From left to right: Tatsunori Okada (Digital Direct Flexo Group Manager/Director); Osamu Kaneko (Chief product and Technology Officer/ Director Project Planning Business Department Manager/ Kanto Factory Manager); Arata Ohnoko (Asahi sales Manager)

First-in-the-world fully automated flexographic platemaking system helps protect the health and safety of employees while also protecting the environment and improving productivity, profitability

Tokyo, Japan & Brussels, Belgium. Asahi Photoproducts, a pioneer in flexographic photopolymer plate development, today reported that Seikodo Corporation Co., Ltd. is the third company worldwide to install CrystalCleanConnect.

Seikodo Corporation was formed in 1959 and is expert in helping its trade customers create artwork suited for flexographic printing and preparing it for print to achieve the best possible printed quality.

“Prior to implementing CrystalCleanConnect, we were using solvent-wash plates,” explains Mr. Kaneko Osamu, Chief Procurement and Technology Officer. “We were looking for a better solution that would improve our sustainability, contribute to our goal of carbon neutrality, and improve our work environment. We were pleased to learn about CrystalCleanConnect, which met all of those requirements and more.”

Mr. Kaneko Osamu reports that in addition to its initial goals, with CrystalCleanConnect the company was able to transition from solvent-wash plates to Asahi’s AWP™ CleanPrint water-washable plates, while at the same time improving the overall quality of the plates it was producing, introducing improved production efficiency, and reducing both cost and waste. “Moreover,” he adds, “by introducing CrystalCleanConnect, a fully automated system, we are able to find a solution to the less skilled labor market and missing young talent in our industry. CrystalCleanConnect represents, due to its level of automation, an important solution to maintain high-quality platemaking output. All of this adds up to positioning flexography very competitively with offset and gravure for packaging printing.”

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