When printing industry supplier Xitron was founded 45 years ago, cameras and film still dominated the prepress departments of every printing sector. Phototypesetting had gained a foothold, but paste up, mechanicals, and stripping were still manual processes that required hours of labor and a very specific skill set.  It didn’t matter if the job was intended for offset, flexo, screen printing, or specialty, “technology” was moving at a pace so slowly that it would put a millennial to sleep – if the definition had been invented.

Xitron’s claim to fame in 1977 was a proprietary interface that allowed newspaper companies to choose their editorial front ends and typesetting system “back ends” independently. This gave newspaper production staffs the opportunity to choose feature sets from both sides that worked best for them.

Fast forward to 1992 and the first generation of software PostScript RIPs. Most imagesetter companies sold “one-size-fits-all” RIP and imagesetter combinations, locking users into few choices and high prices. One of the first developers of the Harlequin RIP, Xitron also designed interface cards that could talk to almost every imagesetter on the market, once again providing economy, choice, and value to an industry in need of independence. Think of this as an “open” concept before that phrase was coined.

By the early 2000s, CtP had overtaken film, and Xitron, now part of the Hybrid Software Group of companies in 2022, again provided freedom of choice to thousands of customers through the first-ever USB interface.

By this time, digital technology was gaining strength, not only in commercial offset but in flexible packaging and labels, as well. HP’s Indigo digital press had reached commercial success in the narrow web market, and there were many companies feverishly developing alternatives. Most notable was the influx of inkjet printhead manufacturers that provided core ink-to-paper technology.

It was at this point that Xitron engineers turned their attention toward Digital Front End (DFE) development to drive all those printheads. What followed was a successful collaboration with Memjet for its VersaPass, DuraLink and DuraFlex printheads, and with HP and its FI-1000 print engine. Shortly thereafter, development projects with (now sister company) Meteor Inkjet ensured that Xitron’s Navigator DFE could drive virtually any high-speed inkjet press incorporating printheads from Konica-Minolta, Xaar, Epson, Ricoh, SII, Toshiba and Kyocera, as well.

The narrow web applications for these systems now seem endless, with presses capable of speeds upward of 300 m/m, with and without variable data. The Navigator DFE is completely scalable, distributing processes over multiple threads, cores and computers, meaning it can meet any data rate necessary to match a paper handling/print speed, in line with the printhead specification.

The result is an easy-to-use print management system with accurate spot-color matching, CMYK or extended gamut color management, variable data integration, and step-and-repeat functionality that excels in label and flexible packaging production. Benefiting from this technology are customers of AstroNova under its TrojanLabel brand, and Colordyne Technologies, among several others.

Bill Brunone, Xitron’s director of OEM development, explains the significance of Xitron’s advancements this way: “The printhead technology developed over the last decade is truly remarkable and incredibly complex, and yet that was the easy part. Taking huge amounts of data, variable and otherwise, directing it to the printheads to fire at just the right time – at those incredible speeds – is nothing short of extraordinary. And we’re doing it with a UI as simple as those found on an office copier.”

Karen Crews, president of Xitron, confirms that market acceptance has reinforced the R&D decision and investment made years ago. “By the end of 2022, digital will be responsible for a full third of our business, and we anticipate that to increase 10-15% each year. Navigator DFE is fundamentally compatible with many systems, but since it has its own API, we can get new press manufacturers to market incredibly fast, regardless of the printhead technology they choose for their systems.”

While focusing Xitron’s R&D on digital was clearly the right move for the company, it wasn’t the only aspect to which Crews was paying attention. Traditional flexography was experiencing its own technological changes in the form of low-cost flexographic CtP engines developed by several manufacturers. The problem, as she saw it, was that low-cost output capability was only half of the market equation. Inexpensive flexo CtP availability might get a new subset of the market into making their own plates, but only if there was equally economical software available to drive it – a $50,000 workflow to drive a $50,000 platesetter was not a win-win.

After surveying several dealers and manufacturers for their thoughts about necessary functionality and optional enhancements, a clear picture began to form, and the development of Navigator Flexo Suite began in earnest.

An alternative to the established names in the industry, Navigator Flexo Suite is made up of four distinct modules built around the Harlequin RIP core. As of this writing, Xitron has an installed base of nearly 40,000 Harlequin RIPs worldwide.

The product also includes the intuitive workflow GUI for Macs and PCs, Navigator Plate Controller for ganging multiple jobs and separations on a single bitmap, and SmartFlexo Screening, with a landing price around $20,000.

“The screening is the game-changer,” Crews says. “We couldn’t put this together and offer a one-size-fits-all approach to the screening. That just forces the end user to conform to specific settings that may not provide the best quality based on their unique circumstances, be it plates, substrates, presses, anilox or whatever.”

To that end, SmartFlexo, which has a US patent pending for this screening technology, was developed as a completely programmable hybrid screening module that allows each user to precisely define the settings used based on the environment.

Unlike most hybrid screening, operators can select the transition points of AM to FM dots at whatever threshold works for them. The transition points of highlights and shadows are chosen independent of each other, and there are multiple selections for adding surface screening to help support minimum highlight dots. Perhaps just as important are the “SmartCell” settings that allow operators to remove pixels from solid and near solid areas in patterns that help prevent pooling and mottling on-press.

Industry consultant John Mascolo introduced Navigator Flexo Suite to Classic Label in Woodbridge, CT early last year. According to president Lindsey Fantarella, SmartFlexo screening addressed an immediate need for her clients and allowed her company to capture new business that had previously been out of reach.

“Many of these jobs had been printed digitally because of design elements that were more difficult to render in traditional water-based printing. SmartFlexo has managed to bridge that gap and allowed Classic Label to meet customer demands with the highest level of service and quality,” she says.

For his part, Mascolo has recommended the package to several other customers based on Classic’s successful deployment. “The print results speak for themselves,” he says. “But I’ve also found that plates last longer, they stay cleaner longer, and I’m able to print at higher speeds without sacrificing quality.”

These are side benefits that he hadn’t initially expected but welcomed nonetheless. He summarizes by saying, “Whether a job calls for classic screening for simple work, hybrid screening to help with transitions and complex designs, or surface screening to increase opacity, SmartFlexo has all this functionality built into a single engine.”

While it appears that Xitron has been developing for two very distinct and disparate market segments over the last few years, Crews sees it another way. “Developing for digital is certainly different in terms of the program functionality,” she says. “But in the end, we’re still facilitating the application of ink on substrate and we’re doing it with many of the same core components in both development tracks – namely the Navigator RIP and workflow.”

In this regard, Crews sees the Xitron product range ideally suited to accommodate current and future trends in the industry. “We know lots of printers and converters are bringing platemaking in-house because it has become more affordable and less complicated. We also know that many companies are bringing digital in-house to take advantage of inkjet technology while economically handling shorter runs. Based on these trends, I can’t think of another RIP and software developer better primed to successfully address this market through the next technological advancement, whatever it may be,” she concludes.