Flexo screening impresses international panel of judges

Following it's first showing at Drupa 2012, Smart Screen, the latest development in a range of Prepress tools for the packaging industry has been shortlisted for the Flexotech 2012 Prepress innovation award.

Smart screen is designed to work with digital imaging devices at standard resolutions such as 2400 or 2540 dpi. It allows extremely small screen dots to be produced, which in essence means that the smallest dot in the print image is 1-2%

"The power lies in a simple yet clever approach to addressing an age-old problem - the ability to image a digital or analogue flexographic plate with excellent screen vignettes down to an ink coverage of 1%" said Steve Donegan at Graphic Republik. "There is no need for the end-user to change the optics in their existing imaging device and more importantly, no changes are necessary in the Pressroom - Smart Screen simply slots into existing production workflows"

The Flexo plates created for the print sample were produced by Skegness based service provider Print Quest using their Kodak NX system. The final PDF final was rastered using Smart Screen technology, with the resultant Bitmap being imaged as normal on the NX imager. Dave Jarvis, MD at Print Quest commented "The Smart Screen approach is very simple but on the final print, visually very effective. The sample print was a re-run of a previous job and the improvement in the tonal range, particularly in the highlight areas was noticeably smoother".

From a printing perspective, Brian Yardy, MD at CFN Packaging Group, the company who printed the shortlisted sample made this observation: "We are a busy Printing group with a full production schedule - the fact that these plates made with Smart Screen technology can go straight on press without any changes needing to be made, yet deliver a better quality print is a big plus. "

The Flexotech award ceremony, which to be held at the London Hilton Metropole on the 18th October 2012 is one of the industry's most prestigious international events and is sponsored by some of the sectors leading companies.