Conference of the Finnish Association for Packaging and Printing meets high visitor interest 

On 16 April, this year’s Flexoforum took place in the Finnish town Jyväskylä. For the first time this conference was part of FinnGraf, the leading trade fair for graphics and printing in Finland. The Finnish Association for Packaging and Printing offers visitors two important events at the same time. About 120 participants took this opportunity to gather information on the latest trends and developments in flexo printing and to establish new or strengthen existing contacts. The conference programme included lectures on prepress, sleeves, substrates, printing inks and security as well as future packaging materials.

Mark Sutton, Commercial Director Northern Europe Flint Group Packaging and Narrow Web, introduced a range of novel developments in printing inks: the new Verimaster anti-counterfeit products, for example can help to protect packaged products by providing proof of authenticity. Also, new in the product portfolio are the Biomaster antimicrobial additives, which combat the growth of harmful bacteria – an ever-increasing public awareness issue.

As the second speaker of Flint Group, Markus Muehlfeit, Product Manager Flint Group Flexographic Products, presented the innovative exposure technology, nyloflex^® NExT. Since its market launch end of 2011, the new technology for flat top dots and surface screening has been established globally and offers a range of distinctive advantages to the user. Especially for flexible packaging, printing plates exposed with this technology enable excellent ink transfer, particularly in solids. In corrugated printing, a considerable reduction in fluting can be observed. nyloflex^® NExT provides a significantly improved reproduction quality and long-term stability. The exposure technology is applicable for all digital flexographic printing plates and can be easily implemented into the existing digital workflow. In contrast to most of the competitive technologies, there is no need for additional consumables.