Learn how to select the right Anilox for each print application, read the full article published in labels and Labelling issue 6 here.
Cheshire Anilox featured in the Front Cover of FlexoTech Magazine
Read the inside story “World beats a path to Cheshire for Anilox Service Excellence”
Cheshire Anilox Rollers are Now Available in Australia
Cheshire Anilox is featured in label Plus magazine in Australia, read the whole article here.
How To stop UV spitting
Learn how to sucessfully eliminate UV spitting from your operation in this technical article published in the latest issue of Labels and Labelling magazine issue 4
EFIA Gold Award for Technical Innovation
A happy marriage: breaking the boundaries of cold foil
(taken from the January 2015 issue of FlexoTech magazine)
A recent collaboration between a number of key suppliers has seen a new approach to showcasing the possibilities of cold foiling. Neel Madsen met the team of companies involved in the project to hear why they think collaborations is the way forward for the flexo industry.
With recent developments in substrates, colour management, platemaking and press technology, creating high quality metallics is no longer complicated and costly. In fact, these can be flexo printed with just the four process inks on a specialised film combined with a new high speed over-printable foil.
New concept
But how do you best communicate the capabilities and advantages of cold foil? When Innovia Films launched a new range of facestock films in 2014 developed to be more receptive to foil and print, the company was keen to reach the end users. David Carruthers, technical services and development specialist, got talking with Richard Fowler, technical support specialist for API Foils, who was in the process of introducing a new cold foil to the market and they began to develop the idea for a new concept.
Carruthers and Fowler approached Phil Baldwin at Mark Andy and soon a whole team of suppliers was sitting round the table brainstorming ideas for showing the world the beauty of cold foil technology. Members also included JFM Plates, Reprobrand, Cheshire Anilox Technology, GMG Color and Color-Logic.
The result of this unique collaboration was a swatch book displaying a combination of promotional prints and labels, with each page offering something different to push the boundaries of cold foil and inspire customers. The images were created using a single silver foil, over-printed to create a spectrum of metallic colours. From initial concept to design took four weeks with another two for production, making the swatch book ready in time for presenting it to visitors at Labelexpo in Chicago, where it literally flew off the shelves.
Mr Carruthers said, ‘We have been developing this project for a while now with a number of key industry partners and we are extremely pleased with the results. Combining our new Rayoface, Ultrafoil and Plus films with the new TA cold foil from API has produced sharp and distinct high definition images which highlight the true potential of UV flexo print.’
Collaboration success
The swatch book was printed on a Performance Series P5 press at Mark Andy’s demo centre in Macclesfield. Phil Baldwin, Mark Andy aftermarket manager for Europe, said, ‘We were working to a very tight time frame to produce these samples for the book, but the ease of operation of the P5 meant that this was easily achievable.’ He continued, ‘Mark Andy is always leading the way with new technology so it was a pleasure to work on this project alongside other market leaders. By establishing these relationships with co-suppliers, it enables us to remain current with industry trends and allows us to offer converters more information on how to optimise their business and forge new markets.’
Jim Davies from pre-press partner Reprobrand commented, ‘You never know how successful projects like these will be when you first start out, but the sample books are disappearing as quickly as we can produce them.’
Sonia Arcos, sales director at Cheshire which provided the anilox rollers, agreed and added, ‘When we were asked by Phil Baldwin to participate in this project, we got very excited about the prospect of using our latest technology. Cold foil is always a challenging application and often printers seek our advice. It was a great opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of our MaxFlo UV technology, a high release engraving designed for cold foil applications involving both large and fine detail work. The different and intricate designs in the swatch booklet certainly put MaxFlo UV to the test proving its effectiveness and versatility.’
For JFM Plates, the collaboration was a chance to demonstrate its expertise and the combined benefits of the investments it has made in Esko technologies. Mark McKee, general manager, said, ‘Full HD Flexo was perfect for this project and we were able to achieve stunning results. Everyone is trying to cut costs but still deliver standout shelf appeal and love having a readymade solution presented. This is what we are providing here.’
Mr Fowler said, ‘Many designers do not realise that recent advances in film and cold foil technology have really expanded what is possible. It is time for brand managers to get hold of this technology to add extra depth and quality to their packaging. We wanted to create something different to show what can be achieved, not just the standard sample labels and that is how this booklet came about.’
‘People simply don’t have the time to do the research, learn new skills or try new techniques. We have done the R&D work for them and can show them exactly what can be achieved,’ explained Mr Baldwin.
‘It is all about breaking down the barriers in flexo and finding the time to do that little bit extra for the customer. And our project doesn’t stop here. We are already planning our next move,’ concluded Mr McKee.
How To Achieve High Opacity Whites In Flexo
Do you want to match the opacity of rotary screen whites? Please find out more on the technical article published on the latest edition of Narrow WebTech 2-2014 magazine.
Cheshire Anilox Participates in BPIF Anilox Training Seminar
Cheshire Anilox Technology shared its latest innovations in Anilox technology for the labels and packaging market at the BPIF seminar conducted in Mark Andy’s Macclesfield showroom.
