Labelexpo 2018: Digiflex invests in Esko CDI Spark 5080, ties up with MacDermid for plates

“Presently, we have the Kodak Flexcel NX line, and it’s well accepted,” said Muralidhar Nalli, managing director, Digiflex. “But there are clients who were looking for other options of plate technologies, and we were losing out on them. With the Kodak Flexcel NX systems, we can use only Kodak plates, and we do not want to be a one-kind-of-plate supplier of plates.”

For Esko, this deal was a culmination of a two-year interaction with Digiflex. “This partnership means, we are building new relations. In the last two years, we have been trying to understand Digiflex’s business and trying to see where we’d fit into that. This installation will be the culmination of that interaction, and we are glad to be part of Digiflex’s flexo platemaking journey,” said John Winderam, Southern Asia-Pacific general manager for Esko.

The CDI Spark 5080 offers automated plate loading and semi-automated unloading.  According to Winderam, it guarantees safe and simple loading of the plates sizes 50x80 inches in 0.030 to 0.255 inches thickness without operator intervention and can image on all digital photopolymer plates, ablative film or polyester-based letterpress plates.

Winderam, added, “Anybody who buys an Esko product, be it hardware or software, can be sure that their investment is protected as we offer a cost-effective upgrade path as our technology evolves.

For the plates, Digiflex will partner MacDermid and will use the Lux IPT Epic plates, which, Shyam Sunder, partner, Digiflex, said, “The main challenge for any flexo printing applications or ink requirements is the ink transferability on the substrate. We have seen samples of labels produced using MacDermid plates and they are excellent.

The key features of the plates are the unique micro-rough surface, a near 1:1 mask-to-plate reproduction. By using the bump curve, printers will be able to expand the available colour gamut and print even a small dot. “We hope to work with MacDermid, experiment and provide plates that will give the customer the print results as approved by their clients,” said Sunder.