MILAN, ITALY | Flexo4all Partners will demonstrate its flexographic expertise at Drupa 2008 with print samples and production workflows. The company reports that according to independent market reports, flexo is unarguably the most important packaging printing process in Europe and in the Americas and its market share in the rest of the world is continuously growing.
   Flexo has gained this significant position mainly due to its versatility,continuous quality improvement and, last but not least, its value-for-money when compared to alternative package printing processes, according to the company.
   “The level of competition between flexo and other processes is still high”, says Pier Luigi Sassanelli,
Marketing Manager EMEA at DuPont Packaging Graphics. “And that level of antagonism stimulates
innovation. Flexo is moving fast and builds the next innovation over another creating a form of natural
selection. Each new generation restarts the competition from a higher standard of competence than the prior generation.
   “The two processes are getting closer and closer both in terms of quality and repeatability,” continues Sassanelli. “Flexo is often known as less sophisticated, but that is an ‘old-fashion’ statement. In fact, flexo has improved dramatically over the years and now offers considerable technical and economical advantages for most print jobs”.
  Due to the proliferation of new products, brand owners and packaging buyers often ask for shorter print runs, and converters are faced with additional economical challenges. This new trend is finding flexo more adaptable, particularly when coupled with mid and narrow-web presses, Flexo4all Partners reports.
   “At Siegwerk, we are working closely with all Flexo4all partners, and at Drupa we will present a lot of print samples that will demonstrate state-of-the art Flexography.” says Dr. Klaus Heger, Vice President Technology Flexible Packaging at Siegwerk Druckfarben. “At the show we will present new flexo printing inks with improved printing behaviour which stand-out even more with high press speeds.”
   One application besides flexible packaging where flexo outperforms any competition with other printing technologies is corrugated boards post-print, the company suggests.
   “Flexography will continue to be improved with more and more sophisticated electronic devices in order to help operators and insure quality and productivity,” confirms Daniel Tatti. Process/Demo/Expo/Mgr at
Bobst, one of the Flexo4all partners. “Post-print remains split in two main processes: on-line printing and diecutting and off-line printing. The on-line process allows easy printing, quality and accurate register print to cut, all at high speed. Off-line printing grants high consistent print quality similar to litho quality.”