Apex and Hamillroad form strategic partnership to bring Bellissima DMS to market

This has resulted in the formation of Aniken Graphics International, a joint venture created to bring Hamillroad’s Bellissima digitally modulated screening (DMS) technology ‘into the flexographic mainstream’. Nick Harvey has been named as managing director of the joint venture. As a further result of the partnership, Apex International has been granted distribution rights to Bellissima worldwide following its launch at Labelexpo Europe 2017.

‘Distribution has always been part of our long-term strategy,’ commented Doug Jones, vice president of marketing at Apex International. ‘For us, it is not just about selling anilox rolls and sleeves. It’s about delivering a total solution from wet-end to pre-press side to the printers we serve. So, when we have the privilege to align with like-minded companies like Hamillroad and we have the opportunity to deliver even greater value to our customers, we’re excited to be able to do that.’

Andy Cave, CEO of Hamillroad, the original creator and chief designer of the Harlequin RIP and founding member of Harlequin Ltd, now Global Graphics Software, said: ‘We are extremely excited about our partnership with Apex. Its global sales network and marketing are well-established strengths at Apex and combining Bellissima with the standardization and consistency of its GTT anilox technology has produced considerable benefits for our mutual customers. For those reasons Apex was the natural choice for a distribution partner.’

Bellissima DMS is a screening option for flexo printing featuring patented technology that is fully optimized to work at 4,000 DPI on industry standard equipment. Hamillroad claimed this allows printers to achieve a high level of detail and quality of print normally associated with gravure and offset, typically 300-450 lpi.

Cave described Bellissima as ‘transformative technology’, and said: ‘We’ve eliminated moiré, the highlight dots are down to one percent and the shadow dots are up to 99.5 percent, meaning beautifully smooth vignettes that fade to zero are a reality.

‘A printer can breathe new life into their existing printing press using Bellissima; we significantly reduce common machine issues including bounce, barring and slur – features which are all patented in Bellissima. The benefits don’t stop there. Bellissima is helping printers save between 5-10 percent on ink, reduce make-ready times, and creates a solid foundation for the implementation of fixed palette printing.’

Read L&L's comprehensive Labelexpo Europe 2017 preview in issue 4, and here