Innopacking claims Europe first with HD Flexo for flexible packaging

- Innopacking offers flexo printing quality comparable to offset and gravure, as well as printing with ecologically friendly water-based inks onto food packaging

 

- HD Flexo Certified seal only offered to those that pass Esko's strenuous HD Flexo certification tests

 

Swiss firm Innopacking AG has become the first company in Europe to obtain the HD Flexo certification for printing flexible packaging with water-based inks.

 

EskoArtwork’s HD Flexo is a process for making digital flexographic plates. The plates offer a higher quality and print more consistently than standard digital flexo plates, Esko said. HD Flexo may be implemented without scrapping existing equipment and working methods.

 

HD Flexo combines 4000-dpi high-definition optics with unique printing screening technologies to achieve sharper and more accurate imaging.

 

In addition, high-resolution imaging on the CDI creates a textured surface on the plate, improving ink lay-down and increasing ink density on the final print.

 

The HD Flexo Certified seal is only offered to those companies that have passed EskoArtwork's strenuous HD Flexo certification tests, which includes its HD Flexo competence center in Itzehoe, Germany testing and validating submitted print samples before certifying HD Flexo users.

 

A list of certified HD Flexo users and partners can be found here.

 

Certification is the beginning of a new era for Innopacking to expand its position among the producers of food packaging on paper and film.

 

With HD Flexo, Innopacking is not only moving towards a printing quality comparable to offset and gravure, but is now able to print with ecologically friendly water-based inks onto food packaging with much lower ink migration.

 

To enhance and standardize the pre-press workflow, Innopacking has a series of Esko solutions installed: a CDI Spark, HD Flexo and Automation Engine for workflow automation; WebCenter for online collaboration; ArtiosCAD for structural design; the Digital Flexo Suite for automated flexo plate optimization; and a Kongsberg finishing table for cutting flexo plates.

 

Stefan Rohr, chief executive officer of Innopacking, said: ‘Our decision to implement Esko's HD Flexo technology is strategically motivated: we want to compete with the high volume gravure printers, especially in regards to quality.

 

‘Now we can produce gravure and offset print jobs very cost effectively in flexo printing using low-migration inks.’

 

Read more on EskoArtwork here

Read more on plates and platemaking here

Read more on workflow technology here