- Versatile flexo printing plates impress with their first-class print quality
- Robust and highly compressible: ideal printing blankets for use in the packaging indus

Hanover, ContiTech offers a high-performance portfolio for the label and packaging industry with its three proven brands – Conti Laserline, Conti-Air and Phoenix Xtra Blankets. Irrespective of whether flexo printing plates, sleeves or printing blankets are being used, the technology company has the appropriate solution in its range for almost every kind of label printing operation. ContiTech will be showcasing current highlights from its three brands at its booth (hall 11, booth B51) at the LabelExpo international trade show in Brussels (September 25–28).

"Innovations are right at the top of our list of priorities," says Jens Löschner, the new head of the Flexoprinting product unit. He has been responsible for the Conti Laserline brand since April 2017, and this is the first trade show at which he has been in charge of presenting his product line. "As a former developer, I see great protection for new products in flexo printing ," says Löschner. "The field of printed electronics in particular will be a major issue for our product portfolio in the future."
Products for every application

ContiTech's Laserline flexo printing plate brand has the whole packaging industry covered. "Thanks to their resistance to swelling and low abrasion, all our printing plates are significantly more robust than many comparable products and therefore have very long service lives. The printing plates deliver first-class print quality in the various application fields. Even extremely fine lines, high screen rulings and engraving resolutions of up to 5080 dpi are possible on any material.

"Flexo printing is a key market for us. We therefore plan to demonstrate our expertise with our extensive product portfolio," says Löschner. Consequently, ContiTech is presenting the Conti Laserline CSX and CSC printing plates with their integral compressible layer at the show since these are excellently suited to flexible packaging materials and labels. Conti Laserline CSL and CAL are ideal for ink applications. Direct printing on corrugated cardboard is also possible; Conti Laserline CCX can be used for all the common corrugated types. Conti Laserline CML was specially developed for printing on tubes, cups and metals.

Printing blankets for the packaging industry

Conti-Air is also unveiling its latest technical developments for high-end label and packaging printing. Both the classic, market-proven solutions and the further developments of the top faces are of interest to the printing industry in this regard. In addition to their chemical properties, such as resistance to swelling and outstanding ink laydown, even on demanding substrates, the printing blankets in particular feature long service lives and excellent abrasion resistance. "We consult regularly with machinery manufacturers to ensure the best possible response to current and future market trends," says Conti-Air sales manager Rodolfo Stephanus. "We were able to feed these close contacts and our many years of production technology know-how into the development of the self-adhesive printing blankets."

In addition to many other printing blankets, the company is also unveiling a self-adhesive version of its Ruby product under the brand name Phoenix Xtra Blankets. The flagship product in UV offset printing delivers top-quality results when printing on packaging materials, sheet metal and tubes. "We have been impressing our customers for more than 20 years with this product," says Tony Tilocca from Phoenix Xtra Blankets' Technical Sales department. "And not just in the packaging industry."