Flexo Sleeves Gain Traction

With sleeves that serve solely as carrier rolls, imaged printing plates can be mounted to the sleeves offline, which can then be installed onto cylinders in the print stations using compressed air to expand the sleeves, allowing them to slide into position on the cylinders. The use of sleeves in this way provides increased production flexibility by using the premounted plates to provide quick changeovers for short runs and design changes. It is especially effective for short-run, repeat jobs, since the sleeves can be taken off the press and carefully stored with the plates mounted on the sleeves.