DuPont Packaging Graphics has been marketing a system called Cyrel® round for the processing of continuous polymer sleeves for use in flexo package printing. Continuous polymer sleeves, marketed as Cyrel® Thin and Cyrel® Classic, are being used with increasing popularity, and these products have already spawned imitators. Numerous reports testify time and again to the benefits of the continuous print forms based on using ready-to-image photopolymer sleeves as opposed to plates or rubber printing forms.
The idea behind ready-to-image is that the customer receives raw sleeves in the right format and with a black ablation layer. The customer uses these sleeves to process the finished round print form in digital processing. In so doing, costly internal manufacturing processes such as laminating plates or applying liquid polymers, melting processes, applying mask layers, and similar processes can be avoided. These manufacturing steps (processes) are better left in the hands of a supplier who also bears the risks of yields and quality through their professional operations.
The aspects of handling, cost efficiency, print quality, and environmental sustainability have been examined often and mapped out in detail and compared with rubber printing forms. There is a general consensus among providers of polymer print forms: the future belongs to ready-to-image photopolymer sleeves.
Duni, a company specializing in tissue napkins and table coverings, has taken advantage of this strength in professional consulting services. This customer opted for Flex-Punkt’s services only after a one-year test phase, which had already resulted in a substantial increase in quality for its tissue products. Flex-Punkt even caught the attention of experts in the flexographic printing industry when it was awarded a prize for a napkin design at the Grand Prix Cyrel®. As a result of this cooperation between the two companies Duni was so impressed by the sleeve technology and Flex-Punkt’s specialist knowledge that Duni today manufactures photopolymer print forms itself using DuPont™ Cyrel® round technology. Nevertheless the contacts remain strong and Flex- Punkt takes on individual jobs for its former customer in peak times. At Flex-Punkt there have long been plans to further expand the print form manufacturing capacity for tissue and nonwoven material printers. It would mean a further reduction in elastomer-based print forms whilst continuous seamless photopolymer sleeves would gain a stronger share in this area. Furthermore when using photopolymer sleeves there are several advantages in napkin printing for the printer.
According to the experts at Flex-Punkt the production of finer screen ruling, the use of other colour series, longer service life for the print forms, and longer cleaning intervals are just some they have experienced. Tissue printers receive in-depth consulting services right from the start regarding sleeve selection in various degrees of hardness and adapters for locking the sleeves in the printing machine.
What’s more, the company has already been closely involved in very demanding projects. It cooperated with a manufacturer of non-woven materials to transfer adhesives onto the substrate. In so doing, the workers have now gained important knowledge in industry-specific technology. Based on this familiarity with the processes, Flex-Punkt plans to organize a new symposium for tissue printers in the first quarter of 2010 where it can demonstrate its hard earned skills and help the industry to improve.
Worldwide there are 25 Cyrel® round solvent systems installed, one of them at Flex- Punkt Druckformen GmbH. First installations of the thermal Cyrel® FAST round have begun in 2009. The commercialization is planned for 2010.
