Consumables-General - Plates

Presstek to Acquire Precision Lithograining Corp. HUDSON, N.H., June 3 -- Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of environmentally responsible high tech digital imaging solutions for the graphic arts and laser imaging markets, and Precision Lithograining Corporation ("Precision"), the manufacturer of the industry leading Anthem, Freedom and Aurora chemistry-free printing plates, today announced that the companies have signed an agreement for Presstek to acquire Precision in a cash transaction valued at approximately $13 million. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2004. The companies are planning to maintain their respective operations, with

Even with computer renderings aiding in early packaging evaluations, it's important not to overlook the sense of touch. YOU ARE PARTICIPATING in a specifications meeting during the early phase of a new package's lifecycle—its birth, from concept to idea. But do ideas always look better on paper? Change the term "paper" to substrate and add a three-dimensional flavor and Rob Wallace, managing partner of New York-based Wallace Church, would say, "absolutely." Wallace is on the front lines of taking a package concept to maturity—from the glimmering imagination crafted by zealous marketing professionals, to a carefully designed concept that can stand on its own

Advanced Prepress Graphics Flexo prepress tradeshop producing Cyrel high-definition flexo plates and film. Visit www.flexoprepress.com Agfa Offers the Thermostar P970-ideal for VLF applications-and the Thermostar P971 thermal imaging plate. Visit www.agfa.com ANDERSON & VREELAND Complete selection of digital prepress systems and conventional photopolymer plate processors and plate mounters. Platemaking materials include a broad range of solvent and water-wash sheet photopolymer, liquid photopolymer, rubber compounds, matrix and accessories. Visit andersonvreeland.com BASF Corp. Offers full line of nyloflex®, nyloprint® photopolymer printing plates, platemaking equipment for flexographic, letterpress, gravure applications; and K+E inks for sheetfed, web offset printing. Visit basf.com/printingsystems Beta Industries The Betaflex 334

New digital proofing technologies streamline a critical process in the prepress workflow. by Marie Alonso, Prepress Editor ALL THE BUZZ in proofing is soft proofing, color calibration, and digital proofing for the packaging environment. And it has been for several years, but with increasing fervor, collaborations, and software enhancements. Companies aspiring to take leading positions in their respective specialties are joining the progressive package-printing leaders in deploying the latest, most sophisticated digital proofing technologies available. Electronics for Imaging (EFI) has truly redefined itself, acquiring Best Color in order to gain a strong hold on the digital proofing market. Today, it is strongly marketing its

Open-systems workflow solutions are redefining prepress operations for today's package printers. by: Marie Alonso, Prepress editor PACKAGING SERVES THE dual purpose of holding and protecting a product, while effectively presenting and selling the brand. Accordingly, the expectations placed on package printers are very high. Putting today's creative design ideas into practice calls for innovative, flexible solutions. As Heidelberg phrases it, the production process is characterized by seamless workflows, automated handling systems, in-line and off-line coating and finishing, and flexible formats. As workflow solutions move beyond commercial printing into the packaging environment, many companies are jumping on the JDF bandwagon with their automated, integrated

Pushing the limits of packaging graphics to help sell products on the store shelf has resulted in a new prepress art form. Today's package printers are, more often than not, required to be true creative design advisors, offering guidance and suggestions for crafting artwork out of packaging materials and pushing the limits of prepress delivery to enhance point-of-purchase appeal. The result: a new art of prepress, driven to deliver extravagant designs. Inland Paperboard and Packaging foresaw this renaissance—a change in the way its customers were expecting services such as mockups, design enhancements, and new ideas for delivering packaging. In the early '90s, these

Innovative screening technologies are providing package printers with new tools to improve graphic quality. CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING is a beautiful thing. When technical process limitations are overcome resulting in tangible quality and productivity improvements, it truly is rewarding for both the developers of the solutions and the people that use them. In the case of packaging screening technologies, suppliers have been hard at work improving and developing innovative techniques and technologies that provide real improvements for package printers and their customers. These solutions have made positive impacts in both offset and flexographic printing applications. And for the most part, the solutions are applicable

Press fingerprinting for color matching lays the groundwork for a collective color vision. WHEN YOU MAKE most of your living writing about technology, you have the privilege of picking the brains of some very well versed subject-matter experts. Opinions vary of course, but I've found that the most impassioned, most expressive leaders all have one thing in common: Vision. A motivational speaker once told me that it was vision with a capital "V" that made it possible for U.S.-born Gertrude Ederle to become the first woman to swim across the English Channel in the 1920s. She described how each time

Using knowledge of how humans see color, along with data from instruments such as densitometers and spectrophotometers, color can be mapped just like DNA. THE CONCEPT OF color management is fascinating, and more than a little controversial. To those of you that took exception to the suggestion in last month's story (Proofing By the Numbers, August 2003) that color management was easy enough for a college student, I humbly concede. There is a wider body of knowledge, and more tools available for controlling color than ever before. Even so, that does not make the theory of color any easier to understand. Color management can

Dunwoody College of Technology proves that matching a color proof to the press isn't purely academic. LAST FALL, DUNWOODY College of Technology instructor Pete Rivard and his students set out on a mission. Armed with a new color halftone proofer, spectrophotometers, and color management (CM) software Rivard set out to prove just how close a proof can match a press—in this case a narrow-web flexo press, running UV inks on pressure-sensitive label and paper stocks. Rivard's experiment is meaningful for a number of reasons. First, he showed that yes, it is possible to define a set of conditions under which a proof can match