Anderson & Vreeland, a supplier of flexo prepress equipment and materials, marks a milestone in January 2011: a half-century of supplying platemaking equipment and materials to the flexographic industry.

In January 1961, Wesley Anderson & Howard Vreeland Sr. formed a company that has become a top flexographic prepress supplier. The business more than doubled its projected sales in the first year. A&V began growing with the industry it served, opening an Atlanta facility in 1964 and West Covina, CA, facility in 1969. Elk Grove Village, IL, soon followed, and a nationwide sales/distribution network was established.

In the 1960s, A&V supplied rubber and matrix, the main application for making flexo printing plates. The company also serviced and manufactured equipment used in the rubber platemaking process, including hydraulic molding presses.

In the mid-1970s, sheet polymer material was introduced to the flexo industry, and Anderson & Vreeland quickly became a manufacturer of equipment that processed photopolymer plates. The company addressed environmental and ecological issues long before it was fashionable to do so, introducing fumeless plate processors, UV-light detack units and environmentally-safe washout alternatives to the harmful chemicals used to process flexo plates. In the late 1990s, Anderson & Vreeland introduced Cosmolight, a water-wash flexo plate from Toyobo. The company also introduced the equipment required to process water-wash flexo plates, reducing the industry’s reliance on solvent-wash plates.

Anderson & Vreeland recognized the growing importance of digital technology in improving the productivity and quality of flexo, and introduced a complete laser-imaged computer-to-plate system for water-wash flexo plates in 2002, along with digital plate materials.

A&V continues to introduce new products that improve plate quality, efficiency and the environment, from companies including Epson, EskoArtwork, GMG Color and Stork Prints. At the same time, it prides itself on long-standing relationships with industry leaders including 3M, Flint Group, Rogers, Tesa and Toyobo.

“We’d like to thank our customers, representatives, suppliers and associates for their faithfulness and support,” says Howard Vreeland Jr., chairman of the board for A&V. “The past 50 years have been very good to us. We can’t wait to show you what the future holds.”

Photo: Wesley Anderson (left), and Howard Vreeland Sr.