Under the headline “Care and maintenance of Anilox rolls’ industry leaders including Cheshire Anilox Technology, Mark Andy, Troyka, P.P.P. Digital Imaging and Alphasonics made presentations on a series of topics prior to practical demonstrations on printing, Anilox cleaning and inspection. Paul Smith, Cheshire Anilox Tech. Managing Director started the Seminar with a comprehensive presentation on the importance of the Anilox in the flexographic printing and how selecting the right Anilox specification, regular maintenance and Anilox engraving design can make a huge difference in the print quality achieved.
The event was attended by production supervisors, print operators, and pre-press technicians who shared their views on the significance of the Anilox in their specific print applications.
Paul Smith Cheshire Anilox Managing Director, said “Cheshire recognize the importance of educating operators on fundamental aspects of the Anilox roll that aide in keeping print consistency and minimizing production downtime. Events like this are excellent for promoting good cleaning and maintenance practices as well as making printers aware of the costly effects poorly maintained Anilox can cause”
John Bambery, Chairman of the British Printing Industries Federation Labels commented on the positive feedback received by the attendees who “came away full of praise for the way in which the training day had been planned, and for the knowledge that they have gained”
About BPIF Labels
BPIF labels is the special interest group of the British Printing Industries Federation. This special interest group serves the needs of the self-adhesive label printing sector. It organises regular networking events and represents the interests of the label printing sector to the UK government and, through its relationship with FINAT, to the EU parliament in Brussels. For more information visit http://www.bpiflabels.org.uk/
Cheshire Anilox Technology’s Record Success at Label Expo Europe 2013
More label converters turned to Cheshire’s innovative technologies at this year’s Label Expo Europe to help them improve print quality and discover new ways to transform their business. Sonia Arcos, Technical Sales Director for Cheshire Anilox Technology, said, “Label Expo Europe was the first public showing of our new engraving the maxfloUV which has attracted a huge interest because of its print versatility and innovative way of resolving the long standing problem of UV spitting”
“Visitor numbers to our stand far surpassed Label Expo 2011 and the number of new contacts made and sales orders placed have increased beyond expectations.” She added.
“It was a success in terms of interest and now there’s a lot of follow-up work to do, but that’s what shows are about – what you do after Label Expo is just as important as what you do in the build-up.”
Many label printers from all across the world visited Cheshire Anilox stand to learn more about its highly innovative engravings for challenging flexo applications such as opaque whites, hd printing and combination print and how Cheshire is working with printers to manage the trends that are changing the way ‘print’ will be purchased and used in the future.
Some of the products that proved popular with visitors were the MaxfloUV Anilox, shown in Europe for the first time, the easyflo hd for mimicking screen printed opaque whites and the proflo Anilox for full HD printing.
Paul Smith Managing Director of Cheshire Anilox Technology, added “we were overwhelmed by the number of visitors and subsequent enquiries received. We met with key potential customers and remain encouraged that we will achieve an increase on sales from our attendance in the show”
New “break-through” engraving for UV printing at Label Expo
Cheshire Anilox Technology to show new “break-through” engraving for UV printing at Label Expo
Cheshire Anilox Technology Ltd. has announced the launch of what it claims is a ‘ground-breaking’ new engraving, MaxfloUV, that maximizes the ink flow within the cells offering higher ink transfer at high speeds.
The new engraving is particularly suited to be used with the latest generation of high strength UV inks offering outstanding levels of colour density and a more even, consistent lay down without the problem of over inking and spitting sometimes encountered when using conventional engravings.
“Until now, highly pigmented UV inks would cause spitting when printing at high speeds” explains Sonia Arcos Sales Director of Cheshire Anilox Technology. “Following requests from our customers Cheshire Anilox specifically developed this new engraving to overcome this problem”
This unique cell profile incorporates all the benefits of its predecessor the maxflo but with an enhanced design enabling the ink to flow freely from cell to cell. As press speeds increase, the ability to consistently and effectively fill the cells on the Anilox with ink in order to deliver a uniform ink film thickness to the plate becomes more challenging. The cell depth-to-opening ratio is of critical importance. Deeper cells may mean greater volume. However, if the surface tension of the printing plate is too low to pull the particles of ink from the cell, then transfer will be very poor. By widening the bottom of the cell we have improved the ink transfer. By linking the cells we have eased the ink flow which causes UV spitting or spray that happens when a build-up of ink stay behind the doctor blade causing vibrations that will result in spitting.
The new engraving has undergone extensive field tests with Cheshire Anilox Technology customers and has been ‘engineered to perfection’. Samples printed with maxflo uv will be displayed at Label Expo.
Cheshire Anilox Technology will also present a wide range of innovative engraving technologies to suit the most challenging applications in flexo:
Proflo An engraving specifically developed for HD printing. It provides an increased ink transfer while also eliminating the chance of uncontrolled dot gain at ultra-fine line counts (+600L/cm). This now allows flexo printers to work with the expanded tone range of offset and rotogravure printing techniques.
EasyFlo HD for high opacity whites, achieves opacity levels of screen printing at faster speeds in one single pass.