Stable Flexo Plate Imagers For Sleeves Production

Miller Graphics Roeselare, dedicated to pre-press for the packaging market and a supplier of grooved rubber rollers and flexo polymers, serves mainly two kinds of customers.

Miller Graphics Roeselare, dedicated to pre-press for the packaging market and a supplier of grooved rubber rollers and flexo polymers, serves mainly two kinds of customers.

They are brand owners and printers, to whom it offers a range of design and pre-press services for different printing substrates, ranging from cartons to corrugated board, flexible foils and labels.

The company deploys the full range of equipment needed to fulfil its role, including design and pre-press hardware and software, and a range of proofing devices.

And, according to Esko, for more than a decade, it has played a pivotal role in Miller Graphics' operations.

Like many others, Miller Graphics' market is characterised by ever increasing price pressure and quality requirements.

A parallel improvement of quality, reliability and productivity is, therefore, the main driving force behind most investment decisions.

Stefaan Herman, technical director at Miller Graphics Roeselare, said: "Esko has been the undisputed market and technology leader in flexo plate imagers for a decade.

Its products and technologies, such as the unique Cyrel Digital Imagers (CDI), fully deliver on their promises.

The CDI's imaging quality and stability is, indeed, superior to its competitors, just as is its speed.

As these address our main concerns, it is easy to understand why we are happy with our Esko equipment." He added: "We also use the platesetter frequently for sleeves production.

We believe in the many advantages photopolymer seamless sleeves offer to our customers, such as quicker and easier change-over, faster printing speed and less wear.

Miller Graphics is fully equipped for the production of polymeric seamless sleeves.

It was one of the many reasons we chose Esko." The CDI's sleeve option is claimed to allow an easy and ergonomic change-over from plate to sleeve, whilst Esko said that CDI Advance Optics 80 doubles throughput speed.

Miller Graphics Roeselare decided early this year to upgrade its equipment to CDI Advance Optics 80.

Optics 80, an enhanced version of the CDI's optical technology, is said to be capable of imaging eight square meters of plate per hour.

Optics 80 also offers variable resolution imaging.

The increase in productivity is partly due to improvements in optical technology.

With a long-lasting fibre laser source with good focal depth, and splitting the beam with an acousto-optic modulator, Esko is able to continually enhance the system to increase speeds.

By imaging a full format 50" x 80" plate in 19 minutes, the CDI Advance 80 can match the fastest plate processing equipment available in the industry, added Esko.

The improved Grapholas software and Flexrip also contribute to improving productivity and ease of use.

Herman explained: "We conducted an in-depth assessment before deciding, and Esko clearly came up on top.

The fact that this equipment was also used in other branches of the Miller Graphics group was an additional argument.

Esko promised a doubling of throughput speed compared to our previous equipment.

It is heartening to discover that this promise has been fully kept, as the speed of our imager is a critical factor in our production process.

It helps eliminate bottlenecks throughout our facility.

Installation went smoothly and re-training requirements were minimal." Esko and Miller Graphics go back a long time.

Not only did the pre-press specialist invest in CDI equipment, it also relies on Esko's Scope packaging software.

Herman follows Esko's development plans very closely and he commented: "We are aware of at least two major developments of Esko that strongly interest us.

The automation of plate loading could help us achieve even higher productivity.

And the in-line UV Main exposure unit is of major importance to us, as it can reduce the risk of damaging plates during transportation, whilst at the same time enhancing overall productivity and quality.

These developments demonstrate that Esko continues to focus on products that offer significant added value to their customers." Jan Buchweitz, Esko's product manager for flexo imagers, said: "CDI Optics 80 offers the highest productivity in the market and is faster than any other current technology.

Esko's Superskip technology, built in to the CDI's Grapholas control software, increases imaging productivity by 'skipping' areas on plates or sleeves that do not contain any information to be imaged.

Because the area is literally skipped over, the time necessary to image a plate can be reduced even further.

Although savings of 50 per cent of imaging time is common, Esko has found some files can save as much as 90 per cent of imaging time.

This is an important feature, especially for sleeve production.".

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