Israeli repro house installs Kodak Flexcel NX system

Barak Polymers, a repro house in Israel, has invested in a Kodak Flexcel NX digital flexographic system. The 30-people strong company was established 10 years ago, specializing in the production of flexographic, dry and standard offset plates. Sixty percent of Barak Polymers’ work comes from packaging for the food market. The company also operates in the label, carton and textile markets.  

Barak Polymers initially purchased a Kodak Thermoflex Mid II 1000/1200 mm Platesetter in 2008 to improve plate quality and throughput. In 2009, the company signed a try-and-buy agreement for the Flexcel NX digital flexographic system. Since using the new system, Barak Polymers reports ‘a dramatic improvement’ in both productivity and the quality achieved from flexographic plates for its customers.   

Shuki Chukrun, CEO of Barak Polymers, said: ‘The maximum line screen we could get before was 100 lpi; with the Kodak Flexcel NX system we can now achieve 150 lpi without any problem. This is an amazing improvement in quality which has already helped us switch several gravure jobs to flexographic. 

‘All of our customers, including pharmaceutical giant Teva, Rono Polidan, a major supplier of bags for the food market in Israel and Bagel Bagel, part of Unilever, have all been impressed with the quality the new flexographic system can produce.’ 

‘We already have a few commitments from printers that are willing to move to the NX technology. And we are also concentrating on showing the benefits of the flexographic process to other large customers, such as Shufersal, a large local retailer. I would like to commend Kodak on the extremely high quality of the NX results. It is indeed a revolution in the flexographic industry.’ 

The company is forecasting a 20-30 percent increase in revenue and hopes to increase its share of the label market.  

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