The latest product in Hybrid Software’s ever
growing stable is Patchplanner, a flexo plate mounting workflow for AV
Flexologic mounters that is being launched worldwide during July. Patchplanner
takes a PDF digital design file and optimises the layout of the printed areas
as individual elements, enabling a much smaller plate to be used than the
actual size of the job. The software can then be used to control very
accurately automatic cutting of the plate and repositioning of the parts on to
a plastic carrier.
“Flexo plates are very expensive and anyone
operating in a pre-press department will immediately see the attraction of
Patchplanner,” says Jan Ruysschaert, managing director of Hybrid Software NV.
“When producing something like a corrugated box, it is not unusual for only a
tiny area to need to be printed even though the box itself may be large. Until
now a great deal of manual work has generally been required in order to avoid
using large flexo plates.
“What Patchplanner does is to separate those
printed elements in the design file and relay them so they take up the least
amount of space. This data is then used to expose the smallest plate possible
using an imager such as a ThermoFlexX. We can then send the information to a
cutting table, for example, a Zund machine. Patchplanner software will control
the cutting pattern, resulting in fast and accurate cutting.
“Using an AV Flexologic system the plate
would then be reassembled on to a plastic carrier ready for the printing press.
The high level of automation offered by these systems, combined with their
speed and precision, makes this an extremely cost effective method of producing
flexo plates for this sort of job.
“We’ve designed Patchplanner to be effective
and easy to use,” says Jan Ruysschaert. “The software offers cross platform support
of standard web browsers - Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 8 – and
will output XML e.g. ‘mom’ files with mounting mark coordinates automatically
transferred to AV Flexologic’s Optimount.”
Hybrid Software was formed in 2007 as Hybrid
Integration in Pennsylvania, North America. Today, there are offices in
Belgium, Germany and Italy and distributors throughout many other countries.
Hybrid’s Cloudflow suite and its integration products offer a new way of
handling graphic production. These products are used in all areas of print,
from packaging and labels to digital.
