Platt says that GMF has also developed several important process software innovations of its own through its sister company Final Print Assurance Inc., citing the interactive, web-accessed Final Print Assurance software package for generating online client press approvals.
Boasting various online inspection tools, trend reporting and color management capabilities which can identify and pinpoint out-of-spec press runs, “The interactive software also promotes consistent print for repeat runs,” adds Platt. “The end result for the CPC is a package print on the store-shelf that looks exactly the same run after run.”
As for its platemaking equipment, the GMF is a strong believer in the virtues of the recently-installed Kodak Trendsetter platesetting machine and the Kodak NX digital flexographic system, using Flexcel photopolymer plates, manufactured by Kodak Graphic Communications Group (GCG) and distributed in Canada through PaperlinX Canada Limited.
“We really believe that the Kodak NX technology has the potential to bring flexo print quality to a level that is on par with offset lithography and rotogravure.
“It has tremendous application possibilities in the narrow-web market, flexible packaging market and the folding carton market: all the markets that we have tested to date, with excellent results.”
Recently awarded the 2008 FPPA (Flexographic Pre-Press Platemakers Association) Technology Innovator of the Year award, the Kodak Flexcel NX digital flexographic system boasts a revolutionary new method to make flexo printing plates that deliver consistently high-quality prints on a wide variety of substrates, including paper, flexible film, foil, label stock and corrugated board.
The breakthrough digital flexographic system includes the Flexcel NX 830 thermal imaging layer, laminator, imager, flexographic plates, Squarespot imaging technology, and the Prinergy Workflow System For Packaging software suite.
“The secret is within the dots created on the plate,” enthuses Platt. “By using Kodak Squarespot imaging technology, dots as small as 10 microns are imaged onto the Kodak Flexcel NX thermal imaging layer.
“The results we’ve been able to achieve are stunning, with consistent, predictable printing that even reproduces all subtle gradations and subtle plays of shadows and highlights.”
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