of the computer-to-plate devices, imagesetters, proofers, digital presses, high-speed copiers, and inkjet printers currently on the market. The nuances behind Xitron’s software help generate the kind of quality that elevates a brand on-shelf.
“Xitron’s SmartFlexo allows users to choose the precise points at which the screens change from AM to FM in highlights and shadows,” states Farrah. “This means that the software adapts to the specific plate, anilox and press conditions for each shop. It also provides a means to add supporting dots to help hold highlights, and the ability to remove pixels in solids for better coverage with reduced mottling.”
Using data shared between MIS and computer-to-plate systems to drive workflows helps reduce errors. Using data from one source allows all in the production supply chain to see the same data. By reducing errors and increasing efficiencies for each job, print providers can increase profits. For digital reprints, a connected workflow would only require an OK before it goes to press, with virtually no human touches, says Hybrid Software’s Agness.
“A good example is Hybrid VDP, an InterTech award recipient,” remarks Agness. “With the rapid adoption of digital presses for labels, cartons, and corrugated boxes – and the need to find a way to reduce the cost of producing multiple flavors or languages – package printers have required a better solution for variable data print preparation and output than existing offerings. Hybrid VDP is a self-contained, easy to use, variable data printing solution for labels that changes text, images, barcodes, colors, and other elements linked to variable data sources, producing an optimized file for fast printing on all digital presses.”
PACTions is one of Hybrid Software’s latest enhancements to Hybrid Packz. “Hybrid Software has always evangelized the use of the most up-to-date technology foundations to its software, such as complete PDF workflows and the use of HTML5 protocols for easier use on any workstation,” explains Agness. “The latest ‘under the hood’ version of Hybrid Packz now embraces Apple’s latest M1 chip to make this efficient software even faster.”
Meanwhile, Esko’s Print Control Wizard is a screening technology for flexo printing. Part of the Esko Imaging Engine, Print Control Wizard software adds a new level of simplification to the platemaking department, enabling operators to quickly create premium flexo plates.
“The tool uses all critical print parameters and variables – imaging resolution, exposure settings, plate, substrate, anilox, press type, inks, etc. – to standardize the generation of Crystal Screens and curves for each application, removing all non-value-added tasks from the process, driving up speed, quality and performance in one step,” says de Roeck.
The explosion of digital printing technologies has necessitated prepress software that accommodates the nature of shorter runs featuring variable data and multiple SKU work. “With the right prepress solution, a converter can become more efficient with automated file fix-ups, automated imposition, color management options and more that reduce time between receiving customer files and getting to print,” says Steve Lynn, director of labels and packaging for Durst North America. “The right prepress solution will also make variable data jobs easy and reduce work needed to prepare.”
Durst offers a comprehensive workflow solution that handles everything that is needed in label production. The software covers all processes, from data management and print data preparation to output on the printer and reporting.
Durst Workflow Label+ easily integrates into existing production environments, MIS and ERP systems. Durst Workflow Label + handles data management, print data preparation through to output on the printer and reporting of completed work and efficiency.
For converters using one of today’s high-speed inkjet presses, the award-winning Xitron Navigator DFE puts simple, productive control at an operator’s fingertips. “Coupling it with Hybrid’s powerful Stepz software for digital printing brings lights-out automation and condenses the prepress cycle dramatically,” adds Farrah.
Getting started
Prepress software suppliers have made it easier than ever to get started using any number of new solutions on the market today.
The one inherent advantage of working with Global Graphics is its extended network of companies. Global Graphics Software, Hybrid Software, Meteor Inkjet and Xitron can all deliver products for a wide range of prepress needs.
Xitron’s Farrah believes this network is especially advantageous for those companies looking to bring platemaking in-house. “Xitron’s Navigator Flexo Suite offers an economical approach to shops that may consider bringing platemaking in-house due to the influx of less-expensive imagers on today’s market,” he explains. “The package includes the workflow, Harlequin-based Navigator RIP, SmartFlexo hybrid screening, and plate assembly software for around $15,000. By all measures, this is a remarkable entry price.”
