Process Progress

Polling the press side

Can flexo, screen, and offset take the gold, silver, and bronze, respectively, in UV usage? Or do these placements simply provide a tally of today's three hottest UV topics of conversation?

Consider narrow-web letterpress printers; they've opted consistently for UV inks for the past five years to meet top-tier quality requirements on cosmetics and other high-end retail packaging, says Kevin Held, R&D director at Ko-Pack. Proof of loyalty can be found in sales of Ko-Pack letterpresses, which have held steady for the past three years. Held believes the solid figures are due either to the higher cost of offset, quality gaps in UV flexo, or dissatisfaction with UV flexo makeready.