Sigma has been recognized for the exceptional quality they can deliver using Asahi Photoproducts AWP™ water-washable flexographic printing plates

Tokyo, Japan & Brussels, Belgium–Asahi Photoproducts, a pioneer in flexographic photopolymer plate development, is pleased to report that its customer Sigma Middle East Label Industries, based in the United Arab Emirates, was recognized with two prestigious Gold awards in the PRIME competition sponsored by Packaging MEA Magazine.

Sigma Labels was recognized as:

• Prime award Gold winner – Best in class packaging printer of the year – Flexible – Flexo.
• Prime award Gold winner – Best in class packaging printer of the year – Labels – Flexo.

“We are deeply honored by these awards,” Jagannath Wagle, Sigma’s owner. “We are also proud of the fact that this award-winning job was produced from completely new artwork for a new Sigma customer. It was printed on shrink sleeve, and that represented the first time we had printed on this material on our production floor! That’s a great testimonial to our talented staff and to the support of important partners like Asahi Photoproducts and Industrial Tools & Media (iTM), Asahi’s distributor since many years in the UAE region.”

Sigma reports that setup time for this job was less than 30 minutes, and they continued printing non-stop until they had used all of the shrink sleeve material available in their warehouse. “We were so happy with the outcome,” Wagle says, “that we decided to submit the sample to the award competition.”

In producing this outstanding project, Sigma used Asahi Photoproducts AWP™-DEW water-washable CleanPrint plates, produced without use of any VOC-based washout chemicals and in harmony with the environment. Due to their precise registration and ability to transfer all ink to the substrate, these plates enabled fast run up to color on press and for this project, required no press stops due to plate cleaning. Not only did this help Sigma produce the job quickly and profitably, but it also minimized the amount of waste, further keeping costs in line.

“Sigma has been a good partner for us,” says Andrea Belloli, Italian Branch manager of Asahi Photoproducts. “We are very pleased that our solutions helped them to win these prestigious awards and that they could quickly speed up their job changeover time using AWP™. We look forward to continuing to work together into the future, and foresee the possibility of many more awards to come!”

For more information about other flexographic solutions from Asahi Photoproducts that are in harmony with the environment, visit www.asahi-photoproducts.com.