Advantage ... Digital

Flexo plates are created by conventional plate and film technology or through a direct-to-plate “digital” solution that integrates the film into the plate construction. “As the industry evaluates ways to improve workflow and integrate the use of digital file management, the next logical step is to include digital platemaking into the mix,” says Geoffrey Barba, director, product strategy, MacDermid Printing Solutions. “The benefits arise from using the same digital file to create any number of plates at any number of platemaking facilities, thereby providing consistency from location to location. The digital imaging of photopolymer plates also produces a much finer dot, and is capable of expanding the overall tonal range in the plate and on press.”