EBM

Eminence Business Media

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Fujifilm brings industry-changing technology to flexo platemaking at Brady Corp.

Fujifilm North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division introduces Clarity, the latest industry-changing technology expressly developed for flexo printers. Clarity Water Washable Flexo Plates provide the highest flexo print quality at the fastest production times, while significantly lowering cost-in-use compared to thermal, solvent or other water-wash technology.

Brady Corporation, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based identification solutions manufacturer transitioned to Clarity water washable flexo plates in 2013 after running extensive plate trials.

“We are always looking for ways to improve our productivity and efficiency in order to best serve our customers, and after representatives from Fujifilm visited us and installed the new Clarity plates, we received a lot of positive feedback from our press operators who were impressed with the quality, fast production time, durability and ease of clean-up,” said Theresa Narveson, manufacturing engineer, Brady Corporation.

Clarity, which is compatible with Brady’s current CTP imaging equipment, reduces platemaking processing time to less than 40 minutes, 300 percent faster than leading solvent systems and 1.5 times faster than current thermal and water technologies. Faster plate making means more time on press and a dramatic increase in output per shift, while freeing printers to redeploy labor costs to more value-added activities.

Clarity’s innovative water wash chemistry does far more than simply eliminate the need for solvents and wicking cloths – it delivers longer runs while producing a consistent 200 lpi at 4,400 dpi, 1 percent process dot structure for print quality never before seen with flexo plates.

“With Clarity, we are able to reduce our processing time and use the plates longer than our previous plates,” added Narveson.  “Our print quality is improved and our productivity is up.  It’s a winning combination that enables us to better serve our customers,” she concluded.