Halle Westphalia. 2nd May 2008. German pre-press service provider Flexicon AG, catering for the international branded goods industry in 30 countries, is expanding further: The company, so far renowned for its high-end master copies for foils, is now setting new standards in the processing of corrugated card-board.

Due to the persistent success of discount retailers, the outer packaging gains in importance for the producers. Where hardly anything is unpacked and put onto shelves, a few product packages on top offer too little facing. "This holds true not exclusively, but mainly for the big brands, who capitalize on the consumers' trust only through a maximum signal effect at the point of sale", says Flexicon CEO Gabriele Kison.

Where cartons on pallets replace a conventional product presentation on the shelf, the outer packaging has to partially adopt the consumer packaging's lock job. "The days of potato print on cardboard are numbered", says Oliver Göde, product manager of Flexicon's new corrugated cardboard unit. Today, demands made on the outer pack-aging's design and colouring are as high as those on con-sumer packaging – and rightly so.

Realizing these facts, three challenges for the pre-press arise: Thicker printing plates mean higher gain, bigger gaugepin tolerances and punch variations require intelligent trappings and the restricted number of inking units demands an innovative colour management.

Since 2005, Flexicon AG has been establishing a corrugated cardboard unit which runs as a major thread throughout the whole company from artwork through col-our separation to proofing. Flexicon has utilised their own rastering systems and uses innovative colour management processes to considerably improve printing results on machines with few inking units. In addition, Flexicon developed proofs with substrate simulation. In the German headquarters, a number of specialists in plate production are exclusively working on the digitally controlled high-precision montage. An inhouse delivery service en-sures the fast supply of corrugated cardboard processors in a 200 km radius.

Flexicon's corrugated cardboard experts are currently collaborating in the development of a new thin plate technology for direct printing. Initial tests with a new compressible substructure delivered outstanding printing re-sults combined with a straightforward handling.