With Esko and DuPont, Alpha Flex is poised for growth

The company specialises in fine halftones and solids in corrugation, labels and flexible packaging industry, solid ink transfer in corrugation, labels and flexible packaging industry, long running flexography printing plates and low dot gain printing plates.

On the decision to invest in a flexo pre-press house, Sudhir Arora of Alpha Flex mentioned three reasons. “First, we have around 50 years of experience in pre-press. Two, there is high growth potential in flexography printing and pre-press. Three, there is a scarcity of premium pre-press trade shops in North India offering top-end quality and services at affordable prices,” Arora said.

“Esko and DuPont are the inventors of digital flexo plate-making technology. They are the world leaders in digital flexo pre-press and plate-making technology. They are the solution providers with technology and they offer strong integrated solutions,” he added.

The company’s shopfloor boasts Esko software and a CDI Spark 4835 imager with high-resolution optics. The software includes Esko’s complete Suite 14 and Pixel Plus and the extensive hardware on the shopfloor includes the Esko CDI Spark 4835 with high resolution optics and the DuPont Digiflow. 

Arora said both the companies have professional, methodical delivery process and deployment and have quick support for several application and production issues. “Most importantly, the companies offer upgradable solutions without the change in the basic technology, making it completely future-proof. Moreover, Esko is a supplier to the entire packaging supply chain, including brand owners, and their wide acceptability helps reach out to customers and business growth,” he said.

The Digital Flexo Suite offers a number of ways to ensure faster flexo plate mounting without sacrificing accuracy. The flexo plate is cut up into smaller patches to reduce waste, but accurate mounting information is sent to the mounting device. Manual flexo plate mounting is intensive labour and can be optimised by the Digital Flexo Suite.

Reiterating the fact that flexography is a growing market in India, Ansh Bhatia of Alpha Flex said the new investments would help the company provide top-end quality and timely delivery at affordable prices. The company is also capable of offering superb halftones and solids and long running plates. 

While the facility is equipped with world-class technology, the company also employs people with vast experience in pre-press line in gravure, flexo and packaging. Housed in a 3,000 sq/ft area, the company has staff of 15 people.

According to Bhatia, the only way to ensure future growth is timely upgradation of the facility with state of the art technology and software. There is also competition, about which Alpha Flex is least bit worried. “Competition is healthy, with most players competing on quality, thereby benefiting the consumers,” Arora concluded.