Improvement of productivity and cost reductions play an increasingly important role in the printing industry – automation is one way to impact significantly on achieving these targets.
Automation is a big step forward also in terms of standardisation as it enables trade shops and printers to minimise process tolerances. Automation offers the possibility to improve plate and print quality as well as reduces mistakes and in consequence, cut down costs and claim rates significantly.
Today the flexo plate making process is far behind efficient automation, although it is well established in other printing processes like offset and gravure. Working with print-ready files, offset and gravure printing forms are produced today with high levels of automation.
With the introduction of the nyloflex Automated Plate Processor (APP) in the first quarter of 2011, Flint Group Flexographic Products offers a fully automated processing line for flexographic printing plates.
The nyloflex APP combines a round brush washer, a dryer including 8 drying drawers, a unit for post exposure and light finishing (UV-A / UV-C) and a stacker with 8 drawers, offering in total a capacity of up to 120 plates / 320 m2 per day*. The nyloflex APP covers plate formats up to a maximum of 1320 x 2032 mm (FV format) and from 0.7 mm to 7.0 mm plate thickness.
Beginning of 2011, a nyloflex APP prototype will be available for customer demonstrations in the new Flint Group showroom in Stuttgart/Germany. In April the first nyloflex Automated Plate Processor will be installed at a trade shop in Central Europe.
nyloflex Automated Plate Processor
* Fully automated processing line:
Washer + Dryer + Light Finisher (UV-A / UV-C) + Stacker
* Max. plate size: 1320 mm x 2032 mm
* Plate thickness: 0.7 – 7.0 mm
* Two brush settings for plates < 3 mm / > 3 mm
* *Capacity: up to 120 plates per day
(equates to 320 m2, reference: nyloflex ACE 114 Digital)