Tokyo, Japan & Brussels, Belgium, 1 September 2016
Asahi Photoproducts, a pioneer in flexographic photopolymer plate development, today announced that the York Repro-Graphic Group (YRG) has adopted the premium quality Asahi AWPTM flexographic plate system for its clients using the fixed color palette printing process. Designed for high quality print performance, the AWP water wash plate outperforms the best digital plates currently available for flexo and produces higher quality than Flat Top Dot plates. For the first time, a digital photopolymer plate can hold extremely small stable dots – smaller than those of solvent processed plates – and its stability on press is superior to solvent plates, with numerous associated environmental and waste reduction benefits. Its precise register ensures faster make-ready and reduced waste on press.
Mark Gration, group managing director at YRG, said, “We are seeing growing demand for packaging produced using the fixed color palette printing process due to its many efficiencies, including reduced ink inventories, faster make-ready, fewer press stops and less waste. It significantly reduces job changeover times since no wash-ups are required between jobs. But to achieve the quality that brand owners demand requires precise registration. That’s why we chose to use Asahi AWP water washable plates for those clients using fixed color palette printing. The quality that can be achieved with these plates surpasses Flat Top Dot printing quality, making the AWP plate the best plate in the market for this purpose.” YRG, the first repro house in the world to comply with the ISO-12647 color standard, strongly believes in the ability of the fixed color palette printing process to ensure the future viability of the flexographic printing process.
Moving forward, YRG plans to further develop its in-plant platemaking services at customer printing sites. “This will enable us to help our clients further reduce turn times in the plate-to-press process to meet the needs of the changing market environment, which is increasingly demanding just-in-time production,” Gration states. “And the Asahi AWP system’s ease of use and environmental friendliness will be an important factor in moving this process closer to press operations.”