DuPont Advanced Printing (DuPont) and Esko are celebrating 20 years of collaboration at drupa 2016, where they will highlight their most recent innovations to advance flexography.

“Our own photopolymer innovations and the collaboration with Esko two decades ago enabled us to bring high-quality open systems to trade shops and printers that made distributed digital workflow ubiquitous in flexography,” said Andy Kannurpatti, global marketing manager, flexography, DuPont Advanced Printing. “At this year’s drupa, we are happy to showcase Esko’s newest UV LED exposure system, the Esko XPS Crystal 5080, an excellent step toward plateroom automation. Developed to work with any UV exposure unit, our Cyrel EASY plates, when used with the Esko XPS Crystal device, will allow customers to reap the benefits of both technologies. These developments continue to reinforce our mutual focus on simplifying workflows for our customers while improving flexo print quality.”

“Esko and DuPont have a long history of working together on technological advancements and commercial collaborations,” said Thomas Klein, vice president, hardware business, Esko. “Working with DuPont has enabled us to innovate our hardware and software along two strategic vectors: improving flexo print quality and simplifying the flexo platemaking process through integration and automation. Our newest UV LED XPS Crystal Technology works well with Cyrel EASY plates. Combining XPS Crystal exposure with our well-proven Full HD/Pixel+ Microcell technology, customers can take advantage of the latest in imaging, UV exposure and plate technology.”

Developed specifically for the flexible packaging/tag and label markets, Cyrel EASY plates are based on a new polymer technology that produces higher ink transfer, color saturation and resolution.  With built-in flat top dot plates, they help simplify the prepress process, improving productivity and consistency.  Significantly higher solid-ink density has been demonstrated in customer testing, without compromising on highlights.  The plates are available globally for FAST/thermal and solvent processing and in engineered and smooth surfaces.  Additional Cyrel EASY flexographic printing products are currently in development for the corrugated, beverage and folding carton markets. At drupa, DuPont Advanced Printing also is featuring the Cyrel FAST 2000TD, the next-generation thermal processing technology.