MacDermid Printing Solutions, Atlanta, GA, USA, held a press conference at the FTA Forum in Las Vegas to officially launch LUX, its newest platemaking process. Paul Merkel, director global product development, delivered a presentation where he said the new process “will allow printers to take flexo printing to the next level.”

LUX produces digital plates with an extended print gamut, reduced fluting in corrugated, and overall improves print performance with smoother vignettes, higher contrast and faster press start-up, Merkel explained. The process works with existing plates from MacDermid and does not require changes to current equipment. It can be used with all flexo lasers. LUX is a process whereby a film coating covers the plate, and is then removed, thus changing the shape of the dot to planar, rather than bullet-shaped.

“The print results that our customers have reported during testing have been spectacular,” said Timothy Gotsick, Macdermids’s director of innovation. “By including this simple step in the platemaking process, we create an enhanced dot profile that can quite simply print better.”

CSW Inc., Ludlow, MA, USA, has been using LUX for several months. Marek Skrzynski, CSW’s director of graphics, R&D, says, “It has been easy to integrate this technology into our prepress workflow. We are able to use our existing equipment and products with LUX. The biggest plus of this technology is that it enables us to offer digital flexo plates for the first time to our customers across all packaging segments – wide and narrow web, folding cartons, and corrugated printing. They are delighted with the print quality and consistency.”

“With the introduction of LUX, we are offering our customers the ability to differentiate themselves in the flexo marketplace,” said Scot Benson, VP and GM at MacDermid. “By offering this new technology that can be used with the same plates and same equipment that our customers already use, we are providing them with the greatest amount of freedom in how they run their business.”