Flint Group Flexographic Products has received the 2016 FTA Technical Innovation Award for its nyloflex FTF Digital plate – offering printers and tradeshops “The Easy Way” to achieve flat top dots on flexo printing plates. According to the company, it is the first commercially available plate of its kind.

The nyloflex FTF Digital plate offers flat top dots and a micro-textured surface without the need for additional processing steps or digital surface screening. This combination of features provides enhanced simplicity for packaging printers and increases efficiency in the prepress and plate making process.

According to P.J. Fronczkiewicz, product manager, Flint Group Flexographic Products, “By far, the biggest advantage of the nyloflex FTF plate for flexible packaging printers is its inherent, micro-textured surface that provides the perfect conduit for accepting and then transferring ink onto smooth substrates.” Fronczkiewicz continues, “This allows printers to achieve substantial increases in solid ink density and nearly flawless, mottle-free ink laydown.”

Printers will also enjoy the elimination of printed trail edge void issues with the new technology employed in the nyloflex FTF Digital plate. This technology also allows plate makers to process the nyloflex FTF Digital plate just like they would any other standard digital plate without the need for additional equipment or consumable items or further investment in high resolution imaging upgrades and software.

Due to the specialized surface texture, which is suitable for any resolution, time savings can be achieved by imaging at a lower resolution. With The Easy Way, it is no longer necessary for tradeshops to bear the painstaking and costly process of matching and equalizing the subtle differences in surface screening between plates produced at multiple locations using different flat top dot systems – significantly reducing the complexity of the prepress and platemaking process.

The nyloflex FTF plate technology was first introduced at the 2015 FTA Forum/INFO*FLEX.