Short run Indigo vs HD Flexo

[richprint]

Hello,

I have a customer who deals a lot with pharmaceutical companies and when a new product is tested on the market they tend to only put out 1000 or so bottles at a time before they are mass marketed. But because of the cost they always run them on an Indigo for the short run. The customer loves how they look but when its time to mass market the product they have to switch to a HD flexo plate. Problem is the colour and quality aren't matching for obvious reasons and this a hurdle for us. How can we bridge that gap between the two so they are close enough that we can make a smooth transition?

Thanks

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Two quick thoughts:

1) Dumb down the digital so that it looks closer a regular LAMs / HD Flexo plate print result (i.e. lower density solids etc).

2) Ditch the standard LAMs/HD Flexo approach and move to a different vendor's technology that offers a much better result for flexo.


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

 

[gordo]

I think Stephen has the right approach. It's probably best to think of the 1000 or so bottles as being proofs, rather than actual production work. So, as proofs, they should simulate the final flexo presswork.

best, gordo

 

[OkiTech]

Yeah - i would agree. It is not like a customer isn't happy with Flexo printed orders - they make a point that Flexo dos not look as nice as Indigo.... There for by tweaking Indigo output to match the quality of Flexo problem should go away on it's own. This is the same as a fruits from the supermarket... we go and buy apples and eat them thinking that they are tasty, i think they're nothing but OK, when we go to the farm and pick them right off the trees - its better and back in the years when I went to my grandma ( in Ukraine) those were a really tasty apples, those trees had never seen a drop of chemicals, or sprayed or anything if that nature. But if I would never eat those apples - a supermarket ones would be just fine Same strategy...

 

[Stephen Marsh]

#1 - Is a common strategy when there are different print methods producing the same job - print to the standard lowest common denominator (if uniformity of appearance is more critical).

#2 - What if one could do better with flexo than has been possible with standard LAMs plates and HD? What if the flexo job could look closer to the digital? What if you did not have to dumb down the digital job as much, because another flexo technology provided a print result that was so much better than HD / LAMs?

In a market where having greater shelf impact is so important, I would be exploring option #2 rather than option #1!


Stephen Marsh

 

[DavidH]

My experience of HD Flexo label print from our customers is that quality is significantly better than standard flexo, and a good match to the Indigo. That said, there are many factors influencing the print result (beyond the platemaking) – your Esko representative can provide further advice on optimum use of HD Flexo.

David

 

[richprint]

I would like to try and work with them and improve our plates rather then dumbing down the Indigo. I know it's not going to be perfect but we are trying to come close to something that the customer wont make a stink over it. I am seeing this on a regular basis now and it's quite frustrating because the end customer doesn't understand the difference in printing methods, they just see colour and want it all to match down the line.

#1 - Is a common strategy when there are different print methods producing the same job - print to the standard lowest common denominator (if uniformity of appearance is more critical).

#2 - What if one could do better with flexo than has been possible with standard LAMs plates and HD? What if the flexo job could look closer to the digital? What if you did not have to dumb down the digital job as much, because another flexo technology provided a print result that was so much better than HD / LAMs?

In a market where having greater shelf impact is so important, I would be exploring option #2 rather than option #1!


Stephen Marsh

 

[steve.weiss]

Being in the flexo segment of the industry, what technology are you referring to?

#1 - Is a common strategy when there are different print methods producing the same job - print to the standard lowest common denominator (if uniformity of appearance is more critical).

#2 - What if one could do better with flexo than has been possible with standard LAMs plates and HD? What if the flexo job could look closer to the digital? What if you did not have to dumb down the digital job as much, because another flexo technology provided a print result that was so much better than HD / LAMs?

In a market where having greater shelf impact is so important, I would be exploring option #2 rather than option #1!


Stephen Marsh

 

[Stephen Marsh]

I would like to try and work with them and improve our plates rather then dumbing down the Indigo.

richprint, I am sure that there is always room to improve what you have/currently do with HD and standard LAMs plates.

I would encourage you to start a thread in the Kodak section of the forums, or to look around the internet for what people in the industry are saying about the Kodak Flexcel NX system (greater density, detail, plate quantity reductions, ink savings, plate life, imaging speed, ROI etc). Disclaimer: My company is a distributor for this technology.

Stephen Marsh

 

[DavidH]

I would like to try and work with them and improve our plates rather then dumbing down the Indigo.

I would suggest you also investigate whether the best possible result is being obtained using HD before changing to a completely different technology. Your Esko representative can help here - I have seen outstanding results from Esko HD plates compared against digital.
Regards,
David
(Disclaimer: I work for Esko)

 

[richprint]

Thanks everyone, we are working with the printing company to get them off the digital labels all together.