“Great strides have been made over recent years in the quality that can be achieved in the flexo process, with major advances taking place in the areas of pre-press, platemaking and printing,” said Christophe Lievens, director sales and marketing for basysPrint and ThermoFlexX, “but there are still quality hurdles that have to be jumped.
“ThermoFlexX has been working to create a complete high-quality packaging workflow and this has involved the formation of strategic partnerships with several other leading players. Our recent collaboration with Global Graphics, combining their extensive knowledge of commercial print with our many years of experience in packaging, is already proving extremely fruitful.
“Global Graphics has set the industry standard for years with its PDF native Harlequin RIP and its leading position in RIP technology, screening and colour management, made it the obvious partner for ThermoFlexX, which is now pioneering digital imaging for the flexo market.
“The new hybrid screens are based on Harlequin cross modulated screens, and utilise a combination of FM screening to handle highlights and AM screening to handle shadow and mid-tones in a unique way.”
They can be used with the new Harlequin MultiRIP (v10) and are able to take full advantage of the 5,080 dpi resolution available on ThermoFlexX imagers, which is the highest resolution on the market. This enables the creation of the most effectively shaped minimum dots and these remain stable throughout platemaking and printing.
The ability to produce such small, consistent dots reduces significantly the risk of a ‘grainy effect’ on the final printed product. This latest development enables the best print quality comparable to offset, but with the lower production costs associated with flexo.
Source: ThermoFlexX and Global Graphics
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