EBM

Eminence Business Media

Thursday, May 17, 2012

First installation of Xeikon’s ThermoFlexX : French printer first to reap rewards of Xeikon’s new flexo plate imager


Xeikon announces that Ghesquières, a French-based print service provider specializing in the printing and finishing of envelopes, has installed a ThermoFlexX 20, one of the products from Xeikon’s new ThermoFlexX series of high quality digital imagers for flexographic and letterpress plate making. As well as delivering productivity gains by eliminating the need for film and labor, the ThermoFlexX solution offers Ghesquières significant improvements in print quality, faster turnaround time and increased capacity. Ghesquières is a part of the Spanish based TOMPLA group.

Ghesquières has a mixed production system of offset and flexo presses, and printing is carried out on rolls and processed afterwards, a unique process in the world of printing. Prior to installing the ThermoFlexX imager, the company used Dolev and film. 

“No film and related developer chemicals means immediate savings in material costs,” says Madame Allart pre-press manager at Ghesquières. “And eliminating the labour-intensive process steps of film mounting and retouching – and automating the whole platemaking process – reduces the amount of labor required. Another key feature of ThermoFlexX is that it’s a much more eco-friendly solution than we had before. With film and chemistry now removed, we even get state subsidies,” adds Mme. Allart.

“We are delighted the have a company like Ghesquières to be the first to install our new ThermoFlexX imager,” says Jeroen Van Bauwel, Director of Product Management at Xeikon. “Not only will the imager provide Ghesquières with shop floor productivity gains, it will provide significant improvements in print quality, faster turnaround and increased capacity.”

ThermoflexX
Unveiled at drupa 2012, ThermoFlexX is Xeikon’s new product line of imagers for flexographic and letterpress printing plates. Comprising leading-edge hardware and workflow software, ThermoFlexX is based on mature technology and proven digital workflow solutions. It enables customers to consistently produce high-quality digital flexographic and letterpress plates at resolutions of 2540 or 5080 dpi. With this resolution, the product is technology-ready to raise the quality level of output to the newest industry standards. 

The ThermoFlexX solution comes with a range of unique benefits. Advanced clamping design allows plates to be mounted directly on to the drum, while uniquely designed vacuum sliders offer the flexibility to use plates of any width. This is highly beneficial to operators as there is no need to cut the plates to fit a dedicated vacuum zone thus allowing the use of cut-off scraps. The ThermoFlexX solution also features ergonomic plate mounting and its hybrid drum offers flexibility of holding plates in place either by vacuum or by magnetics.

Visitors to the Xeikon booth at drupa 2012 will have the opportunity to see the new ThermoFlexX solution first hand. Xeikon is currently exhibiting in Hall 8A, Booth B44.

Xeikon NV is an innovator in digital printing technology. The company designs, develops and delivers web-fed digital color presses for labels and packaging applications and for other industries as well. For the flexographic market, Xeikon offers digital platemaking systems under the ThermoFlexX brand name.  ThermoFlexX systems provide high resolution plate exposure including screening, color management, as well as workflow management. Xeikon’s worldwide service network will provide local support for the full range of ThermoFlexX products. Sales of the product will be conducted via Xeikon’s authorized dealer network.