Mark Andy, Global Graphics Software partner on digital front end

Mark Andy has partnered with Global Graphics Software in the launch of its latest Digital Series HD press at Labelexpo Americas.

The Mark Andy stand at Labelexpo Americas 2018

The Mark Andy Digital Series HD is a hybrid press used to manufacture pressure-sensitive labels, combining a digital workflow and printing with the capabilities of flexography including inline decoration and converting in a single pass.

ScreenPro is an ultra-high-speed screening engine that mitigates artifacts in inkjet output. It streams data and variable color images at high-speed and has reduced process and RIP times on the Digital Series HD by as much as 50 percent.

‘The ScreenPro technology built in partnership with Global Graphics is a key development to provide streaming full color VDP options to meet the print speed requirements of today’s next-generation UV Inkjet production presses,’ said Ray Dickinson, Mark Andy, vice president. ‘We were able to seamlessly integrate high-speed streaming variable data into the existing ProWORX digital front end.’

‘For a workflow to be viable, it has to be able to process and send full color, fully variable work at a rate that supports the press printing, nearly continuously, at high speed to produce hundreds of thousands of linear feet or meters weekly,’ said Peter Rathje, senior manager of digital press solutions for Mark Andy. ‘This was previously a challenge with the industry leading production speeds of Digital Series HD at 240ft/pm.

ScreenPro supports full color variable printing on the Digital Series HD. There is no limit to the number of VDP elements on one imposition meaning every page is different. It maximizes image print quality for high-speed production inkjet printing, with no loss in performance even with additional print bars to support extended gamut colors.

‘The benefits that Mark Andy are experiencing are precisely why we developed this technology for inkjet press manufacturers”, comments Tom Mooney, Global Graphics’ product manager for ScreenPro. ‘Supporting full VDP at press speed and scalable from 5 colors to 8 without loss of quality is what the customer has demanded. ScreenPro will meet their speed and quality requirements now and into the future.’

ScreenPro is a recipient of a 2018 Printing Industries of America InterTech Technology Award. ScreenPro adds the final polish to output produced on inkjet presses by smoothing out imperfections caused by the physics of jetting ink onto substrate at high speed,  defects that are often difficult and expensive to correct mechanically. It can be applied to any inkjet technology and print industry workflow, and can be added to presses already on the market, or incorporated into an inkjet press that’s still on the drawing board.