Flint Group bets big on low migration UV LED

In that sense, Flint Group’s low migration UV curable inks launched in 2011 and LED systems launched in 2013 indicate its innovation readiness to leverage the trend, added Kolliopoulos.

Putting these building blocks of low migration and LED together, Flint introduced low migration UV LED products just a year ago at Labelexpo Americas, and as Kolliopoulos informed these product lines have been growing at more than 40%.

New products in this portfolio include EkoCure Ankora is the combined technology of LED and low migration. In this range, completing the portfolio, Flint has introduced shrink white, a combination of screen white and a varnish.

Talking about Flint’s investment strategy, Guillaume Clement, vice president, Flint Group Narrow Web announced a new flexo press in US global innovation centre, a low migration testing facility in Sweden, new service centre in South Korea, and capacity investment at the Swedish mother plant. The first low migration UV LED inks are expected to be commercially available in 2018, said Clement.

Flint has also announced a new remote colour management system called Vivo Colour based in Poland that boasts of 40 dedicated colourists and seven narrow web specialists. According to Clement, the idea is to help converters achieve the right colour efficiently and cut down the downtime by up to 2.5 hours a day. Vivo will be rolled out in Europe in 2018 with rest of the world to follow, informed Clement.

Flint Group also announced Nyloflex Xpress thermal processing system and a new water-washable Nyloprint WF Sharp digital plate for letterpress applications. In the Thermoflexx portfolio, Flint introduced the FlexTray hands free plate handling system for the flexo CTP imager, as well a second generation Woodpecker automation package.