ThermoFlexX is now offering a total pre-press product to the flexographic industry following a worldwide agreement with fellow Belgians from Hybrid Software to sell Cloudflow, a groundbreaking ‘workspace’ concept for the web-enabled production environment. The deal also includes the recently released Packz, an application that is designed to “make high-quality editing of packaging and labels accessible to small, medium and high production volume professionals.”

“ThermoFlexX imagers, with their ability to expose any leading flexo or letterpress plate, have become a popular option amongst printers and repro houses, which increasingly no longer wish to be locked into one consumable supplier,” says Christophe Lievens, director sales and marketing for basysPrint and ThermoFlexX. “To complete the range we needed to add software that would enable customers to edit and process their digital files prior to imaging the plate.

“The management at Hybrid Software are renowned for creating pioneering software that leads the industry in terms of versatility and productivity. Cloudflow, which will have its official launch at Ipex, is certainly set to raise a few eyebrows. Combining this with ThermoFlexX imagers enables our customers to handle their pre-press requirements with a level of quality, flexibility and throughput that is unrivalled.”

Guido Van der Schueren, chairman of Hybrid Software, adds: “The ThermoFlexX team have more than twenty years experience in CTP technology and this is very apparent in the innovations they have incorporated into their imagers. In recent years the graphic arts industry in general has lacked innovation. Cloudflow breaks this trend in the field of software and ThermoFlexX achieves this in the area of hardware.

“The enormous changes taking place within the industry include the growing need for printers of all kinds to offer a greater range of services to their customers. The architecture behind Cloudflow lets companies of all sizes easily create local and private cloud-based environments in which to operate with complete safety.

“There are a great many synergies between Hybrid Software and the ThermoFlexX team, including the fact that we serve very similar markets such as flexible and corrugated packaging, labels and folding cartons. Bringing together the technologies of the two companies results in a really exciting opportunity for printers and trade houses seeking a fresh approach to overcoming some of the challenging issues they face today,” says Van der Schueren.

The six imagers in the ThermoFlexX series allow efficient CTP plate production for applications ranging from labels and tags to flexible/corrugated packaging and folding cartons. Users can tailor plate output precisely to the work being produced by selecting the most suitable resolution and ThermoFlexX offers what it calls “the widest choice of resolutions on the market amongst flexo imagers,” from 2,400 dpi to 5,080 dpi. The user-friendly design ensures ease of plate handling and this helps to keep plate wastage to a minimum. ThermoFlexX imagers accept 1-bit TIFF files from any workflow or front-end, which can be as simple or complex as required.

Both companies will be exhibiting at Ipex, where a ThermoFlexX 30 imager will be shown on the Xeikon stand (S1E090) interfaced with products from Hybrid Software (S3H250).