Alberto Mazzocchi (left), Graphic Director and Fabrizio Marchetti (right), Prepress Director, showing their award-winning “GOOD” printing job.

In-house printing using Asahi AWP™-DEW CleanPrint water-washable plates and the latest Esko Crystal XPS plate imaging system were significant contributors to the ability to achieve this award recognition

Tokyo, Japan & Brussels, Belgium. Asahi Photoproducts, a pioneer in flexographic photopolymer plate development, today reported that its customer, ACM S.p.A, based in Cremosano, Italy, was recognized with two prestigious awards from the Italian flexographic association, Associazone Tecnica Italiana per la Flessografia (ATIF), for outstanding flexographic printing. ACM, a subsidiary of the SIT Group, is one of Europe’s leaders in flexible packaging, with broad experience in digital and flexographic printing, supplying film reel, bags, pouches and more for several markets. Founded in 2005, the company prides itself on delivering the highest service levels through its investments in innovative and sustainable technologies that allows it to offer high print quality and fast delivery, even for short runs. The awards include:

Best UV Flexo Printing: This job produced for ACM customer GOOD, was printed in 80 l/cm screen ruling using 8 colour printing on a 12 micron PET film printed on an Omet xFlex 670 with platemaking on the latest Esko Crystal XPS and the water-wash AWP™-DEW plate.

Flexographic Process Innovation: This award was granted for the application of cold foil inline by using the AWP™-DEW CleanPrint water wash plate to transfer the adhesive glue before applying the cold foil inline in 8 colour printing. This job was previously realised using letterpress technology.
The award ceremony was conducted during ATIF’s annual trade association meeting on November 15, 2022, in Bologna, Italy.

The founder of ACM, Massimo Raffaele, states, “It was my dream to start a prepress department with in-house reproduction and platemaking for higher quality and faster reaction time to customer deadlines. The project was led by Fabrizio Marchetti, our Prepress Director, and incorporates an ESKO Crystal XPS plate imaging system using Asahi AWP™-DEW CleanPrint plates. Our decision to move platemaking in-house and the terrific work Marchetti has done in heading up this effort has been validated by feedback from satisfied customers and these two prestigious awards.”

Marchetti explained the choice of Asahi AWP™-DEW CleanPrint plates is in line with the company’s goal of integrating solvent-free platemaking technologies into its operations to drive lower CO2 emissions and improve sustainability. He adds: “The AWP™-DEW plate is the perfect plate to help us meet these goals and performs well with all the existing printing ink technologies, including water, solvent and UV inks. I am thrilled that the efforts of our team have delivered against expectations and garnered these awards.

Award judges commented on the very clean highlight printing with optimum ink laydown, perfect registration and a good match to Cromalin proofs.

Asahi recently achieved Carbon Neutral status in partnership with The Carbon Trust for the AWP™-DEW CleanPrint plates, and is continuing to improve their sustainability through a carbon management plan, with the goal of reducing the need for carbon offsets and rethinking the plate manufacturing process from the ground up.

“We are seeing a growing number of flexographic printers like ACM bringing prepress in house to better manage quality and time to market,” says Andrea Belloli, Asahi’s Italian Branch Manager. “We congratulate them on receiving these prestigious awards and are looking forward to working with them in the future to find ways to improve their prepress services even more.”