Page 18 - Packaging News July - August 2019

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PACK & LABEL PRINTING www.packagingnews.com.au
July-August 2019
ESKO SIMPLIFIES FLEXO PLATEMAKING
ONE of the highlights of the Esko Open House was the CDI Crystal 4835 flexo platemaker and Print Control Wizard – which the company says takes its Flexo Simplified offer to a new level, and which Esko director of prepress and platemaking Pascal Thomas told attendees delivers consistency, quality and simplicity.
Flexo platemaking, in most cases today, is a process with many manual steps that require highly skilled operators to produce the right plate for the right job. CDI Crystal 4835 is the first and only automated flexo platemaking line in the industry, streamlining the entire process and improving the productivity of platemaking. It also ensures quality and consistency throughout, and simplifies flexo platemaking considerably.
The CDI Crystal 4835 supports the 48x35 inch plate size that is popular with flexo converters and provides the same benefits as the CDI Crystal 5080. The CDI Crystal features automatic plate loading and unloading and is easy to use. Users report significant benefits in both time and quality. Operators need minimal training and spend 50 per cent less time at the device. In addition, plate waste and plate inconsistencies resulting from manual plate handling are completely eliminated.
The innovative XPS Crystal exposure unit reduces the manual steps from nine to just one, and delivers plates of higher quality and consistency thanks to the patented digitally controlled simultaneous UV light main and back exposure. Using the CDI Crystal in combination with the Crystal XPS frees up operators from mundane and repetitive tasks. It also means that there is only a single system to monitor. Its LED system lasts for ten times longer than the previous version.
The new Print Control Wizard software comes as Esko has worked its decades of expertise into an easy-to-use wizard that takes the complexity out of flexo platemaking.
The application goes beyond excellent screening and outputs the right plate fit for purpose based on a range of print run parameters. The plates produced through Print Control Wizard deliver superior print quality; they use a screen and dot gain curves that take into consideration the press, substrates, inks, anilox, and other print run parameters.
According to Esko, the most significant barrier to true efficiency – and true creativity – is lack of connection.”
ware (and hardcore back-end auto- mation), 3D renders of design files can be opened by clients anywhere they like – be that on a client’s desk- top PC, or their consumer mobile de- vice from high-end iPad to low-end Android. Even Apple has purchased a few seats to execute its inimitable box design.
Stakeholders can not only open the files but also annotate them, rotating and zooming the render and leaving comments on sections they do (or don’t) like. Its usefulness in the workflow that leads from creative studio to supermarket shelf is self-evident. Esko estimates that the time saved on getting a client’s approval (any studio’s most arduous task) is three-fold.
When we’re talking 3D, we’re not just talking plain tetrahedrons, either. Esko’s Studio software enables users to accurately visual- ise folds and corrugations, bends and warps, which ultimately allows them to figure out whether the packaging art actually works or not. As Chris Barry pithily noted, “Packaging’s not flat. So why work with a render that is?”
And, it’s not just complicated shapes that Esko Studio can simulate, but complex textures too: users can test different substrates, inks, varnishes, foils, and holo- grams, while the patented print modelling accurately predicts how the packaging will look.
If all those smarts sound challenging to master, not so: while 3D software is inherently complex, Esko has engineered a straightfor- ward graphical user interface that they reckon will allow anyone to design in 3D. If you know Illustrator, you know Studio.
Meanwhile, there is a raft of auto- mated improvements across almost every aspect of the packaging work- flow, from extended colour gamut technology that increases press up- time by 13 hours over just four days; automatic job report cards that save up to 20 minutes per job; and a fully-integrated channel between flexo software and hardware.
While the company’s focus has been automation for the last few years, its next port of call is Art- Pro+, its design and pre-press suite that is coming to the end of its life. At present, 30 engineers are work- ing full-time on developing its re- placement – and we are fascinated to see what they come up with. ■
Esko’s Automation Engine software is suitable for a range of packaging applications.