The Future of Flexo
Many flexo printing experts believe that the trend towards digital will continue, much to the benefit of converters’ customers and end-use consumers.
“In the past, ‘flexo’ was synonymous with 3 percent minimum dot, hard break and heavy dot gain,” says Harkins of Anderson & Vreeland. “Now it’s possible to hold 0.5 percent dots when using hybrid screening technology, such as HD Flexo from Esko, which can smooth image breaks and improve print quality. This vastly promotes tonal range and the ability to reproduce fine images. In the future, the process will only become more automated and streamlined – leading to a full process that is increasingly digital.”
Stewart of Flint Group Flexographic Products believes that plate manufacturers will continue to respond to advancements in prepress software technology with the same urgency that they responded to changes over the last decade.
“For narrow web, where quality is already at a high level compared to other flexo markets, the future will lie in refining technology and pushing the envelope even further,” she says. “A world where 200-plus LPI and 1 percent printed dots are the status quo is not far away.”
According to Moore, the most significant change he’s seen in recent years is data files for many applications being stored on remote servers and shared throughout the enterprise.“In the future, prepress technology will be in the clouds – quite literally,” he says.
From Internet
16 April, 2012
