Last week's APR Technical Screening Summit turned out to be a great event! Our attendance reflected representatives from all facets of the print workflow—from prepress into the pressroom. Presentations touched on key variables in the production process that impact screening and print quality decisions and capabilities. Those attending brought up fantastic questions and discussion points. The reviews indicate this topic continues to be a huge interest and area of development to further enhance Flexo print.
Technical Screening Summit Key Take-Aways:
Optmizing screening settings has always been a challenging and subjective process. Esko presented a new tool to help simplify and optimize the screening benchmark process. The Print Control Wizard allows operators to measure in a target and the software then recommends the best screening settings. They also introduced the next level Crystal Screening that expands on the already broad set of screening solutions offered by Esko. (Presented by Larry Moore, Esko)
Plate manufacturers continue to work towards developing flat-top plate solutions to better take advantage of advanced screening solutions. The combination of flat-top dot structures with advanced screening yields improved impression latitudes, more options to improve solids and highlight vignettes, less mechanical dot gain, improved highlight contrast, and improved overall plate wear. (Presented by Brian Cook, MacDermid Graphics)
Many of these technologies impact the plate surface characteristics, which may warrant revisiting your anilox selection to ensure the ink flow to the plate takes advantage of solutions like solid screening. As we work to pull together solutions to optimize ink transfer, anilox cleaning, maintenance, and inventory management become more important. (Presented by Sean Teufler, Harper Corporation)
Screening optimization requires a team approach - meaning involve your anilox, ink, plate, and supplier partners. Working together, you will be more fully supported, which enhances your potential to see bigger dividends for the effort and money invested. Belissima focuses on enhancing the highlight portion of the tonal range, though they have solutions for solid screening as well. (Presented by Joe Settani, Apex International)
It all comes down to putting ink on a substrate. Enhanced screening and smaller anilox volumes put pressure on ink companies to get more chroma or color saturation with less. Managing your inks and understanding the challenges with water-based, solvent-based, and energy-cured inks escalates the need to partner with your ink supplier. (Presented by John Kilbo, Siegwerk)
Once again we would like to thank our presenter partners for sharing their insight and experiences. We also thank all those who attended. We look forward to hosting future events in 2020. Please be sure to stay connected with us and check our Events page. Schedule for 2020 will be posted in late October.