For Hybrid Software’s Agness, converters should identify the software provider that will best meet their specific needs, as this decision is truly a partnership. “Look to work with a software company you want to work with today and in the future,” states Agness. “Seek out a software company whose systems are based on modern, open standards. This assures two things: software will always need to adapt to your business as it changes, and this process will be easier. Also, software based on an up-to-date technology foundation will be able to provide new features much easier and faster.”
Esko’s software, meanwhile, has been designed to cover “the entire journey of a label’s artwork,” from inspiration to artwork to press-ready separations. “It is important to know that Esko software scales along with your business requirements,” says Esko’s de Roeck. “It enables you to tackle the most urgent problems first and expand as you go, scaling up the software capabilities as the business grows.
“To get started, Value Stream Mapping is a great way to identify the most urgent sources of waste that need tackling,” adds de Roeck. “Esko packaging experts can provide that service in a workshop together with your team and define the roadmap for implementation.”
Once deciding on Hybrid Software’s Hybrid VDP, it’s important to note that the technology is applied at the prepress stage, not in the pressroom. According to Agness, this eliminates the up-front template creation that slows down the other VDP solutions.
Color management
Printers are expecting color management to be easier, more reliable and more capable. The rise of digital printing also means color management needs to work across multiple print platforms. More technologies mean more sophisticated workflows.
Today, converters need to prepare work for multiple print technologies. That requires more disciplined practices using prepress software that can transform artwork color so that it will proof and print accurately, no matter what the print process.
“Prepress departments need to step up their game. Legacy practices that are designed for only one type of traditional press no longer work,” says Marc Levine, director of business development at GMG Americas. “Advances in hardware color capability have only accelerated expectations and demands for color performance and consistency. Extended gamut printing using fixed color sets has never been used so widely in both conventional and digital print. The need for competent color production tools, for both prepress and print, has never been greater.”
The right printing software can optimize artwork so that it can be produced with greater consistency, says Levine. It can also help printers produce the right colors while minimizing the inks necessary to make it. This leads to greater color stability on-press, and the presses can run faster, as well, reducing production costs and increasing the capacity of existing equipment. Along with this higher capacity per machine comes a better ROI when buying a new press.
According to Levine, color management is becoming increasingly centralized so that it can be automated and integrated with other workflow pieces. Integration helps color transformation happen upstream so that color can be handled in a standard way and proofed accurately, regardless of the print technology used. Historically, there have been multiple tools and ad-hoc processes to communicate separated color to the print buyer. However, in many cases, results were neither optimized nor repeatable.
GMG has designed a wide range of solutions to meet converter and brand expectations for color management. GMG ColorBook prints spot colors directly from the Pantone coated book on the print providers’ own presses, using a fixed set of inks. GMG ColorServer can also transform artwork directly into different print conditions, helping teams create artwork that matches from press to press – and across different print technologies.
“Utilizing GMG OpenColor technology, GMG ColorBook is the first to be Pantone certified, assuring color is always accurate,” says Levine. “It changes the face of color management by really focusing on the quality and accuracy of spot colors and making it easier than ever to produce spot color simulations that can be trusted for both internal quality control and with customers to help set accurate expectations. Great printing software not only helps printers produce the right color faster and with greater consistency, it also means printers can expand their solution sets into new applications more easily.”
High quality, repeatable, and affordable graphics are no longer a specialty but a requirement for most flexographic printers. Sooner or later, all flexo printers learn there is no such thing as a quality finished product without expertly produced graphics and high-quality plates. When that realization occurs, this is the niche service Imageworx proficiently fulfills. In turn, what Imageworx has learned is that to earn a customer’s business, it is a requirement to produce a provably better-quality plate combined with the corresponding technical and customer service required.
