Flint Group’s innovative exposure technology enables outstanding quality 

As a modern full-service partner for the packaging industry, Scholler Packaging offers customised solutions to brand owners as well as retailers and printers. Founded more than 40 years ago in Nuremberg (Germany), the company has been part of Matthews since 2002, a successful worldwide operating group. Initially focused on the production of rubber plates for flexible packaging and zinc matrices and magnesium etching, they offer a complete service package to the customers, from design via repro up to printing forms.

Scholler is not only a partner with regional and local printing houses and brand owners, but also acts as a global service provider in the areas of artwork, reproduction and data management. From their Nuremberg site with approximately 100 employees, they supply printing plates to printing houses across Europe. Moreover, Scholler highly benefits from the powerful alliance with the Matthews group: synergies in technology, production and purchasing can by fully exploited and utilised.

Additionally, optimal employee education is a great priority for Scholler. The company has taken apprenticeships for more than 20 years and has achieved an excellent qualification standard. Former trainees are in leading positions today, for example, as team leaders in key account management or in business administration. With more than 50% percent women, Scholler is exemplary in the printing industry. Tailor-made working time models, such as part-time, job sharing or tele-working jobs, are offered to the employees to better balance career and family. That’s one of the reasons why Scholler was named one of the German top employers in the medium-sized industry in the year 2012.

The cooperation between Scholler and Flint Group started about 25 years ago - at this time nyloprint^® printing plates for letterpress were delivered. Since 2003, the working relationship and the product portfolio have been continually expanded and developed very positively. By implementing a quarterly plates and production audit for external quality control, Flint Group made a major contribution to Scholler. Meanwhile, Flint Group is not only a main supplier; their equipment is also an inherent part of Scholler’s production process.

"In recent years, topics like HD, oxygen effect, flat top dots and micro structures etc. have been very intensively discussed in the market", states Ludwig Haas, Technical Director Scholler. "In the meantime, it’s a fact that with the available technologies, the so-called ‘oxygen effect’ shows several improvements to the printing process and thereby to the printing results too. However, one precondition for this is the appropriate adjustment in each press room". That’s why Scholler showed interest in the nyloflex^® NExT exposure at a very early stage. After a series of tests, they decided at the end of 2012 to install Flint Group Flexographic Products’ innovative exposure technology. One important aspect was the independence from other equipment or processes in the market intended to produce flat top dots.

The decision to invest into a nyloflex^® NExT exposure has proven to be the right choice for Scholler. "The unit has been very well integrated into our workflow; it operates perfectly. The exposure with LED bars allows a constant UV output, thus facilitating the reproduction of finest details. In particular beneficial is the cooled exposure bed, which enables a fast UVA exposure and as a consequence a superb plate quality in terms of dimension, stability and floor" summarises Ludwig Haas.

Since its market launch at the end of 2011, nyloflex^® NExT, the innovative technology for flat top dots and surface screening, has been established globally and offers a range of distinctive advantages to the user. Especially for flexible packaging, printing plates exposed with this technology enable excellent ink transfer, particularly in solids. In corrugated printing, a considerable reduction in fluting can be observed. nyloflex^® NExT technology provides significantly improved reproduction quality and long-term stability. The exposure technology is applicable for all digital flexographic printing plates, regardless of plate thickness and format and can be easily implemented into the existing digital workflow. In contrast to most of the competitive technologies, there is no need for additional consumables.