Quality campaign with innovative exposure technology, nyloflex^® NExT 

In 1964, four young managers founded Nuova Roveco, in those days the first and only prepress company in Italy completely dedicated to flexography. At that time, they produced zinc and magnesium matrices as well as vulcanised rubber plates. Always innovative and looking ahead, the company changed from vulcanised rubber plates to photopolymer printing plates in 1987. In 1997, the subsidiary Digital Flex S.R.L. was formed, which was the first enterprise in Italy to install a flexo CTP system to produce digital printing plates.

The group continuously grew and quickly became one of the largest purchasers of photopolymer printing plates in Europe. Today, Digital Flex is a modern company giving highest priority to industrial standards, as proved with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate, which the company achieved in the year 2000. Safety of employees is taken as seriously as environment protection. Thus, to be in compliance with the EU IPPC regulation (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) is a matter of course, as well as protection of air and water or waste reduction.

The customers are not only offered outstanding quality, they can get training at the "Digital Flex Academy" and gather beneficial information on modern and sophisticated technologies. With the introduction of HD Flexo in 2010, Digital Flex could further improve its position as a quality leader. This new technology combines high resolution with high-definition screening, so the acquisition of a nyloflex^® NExT Exposure was a logical step.

Digital Flex’ customers inform themselves on the advantages of the nyloflex^® NExT exposure technology

"Our company has been very innovative and is always looking ahead", says Andrea Vergnano, one of the owners and production director of Digital Flex, "however, we have realised that our competitors have been growing in terms of quality and with up to date technologies in the past months. Nowadays, companies that are able to invest can reach a competitive advantage by investing in the proper technologies. We decided to install a nyloflex^® NExT exposure to keep our competitive edge by offering something different to the market. We have in fact invested in three new CTP units and the nyloflex^® NExT exposure to further fulfill the market needs in terms of quality and to enlarge our offer".

Via the Italian distributor Macchingraf SRL, Digital Flex purchases NEW nyloflex^® ACE Digital printing plates amongst other Flint Group products. Both companies have enjoyed a very close and successful cooperation for more than 20 years. Macchingraf SRL is part of the international Staples Group and has distributed Flint Group products since the end of the 1960’s. In 2003 and 2012, the company has been honoured as the distributor of the year.

The NEW nyloflex^® ACE plate offers considerable benefits to the printer: besides a precise reproduction of details, high contrast images and smoother vignettes it shows its strengths particularly with outstanding stability on press, reduced downtimes due to a very low dust attraction and a clean running nature during printing. It displays excellent properties when used with the nyloflex^® NExT exposure technology, for which it has been especially designed.

The nyloflex^® NExT exposure, globally established as flat top dot technology, enables the printer to achieve an optimised ink lay down on press, as well as it exploits the potential to improve the highlights and fine vignettes. The LED based exposure technology offers precise and reliable surface screening as well as the reproduction of the finest image details. Also in corrugated post-print, the nyloflex^® NExT exposure shows not only an improvement in reproduction but also a significant reduction of the fluting effect.

The exposure technology is applicable for all digital flexographic printing plates, regardless of plate thickness and format 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.