Over the last 15 years, flexography has experienced a remarkable transformation to become a genuine alternative to offset and gravure for packaging printing.
While credit is due to a variety of technological improvements in the flexographic process—presses, inks, anilox rolls, substrates and coatings—one of the greatest contributions has come from plate technology. One landmark advance in particular: the KODAK FLEXCEL NX System.
The FLEXCEL NX System collected an FTA Technical Innovation Award in 2009—notably, as that year’s sole recipient—having made its debut at drupa 2008. However, the project had its genesis in 2006, when Kodak acquired Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) and Creo.
Chris Payne, CEO of Miraclon—home of KODAK FLEXCEL Solutions since 2019—explains the thinking behind the strategy: “Kodak recognized that because of digital substitution in the commercial print industry, it needed to move into areas such as industrial printing. It did have technologies and skills to go into flexography and make it a much more dominant process with premium print performance.”
Elaborating on the point, he notes, “Our ongoing stated purpose at Miraclon drives us to expand the reach of flexo by enabling efficient, cost-effective, sustainable print manufacturing processes that deliver unrivaled shelf impact and creative design freedom for brands.”
The FLEXCEL NX Technology development team set out to improve the predictability and reliability of flexography, which had until then been notable for too much variability, compared to other industrial printing methods like rotogravure. “By delivering greater latitude on press to improve the consistency and repeatability of the printed result across a wide variety of substrates, including paper, flexible film, foil and label stock, the FLEXCEL NX Technology team transformed flexography to a new standard,” explains Reid Chesterfield, chief technology and innovation officer, Miraclon.
Three unique aspects serve as the basis of the technology:
- KODAK SQUARESPOT Imaging Technology, which delivers a high-resolution laser patterning energy up to 10,000 dpi for highly precise and stable image creation
- Dependable and robust FLEXCEL NX Plate formulation
- Thermal Imaging Layer (TIL), cutting-edge multiple layer coating technology on a PET substrate to enable clean, crisp and consistent laser ablation for a perfect mask. This is a much different approach from the traditional LAMS plate imaging layers. After imaging, the TIL is laminated to the FLEXCEL NX Plate in a quick, simple process that removes oxygen, which is another key innovation
The combination of these unique and patented aspects started flexography’s transformation from a craft to modern and scientific manufacturing process; the result is a plate with pioneering flat top dots that have harder edges, are more stable and durable, and improve color consistency on press.
Optical Contact
The intimate optical contact between the TIL and the plate during UV exposure, created by Miraclon’s patented imaging technology and plate making process, enables all the digital information in a file—every single pixel—to be recorded on the film and reproduced 1:1 on the plate in the form of high-quality, full-amplitude, flat top dots as small as 10-μm. in size. Guesswork is eliminated and replaced by total predictability.
This imaging accuracy has proven to be an essential component in the success of FLEXCEL NX Technology, and crucial to flexography becoming a stable, consistent, and efficient process with a quality level capable of rivalling offset and rotogravure.
Development teams—first at Kodak and now at Miraclon—leveraged that core technology to explore and optimize the fundamental process of how ink transfers from a plate onto a substrate, at high speed, during printing.
The surface of a FLEXCEL NX Plate is engineered by the plate maker using micron-level patterns of varying shapes and depths, all specifically defined for the job type. The result is optimized print performance—cleaner print, faster speeds, lower ink usage for similar solid density, all of which drive efficiency and sustainability benefits—within the environment of the flexographic process.
Sequential Innovations
Since the arrival of FLEXCEL NX Technology nearly 14 years ago, the industry has witnessed a sequence of innovations from Miraclon scientists and print application experts that addresses fundamental industry challenges and improves production efficiencies from prepress through to the press floor. Specific highlights follow.
