Aniken Graphics, a joint venture between Hamillroad Software, a UK-based prepress software solutions company, and Apex International, a global provider of anilox and metering products, have  announced Chespa as the Phase One Trade Shop for Bellissima Digitally Modulated Screening (DMS) in Austria and Poland.

Nick Harvey, managing director of Aniken Graphics International, says, “We met with a number of trade shops and have chosen our partners for Phase One based on their proven track records and commitment to providing their customers, brands and printers with the best flexo technologies.

“The partners, which will be announced over the coming weeks, have demonstrated that they are proactively looking at ways to advance themselves and their customers in the market through their investments in new technologies, Bellissima DMS being the latest example of that. Phase One sales of Bellissima DMS involve the use of Apex GTT aniloxes, and MacDermid or DuPont plates as this proven technology solution works ‘out of the box’ and maximizes everyone’s success when used,” he adds.

Printers can go through the website to set up trials of the technology. Alternatively, they can contact their local Apex sales representatives or the trade shops for their specific regions.

Chespa has developed over 26 years from a small local company to an established group with an international reach via the sites and offices located across most of Europe and the world. Due to the quality and reliability that Chespa prides itself on, as well as the investment and development of modern technologies, the company has won the trust of large multinationals and has been the main supplier to many print sites globally.

Chespa offers its clients a wide range of goods and services including printing inks, photopolymer plates, flat and rotary dies and the prepress preparation and processing of graphic repro.

Included in the company’s offerings, it supplies a wide range of inks, water-based and solvent, and coatings, designed for use in flexo, gravure and digital printing on a variety of substrates: corrugated and laminated papers, coated and uncoated substrates, tissue, envelopes, bags, labels, aluminum foils, PE, PP, PET, PVC. The entire production is supervised by the in-house laboratory research and analysis team.

Utilizing cutting-edge technology, Chespa produces printing plates according to the customers’ explicit requirements for the job, including machine, screening method and types of film.

Peter Stawinski, Chespa comments, “We are forerunners in implementing HD Flexo technology. This allows us to significantly improve the quality of flexographic printing, matching different techniques in offset and rotogravure.

“We promote a 7C system (inks and plates for flexo print), which allows you to achieve a greater color gamut. This is commonly used when a product line with a similar layout, but different varieties/flavors is in production. Thanks to this technology, we are able to create an extended gamut fixed palette set of inks, which makes the whole process more economical for the printer,” he adds.

Chespa’s Repro Studio (CRS) was created with the aim of expanding the range of services offered by the Chespa group. CRS has targeted the brand owners and producers for the food industry, who sell their products locally and globally. The brand owners want to ensure that the color packaging printed and produced is consistent regardless of whether it is printed in Germany or the United States. CRS is able to help brand owners achieve this consistency by managing brand assets, using technology and systems to ensure that this consistency is delivered.

Using Bellissima, high-quality prints equivalent to 350-450 lpi are produced with excellent image reproduction and no color shifts on misregistration. Utilizing fixed palette inks, the screening delivers smooth flat tints and moiré free prints. Vignettes fade smoothly to nothing, which is enabled by printed highlight dots as low as 1.0% and shadow dots up to 99.5%.

Working optimally at 4,000 dpi, the patented screening includes features such as 100% solid surface patterning options and solid object protection. Printing press issues including bounce, barring and slur are all reduced significantly and in some cases eliminated. Bellissima DMS also delivers on ink savings, which can be augmented by GCR based software, improves the efficiency of the press room, and utilizes existing printing press equipment.

Phase One sales of Bellissima DMS includes trade shops, converters and flexographic printers currently using Apex GTT anilox rolls and sleeves together with MacDermid Graphics Solutions’ LUX ITP 60 or DuPont’s EFX plates.