SGS International, Florence, KY; has become the 1000th DuPont Cyrel FAST installation in the world, continuing the decade long growth of the flexographic packaging industry's most popular and sustainably driven workflow. Introduced at the 2000 drupa trade fair and commercialized in 2001, the DuPont CyrelFAST system is a thermal flexographic plate processing systemthat requires no solvents or liquids of any kind.

"We were one of the first Cyrel FAST customers for DuPont and we now have 17 FAST units in plants around the globe," said Marriott Winchester, senior vice president, SGS. "We initially liked the system because it was a dry process with a small footprint and rapid-access platemaking capability. And, with its improved environmental performance, we could easily expand capacity or start up new operations and with confidence that we would fall within local regulatory guidelines. When a leading retailer introduced a 'sustainability scorecard' to the industry, the certified Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) that DuPont sponsored confirmed the reduction in greenhouses gases and energy consumption associated with Cyrel FAST, and put us in a position to help our customers meet their increasingly challenging sustainability goals."

The DuPont Cyrel FAST system eliminates the need for processing solvents and completely eliminates the drying step. This reduces greenhouse gas generation by over 50 percent and non-renewable energy consumption by over 60 percent. Over the last nine years, the shift to Cyrel FAST has offset over ninety one million pounds of CO2, and saved the energy equivalent of over five million gallons of gasoline.

"DuPont is committed to providing more sustainable offerings along the value chains that it serves, and the Cyrel FAST system is a prime example," said Wendy Andrushko, North America sales director-- DuPont Packaging Graphics. "Cyrel FAST is uniquely suited to the demands of today's fast-paced, sustainability driven, global brands."

The DuPont Cyrel FAST system consists of two key elements - a compact thermal processor and a special Cyrel FAST flexo plate specifically designed for dry thermal processing. The Cyrel FAST processor is currently available in both a 35-in.x 47-in. and a 42-in. x 60-in. format, and a 52-in. x 80-in. version will be introduced at the 2012 drupa trade fair. Cyrel FAST Plates are available in a wide variety of sizes, thicknesses and types to fit the widely varying needs of the flexographic packaging industry.

"The Cyrel FAST system is perfect for our needs," stated Chris Cash," vice president general manager -- SGS Florence. "The small footprint and fast turn-around are a plus, and the dry thermal process allowed us to significantly increase our capacity without the equivalent increase in greenhouse gas generation that a solvent platemaking system would have. The Cyrel FAST system helps us satisfy our customer's needs as well as our own."