NPP Packaging Graphic Specialists Installs Esko Cyrel Digital Imager

GENT, Belgium—Esko, a leader in packaging pre-production solutions and digital imaging of flexo plates, announced that Indianapolis-based NPP has purchased and installed a Cyrel Digital Imager (CDI) Advance 5080 flexo platesetter. The purchase of the CDI will augment NPP’s progression to a complete digital workflow system.

Before purchasing its CDI Advance, NPP had been involved in analog platemaking, outsourcing if it needed a digital plate. The decision to purchase a digital flexo plate imager was market driven. The company decided that to stay competitive, and to elevate the quality of its plates—and what these capabilities would bring to its customers—they had to purchase a digital imager. After exploring a number of options, NPP decided to purchase its CDI Advance because of its size (50˝x80˝), speed, and reliability. As a user of the Esko Scope packaging software suite, NPP also considered the CDI Advance 5080 a good fit to the back end of its prepress system.

The Esko CDI is the first and most popular laser imager for direct exposure onto flexo plates. The CDI Advance 5080 is a digital flexo imaging device, used primarily for flexible packaging, folding cartons, corrugated, and labels. It is equipped with a loading table that can be mounted either on the front or the back of the machine, assisting in the loading and unloading of plates and sleeves. The CDI Advance 5080 can mount EasyClamp drums (50˝x80˝ and 42˝x60˝) and has a Sleeve option with mandrel/drum exchange support.

“The implementation has been going great. It’s been moving along as they said it would,” comments Dave Norton, NPP vice president. “We can already see with our press trials and initial production implementation that CDI digital platemaking will improve our customers’ printing. What’s interesting is that, while it’s stereotypical that digital platemaking is purchased for high-end printing, it provides salient benefits when used on routine production jobs.”

NPP is currently in the process of working with Esko’s Flexo Implementation Quality (FIQ) training to follow up on press characterizations and to create different screen sets. “We did a lot of research and have been conducting a lot of testing. I think we did a good job anticipating the results we’re getting,” says Norton. “We’ve looked at everything and have compared results of analog versus digital plates on both wide and narrow web presses. We can now offer quicker customer response and improved printing fidelity on press through our Full Digital Workflow process. The accuracy, consistency and job-to-job repeatability have proven to be superior compared to current technology. The CDI Advance has definitely delivered to our expectations.”