NDigitec installs XSYS Catena exposure technology

Namma Int’l Digitec, known as NDigitec, has installed the XSYS ThermoFlexX Catena-E system exposure unit to elevate its plate-making capabilities. By integrating this UV LED technology, NDigitec can now supply customers with high quality digital flexo plates and faster processing times while reducing plate waste and energy consumption. 

NDigitec is a family-run business founded in 2005 in Dubai (UAE). The prepress division of the company supplies complete services from file reparation to final processed flexo printing plate. 

Employing a total of 125 staff across two branches in Dubai, a facility in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and an office in Yerevan (Armenia), NDigitec also offers digital printing, e-commerce, creative media production, and fabrication of exhibition equipment. Some 500 customers in 25 countries avail themselves of the company’s competencies including dubaiprint.com web-to-print platform and flexoeasy.com, a digital platform to provide flexographic plate-making service. 

NDigitec Prepress provides some 55 percent of the annual 50,000sqm plate output to the flexible packaging industry, another 25 percent goes to the corrugated segment, while the remaining 20 percent is divided between folding cartons and labels. 

‘We were the first prepress company in the region to bring in LED exposure technology for making flexo plates with the Flint Group nyloflex NExT system back in 2016,’ said Shahe Kavlakian, executive manager for Prepress at NDigitec and brother of the company’s CEO Vatche Kavlakian, who as a pioneer of integrated prepress and printing services, laid the roots for the business in the early 1990s. 

‘Now we are once again taking the lead as the first to install the XSYS ThermoFlexX Catena-E system; an investment we have made because we believe that this solution will best support us in responding to the many varied customer demands we are currently facing and to allow us to continue our global expansion.’   

The ThermoFlexX Catena-E 80 is an open system that can process plates in sizes up to 1270x2032mm (50 x 80in) and all thicknesses for any type of flexo printing. The unit can also be combined with a ThermoFlexX imager and Catena washer, dryer, and light finisher units for a full end-to-end plate production line, an option that NDigitec is closely evaluating as part of its future strategy. While the Catena-E 80 has been installed in Dubai, there are more immediate plans to upgrade the company’s exposure hardware across the other sites.  

‘The effect of the new Catena unit has been very noticeable,’ said Shahe Kavlakian. ‘We are looking for standardization, durability, efficiency, and stability in plate production; these aspects are key to maintaining productivity and quality. Particularly in flexible packaging, consistent solid ink density with perfect highlights is a challenge, but with the Catena system and our own micro surface screening, we can deliver results that are much better than with other LED solutions.’  

Among the other immediate benefits enjoyed in Dubai was a reduction in waste compared to the existing system.  

‘The Catena-E is definitely helping to improve the sustainability of our plate-making operation because we can combine different jobs on the same plate. By our latest estimations, plate waste has gone down from around 26 percent to 16 percent, and we know that with the latest LEDs in the machine, energy consumption will also be less. So, from an environmental point of view, as well as in terms of costs, this is a great improvement.’   

With the near plug’n’play nature of the Catena system meant that the unit was in full production at NDigitec within a week.  

‘The Catena is very easy to operate with straightforward instructions and options, so training was pretty quick. It also comes with remote capabilities which means that calibration and regular maintenance checks can be done without having anyone coming on-site. This is of course a fantastic feature as we can avoid unwanted downtime because we don’t have to wait for an engineer to attend in person,’ Shahe Kavlakian said. 

NDigitec has opened a new 50,000sqm factory in Dubai Production City in 2020. Another 3,000sqm facility operates as an incubator for joint venture projects aimed at advancing innovation in flexo print production, complemented by more investment in imaging, processing, and screening technologies.