MPS today announced its customer, Takara Pac Ltd., was awarded the Supporter’s Association of Chairman’s Award at the 22nd Seal and Label Contest on behalf of The Japan Federation of Label Printing Industries (JFLP). The winning label entitled “Tuki No Shizuku” (Japanese for “moon dew”) was printed on an MPS EC330 UV full servo 8-color flexo press.

Tsuda, president of Takara says, “Takara is very proud to win the Supporter’s Association of Chairman’s Award for our label printed on an MPS press. Being one of the pioneer flexo printers in Japan, receiving this award is confirmation that Takara chose the right path investing in flexographic printing technology of MPS.”

Awarded for its fine print quality, the winning label was printed in one pass using 5 colors and special varnishes on a matte silver polyester self-adhesive material. The fireworks imagery on the label was printed with a clear varnish to achieve a metallic and twinkling finish. For the expression of water movement, a UV released OP varnish was applied to an underlying layer of UV coat varnish for the pre-embossing effect, in combination with Japanese paper patterns. The summer night sky was created using deep gradation. The combination of using converging colours and semitransparent designs gave the label a classical Japanese look.

Takara purchased their MPS EC330 UV full servo 8-color flexo press in 2011 to increase production capacity and to upgrade quality standards supplied to their Japanese customers. According to the company, the press has a high degree of automation due to built-in MPS innovative technology including Automated Print Control (APC) to set print pressures automatically, Automatic Register Control, and the iControl press control system.