CHICAGO - When looking to bring its platemaking operation in-house, Labels, Tags & Inserts, Inc. (LTI)-a leading flexographic printer located in Burlington, N.C.-found all the features it needed in the award-winning KODAK FLEXCEL NX Digital Flexographic System with the KODAK PRINERGY POWERPACK Workflow.

LTI constantly evaluates and invests in the newest technologies to remain competitive and enhance the service it provides to clients. "We'd been thinking about making this change for a while now," explained Leroy Baker, President of LTI, "but hadn't been able to find a suitable solution for our needs. We weren't willing to settle for 'good enough,' so when we saw the quality of the FLEXCEL NX System, we knew it was the right decision. Our experience so far has been outstanding."

Designed to dramatically enhance the quality of flexographic printing for applications such as tags and labels, folding cartons, and flexible packages, the FLEXCEL NX System enables offset class, gravure quality results for packaging printers and their brand owner clients, as well as improved productivity and efficiency, and unprecedented simplicity and predictability on press. The FLEXCEL NX System prints on a wide variety of substrates including paper, flexible film, foil, paperboard, and label stock.

"We previously outsourced our plate production, so we didn't have any real control over the quality," added Baker. "Now we are able to customize the plates to our capabilities and have found that we are saving money on press time, ink, and substrates because of the high plate quality. In fact, the new system is helping us further expand our business." LTI is launching a new Shrink Film Division and is achieving outstanding results with the FLEXCEL NX System.

A recent job for an existing client put the new system to the test. LTI produced more than 20 million labels for a large national client in the past, but decided to produce new plates for the most recent press run. The client was thrilled with the enhanced quality, as well as the ability to reproduce highlights that had previously been unachievable. Baker noted that the new plates are lasting longer, store well, and provide extremely consistent performance from job to job.

In addition to the complete FLEXCEL NX System, LTI also installed a KODAK MATCHPRINT Inkjet 400 Proofing System.

"The FLEXCEL NX System is delivering significant benefits to package printers, bringing them improved quality and productivity, and therefore increasing the profitability of their business," said John Cross, General Manager, Packaging Products, Kodak. "We are thrilled to be able to help customers such as LTI grow and add value for their clients."

The FLEXCEL NX System was named this year as the sole recipient of the 2009 Flexographic Technical Association Technical Innovation Award. It also received the 2008 PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Award and the Flexographic Pre-Press Platemakers Association Technology Innovator of the Year Award.

After 25 years of providing prepress services to printers in the Burlington, N.C., area, the Baker family decided to start its own printing business. In 1995, Baker founded LTI with the commitment to give customers unprecedented quality and service.