From humble beginnings, Imageworx has consistently advanced its capabilities, assembling innovative equipment, technology, and personnel to meet the requirements of even the most demanding customers and their projects, with excellent results.
“Flexographic printing is a controlled process as long as the entire process is maintained, understood and managed properly by everyone involved,” says Imageworx president Jeff Toepfer. “A large amount of our customers produce a percentage of their plates in-house, so it is essential for our business to continually offer prepress solutions that far exceed current expectations. Imageworx service rarely ends when plates are shipped. We want to fully understand what challenges our customers face and actively assist with their solutions. It’s vital to offer print customers technical assistance and education on prepress functionality, but also willingly accept feedback from the press operators and supervisors to help achieve their goals.”
Based in Levittown, PA, USA, Imageworx owns and operates a modern 31,500 square-foot facility shared with several industry partners, principally MPS, a manufacturer of high-end flexo and hybrid printing presses, and Cyngient, a manufacturer of technology-driven inks, coatings and adhesives. Together with over a dozen industry partners, the companies have formed a research and development center for the advancement of the flexographic print process.
Imageworx has developed Sero HDM (Smooth-Zero, High Definition Modular), first introduced at Labelexpo Americas in 2018. This screening method has been created with the purpose of broadening the printed color gamut for flexo printers by delivering a smoother breakdown of highlight dots. By utilizing a carefully engineered minimum dot structure, Sero is able to balance highlight tints in a way that allows gradients to fade away completely without a visible edge, the company says. The combination of high-resolution imaging, Kodak Flexcel NX and MacDermid ITP-60 plates, and finely tuned microscopic dot structures, now offer flexo printers a viable and economic solution to overcome the most difficult process and screen tint issues.
“After careful evaluation of all commercially available screening options, our conclusion was the flexographic process still had room to improve in how highlight detail and gradient fades in general are handled,” explains Toepfer. “Our goal from the inception of Sero was to create a screening option that allows flexo printers to attain the lowest achievable dot percentage measurements in their highlight areas while running at high line screens and high press speeds, with no visible dot or edge as the highlight dots transition to 0%. To further assist in the print quality of Sero HDM screening, we have developed a set of 13 dot compensation curves that produce the smoothest vignettes, from 0 to 100%, that the industry has to offer. Combining our customized curves with multiple renditions of Sero dots offers our narrow and wide-web customers dozens of well-tailored screening options to optimize the print process no matter what equipment they own or what the print quality requirements may be, with zero additional cost for screening options.”
Additional benefits of Sero HDM are smooth transitions and clean running plates. The additional space between dots provided by Sero does not allow for the ink buildup normally associated with clustered highlight dots. What’s achieved during setup is what should be expected throughout the run. According to Toepfer, Imageworx works to determine the exact Anilox and BCM volume to provide ideal results on your equipment, starting with the anilox inventory currently owned by the customer.
The ability to match flexo print results to a customer supplied target proof or previously printed label is critical in the flexo printing community. Standards for color accuracy have never been higher, and the ability to quickly match color targets on-press greatly improves production and limits downtime. Well-adjusted color, managed in prepress, saves printers substantial amounts of time, money and frustration.
Imageworx offers the latest in ICC proofing software, spectrophotometry tools, and printers from GMG Color, XRite, and Epson to ensure the highest level of color accuracy for flexo process colors. Starting with color space characterization from the press, Imageworx is able to fully simulate printed color by carefully developing a color space replica in their GMG system to operate with their Epson SureColor printers. Imageworx also offers solvent wash plates commercially available from Miraclon, MacDermid, and DuPont.
“Imageworx has developed a quick and reliable method of press profiling that allows us to simulate flexo process colors ahead of producing plates,” explains Toepfer. “In the past year, we have completely upgraded our color management process, including new software, hardware, and personnel to assist with the growing expectations from customers for print color accuracy.”