Bringing Flexo Into the Fold

Chris Faust, marketing manager at Comco, Milford, OH, contends new generation presses are designed for 4-color work, and sees flexo as "complementary" to offset, which he believes "still owns tighter registration and has advantages in vignettes."

Mike D'Angelo, VP at Bobst Group, Roseland, NJ, confirms "we are not selling the flexo press as offering litho quality, but as competitive to litho quality," and points out "from the perspective of a [consumer], offset- and flexo-printed packages look the same." Ed Jansen, product manager at Bobst, estimates that 7 percent to 10 percent of flexo folding carton work is indeed "high-end" traditional offset work.