In the face of rising solvent costs, specialist packaging artwork, reprographics, plate and screen producer Creation has challenged the packaging industry to rethink the norms of flexographic printing by cutting VOC washout from the process.
With ethanol increasingly diverted into necessary sanitisation applications, COVID-19 shortages are driving a significant cost increase in both inks and solvent plates. Creation has responded to growing sector calls for cost reductions with a portfolio of solvent-free plates, including Asahi CleanPrint AWP TM water-washable plate and DuPont Cyrel® Fast Easy EFE thermal plate.
As solvent supplies dwindle under challenging logistical conditions, the next-generation plate solutions also make more effect use of materials while boosting dimensional stability and overall print quality.
Matt Francklow, Managing Director at Creation, comments, “As an industry, we’re operating in exceptional circumstances. COVID-19 has fundamentally changed consumer buying habits and business operations, which puts more pressure on the packaging industry than ever before. As essential workers, we’re collectively demonstrating how fundamental we are as a sector. The last thing converters need is the rising solvent costs that we’re seeing impact the market.”
Matt Franclow, Managing Director of Creation Reprographics.
He contiunes, “We’ve never been afraid to pioneer solutions and sustainable working has been on our agenda for a long time. By offering solvent-free plate solutions, we’re showing the flexo industry an alternative way of working that doesn’t compromise on quality – quite the opposite in fact. Boosting quality and reducing overheads are not mutually exclusive; you can have them both. The best time for converters to invest in solvent-free plate technology was yesterday. The second-best time is now.”
Dieter Niederstadt, Technical Marketing Manager at Asahi Photoproducts Europe, adds, “Packaging suppliers, printers and converters are seeing significant alcohol price increases, in some cases doubling. Considering that traditional flexography uses an average of 15 litres of solvent in washout per sqm at a relief depth of 1mm and you realise we’re using 3 litres of alcohol per plate. It increases the cost by €3 per sqm of plate. That’s challenging at the best of times, let alone under today’s pressure – and printers are feeling the effects on the bottom line.”
Francklow concludes, “We’re passionate about the prepress solutions we offer. Creation prides itself on being a partner, not just a supplier. Challenging conditions like the environment we’re currently operating in show just why that’s such an important distinction to make. The difference is that we care.”
