Kicking off the seminar, Mohanish Satam, sales manager - India, Cyrel solutions, DuPont, in his presentation, shared the benefits of flexo plates, current packaging trends, how brands perceive flexography, how extended colour gamut and fixed colour palette (CMYK+OGV) is replacing Pantone colours. He said, “Flexo produces high-quality print (4,800 dpi), reduces the overall cost of print per unit, is versatile because one plate can print on paper, duplex board, flexible film and foils, permits inline converting flexibility, the possibility of use with different ink and drying systems such as water-based solvent or UV-based.”

Amitabh Luthra, managing director, Printers Supply Company representing Edale, informed the gathering about his company’s foray into flexo and the partnership with Edale. He said, “Edale pioneered single-pass scratch card production, have been the early movers in the label industry for full servo machines and gearless impression, developed a single-pass carton production machine based on specific customer requirement.” Printer Supply Co installed the first Edale FL5 + FDC in Asia in 2014.

​​​​​​​Mohanish Satam, sales manager - India, Cyrel solutions, DuPont

Ian Eccleston, sales manager, agent network for Edale, gave an overview of the FL5 single-pass carton production flexo line and an insight into how it's disrupting the carton market. “50% of Edale presses installed are used carton production.”

Eccleston highlighted seven factors that cause issues and challenges to the offset production of cartons. He explained, “It produces excessive waste, use of multiple machines which causes multiple maintenance and make multiple running cut off,  minimises workforce, bigger footprint, a large amount of work in progress and storage required increasing working capital.”

The seminar concluded with Darren Pickford, sales director, Edale, hosting a demo of the FL5 single-pass carton production line with his colleague Darron Shimmons, print and applications manager, live streaming from Edale’s UK headquarters.

Shimmons provides showcased Edale’s new FL5 flexo printing machine. “The machine has eight flexographic printing units and can run a wide range of materials, including plastics and films, on a carton thickness from 12 microns to 700 microns,” he said while explaining the machine's unique features and capabilities.

Speaking to PrintWeek/WhatPackaging?, Anand Kothawala of Online Packaging in Ahmedabad, said, it’s an interesting technology to have in one’s portfolio. “It makes sense for someone who produces cartons and would like additional capabilities to cater to labels or complement its offset production.” However, he said one would need to ascertain the feasibility of running either long or short runs, vis-à-vis offset, and at what point flexo will be a viable option.