Miraclon has announced the launch of UV Choice Printing, enabled by advanced plate surface patterning technology and specifically tailored to increase printing performance for label and other UV flexo printed narrow web applications. Available to Kodak Flexcel NX Technology users, UV Choice Printing offers both narrow web printers and trade shops the opportunity to increase print performance and stability across a wider range of printing conditions, decrease press setup times by 5-20%, and reduce plate imaging time by up to 50%.

UV Choice Printing optimizes UV ink transfer and increases ink density by up to 15%, minimizing the need for troubleshooting quality issues on-press, and delivering better reproduction of solids, fine lines, crisp bar codes and text at lower ink volumes. Plus, it enables presses to come up to color faster, while delivering results in a wider variety of press conditions thanks to the increased latitude offered with lower volume anilox. It also maximizes print productivity and quality when using older equipment or less experienced press operators.

In prepress, UV Choice Printing maximizes efficiency by cutting imaging times thanks to optimizing the surface area to be imaged (compared to imaging without advanced plate surface patterning), enabling prepress operators to cut imaging time in half. 

“FLEXCEL NX Technology is specifically designed to address inherent flexo complexities and costs, from prepress to on-press, to achieve the efficiencies, print performance and productivity users need,” comments Reid Chesterfield, chief technology and innovation officer, Miraclon. “This flexible approach allows our customers to continue using the flexo plate technology they trust and benefit from, without the need for new hardware to take advantage of our newest innovations while offering forward and backward compatibility.

“UV Choice Printing is the simple choice to enhance label and other narrow-web application printing,” he adds. It addresses the key concerns and challenges our customers are telling us they’re facing, allowing them to continue pursuing better productivity and efficiency across a wider range of print conditions and applications to maximize their savings.”

Narrow-web printers and trade shops utilizing Flexcel NX Technology can subscribe to UV Choice Printing through Flexcel NX Print Suite for Narrow-Web, a fully integrated platform to optimize print performance features for the Flexcel NX System. 

Subscribers benefit from immediate access to new features and innovations for narrow-web applications as they become available, and Miraclon’s field applications team can provide expert implementation assistance and training, platemaking audits and tools that help maximize the benefits.