For Shyam Sundar, partner at Hyderabad-based flexo
prepress specialist NS Digital Flexo, meeting the challenges — and helping
customers reap the benefits — started in March 2020, when the company opened
for business with a new Kodak Flexcel NX System, supplied and supported by
Miraclon.
Sundar describes NS Digital’s service offering as
“all things flexo — wide web, labels, folding cartons, corrugated.” A notable
feature of the company’s philosophy is the effort and time it puts into
building relationships with customers and showing them the potential of the Flexcel
NX System. Explains Sundar: “We really engage with each customer, so that we can
see things from their perspective, and truly understand their current
capabilities and practices. Then we show them how simple adjustments to their
production practices — fingerprinting the press, for example — can improve
efficiency without additional investments or press set-ups, because if we can
work with the available resources, we save customers time and money.
“Next, we explain the further improvements and
enhanced benefits achievable with Flexcel NX plates — how we can change anilox
rollers and inks, reduce impression and generally introduce better control into
the press environment.”
Efficiency made easy
With the Flexcel NX System it’s relatively easy for
NS Digital to help customers become more efficient, Sundar continues. “The
biggest benefit for us is the simplicity of making Flexcel NX plates. The flexo
process can have many variables, but the Flexcel NX System either eliminates
them or makes managing them really simple, which yields substantial savings
throughout the whole packaging printing process. So as a service provider we
can be totally confident we can provide customers with consistent, repeatable
results. It also makes it easier to solve any print issues that arise, because
we can eliminate the plates as a cause straightaway. With other solutions, the
investigation is more complex — is it the file, or the software, or processing,
or exposure, or the press?”
As an example of a customer who benefited from the NS Digital approach and the Flexcel NX System, he describes a reverse-print packaging job. “We discussed how Flexcel NX plates could improve the overall print quality, especially on the whites. Then we worked with Miraclon — who are always supportive at all stages and a delight to work with — on the fingerprinting. This approach gave the customer confidence to proceed — and the 20% reduction in ink consumption was very persuasive too!” He adds that across all types of work customers report faster makereadies, lower white ink consumption, reduced start-up waste — down from 50 metres to 20 metres, in some cases — and varnish savings as high as 20% on many jobs.
Mohan Rao, partner at NS Digital Flexo, singles out
two features of the Flexcel NX Technology as especially valuable. “Kodak TIFF
Assembler Plus software — TAP 5.0 — is a really fantastic product that makes
our life easier, from layout optimization to automating job settings. And DigiCap
NX Patterning is a huge advantage. We can use it to create a ‘micro anilox’ on
the plate, which produces efficient ink transfer and overcomes the usual
challenges of maintaining ink density and controlling dot gain. Used in
conjunction with press fingerprinting, it makes it easy to select the best
pattern for each job.”
Offset-to-flexo transition is ‘booming’
NS Digital Flexo is part-owned by Mumbai-based
prepress solutions provider Numex Blocks, who also provide technical expertise.
Asked what NS Digital regards as the most noticeable trends in flexo at
present, Sundar replies: “Gravure-to-flexo conversion, of course, but there’s
also a big opportunity for flexo to take label work from offset. This is
booming already, and there’s more growth to come, with more offset label
players looking to have at least one flexo label press. For a tradeshop like
us, this is good news on two fronts. First, there’s the challenge of helping
many small label players produce complex jobs, which will keep the market
engaged and growing. And second, there’s the demand for faster turnarounds,
which is only possible with the Flexcel NX System.
“Put these capabilities together, and by providing
a high-quality service and products we’re in a good position to respond to the
price pressures that are common in the packaging printing space.”
Part of a journey
Looking ahead, Shyam Sundar speaks eloquently of
his expectations for NS Digital and the flexo industry in general. “It’s great
to be part of a journey that’s transforming flexo into a modern, standardized
manufacturing process through technology such as Flexcel NX. This will always
be my passion — to work with the latest, most advanced technologies, and to
continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with flexo.”