KODAK DIGICAP NX Patterning came to market in 2010 and helped improve solid ink transfer of process inks, especially on film substrates, by addressing issues such as pinholes in solids, insufficient solid ink density and the ability to achieve a really smooth ink laydown using a thinner ink film. Surface patterning achieved by optimizing ink volume and flow through a single, regular plate surface pattern, combining “islands” and “spaces” across the whole area, results in improved solid ink density and laydown.
In 2016, Advanced KODAK DIGICAP NX Patterning (commonly referred to as NX Advantage) brought these benefits of solid ink laydown for all ink volumes, including whites and spot colors, optimizing ink transfer according to ink type and anilox volume.
NX Advantage features a series of patterns with smaller spacing and elements for lower-volume anilox rolls, and larger spacing and elements for higher-volume anilox rolls. The same year, 2016, also saw the introduction of Advanced Edge Definition technology—the first implementation of multi-functional plate surface patterns on a single printing dot—bringing further enhanced print quality and contrast levels.
Second Award
In 2020, FLEXCEL NX Technology received its second FTA Technical Innovation Award, this time for the FLEXCEL NX Ultra Solution, which overcomes the unique challenges of aqueous flexographic plate processing, and thus offers a solvent-free, VOC-free plate technology with all the print performance and print quality capabilities for which FLEXCEL NX plates are known.
Completely removing residual material from the plate in a water-based process had proven to be a challenge for many plate manufacturers, and if not washed out properly, plate debris can ultimately redeposit on the plate, causing print defects and poor plate life. The FLEXCEL NX Ultra Solution efficiently solved this challenge and is seeing speedy market adoption, along with industry awards recognizing the level of innovation.
The FLEXCEL NX Ultra Solution builds from the same FLEXCEL NX imaging technology base (laser-imager, TIL, lamination), but with a new water-based development process—KODAK Ultra Clean technology—that uses a purpose-built plate processor and processing solution with a dispersing agent. The patented process uses natural-based emulsifying agents to prevent the build-up of unexposed polymer on the plate and within the plate processor itself, ensuring both the quality and performance of the plate, and minimal maintenance and tool-cleaning for the operator.
The system has unprecedented speed—only taking seven minutes to process a plate. With the rapid drying times of a water-processed plate, a printer can have a press-ready plate, beginning to end, in less than one hour. As for waste products, the spent solution is drained out of the processor as a combination of reclaimed water and inert solids for treatment and municipal disposal.
Controlling Ink Spread
In 2021, Miraclon unveiled the latest and most advanced iteration of its plate surface patterning technology. PureFlexo Printing is designed to control a fundamental challenge for solvent ink printing on flexible film—unwanted ink spread.
As with previous technology advances, PureFlexo Printing is the result of in-depth research into how ink properties, release characteristics, plate properties and press factors—like impression level and anilox volume—affect the print quality and operational efficiency; as well as the environmental impact of the press.
By leveraging advanced surface patterns just a few microns in size, PureFlexo Printing better distributes the impression load, holds ink more effectively, and delivers ink more precisely to the substrate surface. This innovation produces the smoothest solid areas, lower dot gains and reduced bridging, even at high line speeds up to 2,000 fpm, and extends press uptime and color stability for many, many press impressions.
Expanding Reach
As flexography continues to expand its reach, offering a viable and cost-effective alternative to gravure and offset in an increasing number of applications, brands, printers and suppliers can be sure that Miraclon will continue to enhance the FLEXCEL NX System and technology that supports it.
Due to the process control possible with the technology, it reasonably enables fixed color palette or expanded gamut printing with up to seven colors, and for high-quality printing on recycled or recyclable materials. This is expanding the options for print buyers in all industry sectors, but particularly for brand owners seeking packaging innovations to extend their market reach, reduce costs and speed to market, and meet their sustainability goals.
Chesterfield notes: “We’re still in flexo’s first innings as a best-in-class process, as brand owners continue to buy-in, the capital investment in the latest press equipment will follow. Flexographic packaging is changing quickly, and the companies that are in the industry today have a tremendous opportunity.”
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