When Mark-Maker Company of Wyoming, MI, USA decided it was time to further enhance its imaging capabilities to serve the high standards of its flexo printing customers, the company researched the market over for the optimum solution. The Xeikon ThermoFlexX 80 S imager was a front runner, and after hearing about the Flint Group/Xeikon acquisition, Mark-Maker’s decision was further reinforced. 

As a long-time, Flint Group nyloflex plate customer, Mark-Maker had already grown to trust and rely on the technical expertise and support that Flint Group routinely provides, and coupled with the innovations of a state-of-the-art CTP system in the ThermoFlexX 80 S imager – the decision became clear. Now the company is routinely asked to produce plates that exceed the limits of their previous capabilities.

The company intends to use its new, high-tech imager to offer more to its existing customers through enhanced prepress and plates, and to produce finished plates for packaging printers throughout the US. “The packaging industry as a whole is demanding print with ever-increasing line screens, smoother vignettes and deeper solids, so it was important for Mark-Maker to find a solution with the flexibility to not only meet the current market needs, but also position the company well for the future of print,” remarks Chuck Bobeldyk, vice president of sales and marketing at Mark-Maker Company.

Resolution, speed and ease of use of the ThermoFlexX 80 S imager are the company’s primary reasons for choosing the Flint Group/Xeikon equipment. Greg Price, art director of Mark-Maker Company, states “The 5080 dpi resolution allows us to offer superb highlights with a smooth transition to 0% tint value, while solids and linework retain excellent detail. We now have microscopic surface effects that can improve solid ink density and ink lay down. The higher resolutions achieved with the ThermoFlexX imager allow us to meet or exceed customers’ wishes.”

The ThermoFlexX imaging system offers auto load and unload for faster overall throughput. Additionally, the new vacuum slider system provides efficient operation for partial plates and eliminates the need for manual masking and taping, while still allowing for full-speed imaging. Productivity is of paramount importance when producing large format plates, and the automation and design of the ThermoFlexX equipment allows Mark-Maker to meet the quick turnaround times of its most demanding and loyal customers.

Ease of use is facilitated by the special Flextray handling device that transports plates for easy loading and unloading in the imager and other plate processing equipment. The mobile table can be adjusted in height and tilted for easy manipulation, thus reducing one of the main causes of plate damage. The Flextray is especially useful in transporting the large format plates used in the corrugated industry.

Quality and service have always driven Mark-Maker. A company deep-rooted in the printing industry and founded in 1970, Mark-Maker began by producing rubber plates, and in 1976, added liquid polymer to its production capability. It further expanded in 1978, and added steel rule die manufacturing to forward integrate into the corrugated industry, and in the early 1990s, it installed sheet polymer plate production to serve the high-end packaging requirements in the corrugated and web printing industries.

Mark-Maker Company serves the web and sheet fed packaging industry with prepress solutions and design, liquid and sheet photopolymer plates, and flat and rotary steel rule dies primarily for the corrugated, folding carton, narrow to wide web and foam/gasket industries. Its customer base is corrugated, wide web flexible packaging printers, as well as narrow web label printers. With the new ThermoFlexX 80 S imaging system, Bobeldyk says “Mark-Maker Company is well suited to offer the high-resolution printing plates that will advance its packaging customers to new levels of print quality, and we are also well positioned to support other platemakers who need large format HD plates who are not able to produce them for their customers.”