In-the-Round Plate Imaging

The market for ITR imaging is still pretty speculative, however. One thing moving adoption along is the prevalence of the gearless CI and inline presses that require sleeves or are sleeve compatible. "Sleeve systems reduce machine downtime, and at $300-$400 an hour that's significant," comments Tom Bass, national flexo product manager for Xymid, LLC (Chester, Va.). "When you're finished running one job, you can have the next set of sleeves all ready and waiting. If the inks are more or less the same, you're swapping out the sleeves press-side in a half-hour versus a couple of hours to change over a set of print cylinders. Depending on how many times a day you change over your press, it can be a substantial savings."