One of Asia’s largest gravure cylinder makers, Shilp moved into flexographic plate manufacturing in 2008. Having worked with Esko and used the company’s integrated software and hardware solutions for more than 25 years, the company installed the industry leading Esko CDI Crystal and XPS plate imager and exposure solution at its facility in Rakanpur in Gujarat.

“We have worked with the team at Shilp Gravures for a number of years, since before they moved into flexo plate manufacturing,” said Murad Kalal, Esko regional sales manager.  “The XPS Crystal Program was developed to recognise those businesses that consistently produce superior plates, which lead to superior flexographic print quality,” added Murad. “This certification underlines the professionalism and dedication to excellence of the Shilp Gravures flexographic team and recognizes their commitment to producing the very highest quality plates.”

Gajanan Bhavsar, marketing director with Shilp, said the company has worked hard to develop a strong relationship and reputation during its more than 30 years in business. “This has led to us being a leading supplier to the industry,” said Bhavsar.

“We have a very strong, experienced workforce that understands our clients’ requirements and adapts quickly to new trends and technologies. While this makes us a preferred supplier of plates, it also means that we are under constant pressure to deliver large volumes of quality plates, as quickly as possible.”

In order to continue meeting the ever-increasing customer demand, to further improve productivity, and in turn customer satisfaction levels, Shilp Gravures sought to adopt a more efficient workflow. “We were looking to maximise output in terms of productivity while also reducing errors, waste and operator time,” said Bhavsar.

Shilp’s plant in Rakanpur, near Ahmedabad

He explained that the combination of the Esko CDI Crystal 5080 with the XPS Crystal 5080 enabled Shilp Gravures to streamline its flexo platemaking with a far more efficient workflow. “The CDI Crystal 5080 XPS delivers huge benefits to us,” said Bhavsar. “We have reduced manual steps, reduced errors which means less plate waste, and reduced the amount of operator time,” he said. “Now instead of needing to send a flexo plate through as many as seven individual manual steps, a coordinated, linear process makes things incredibly simple, and fast. We can now expose six- to eight-colour wide-web plates at a time.”

“With our complete Esko set-up, we are able to supply flexo plates even faster with unmatched relief, image consistency and perfectly formed flat-top dots,” he said. “Achieving the gold standard Crystal XPS Certification was the logical next step for us.”

The XPS Crystal Certification Program is open to all users of the innovative Esko XPS Crystal exposure unit, the award-winning technology which optimally combines UV main and back exposure, using LEDs that always emit consistent UV light.

As a certified Esko partner, Shilp Gravures benefits from benchmarking and identification of best practice around quality control processes and production efficiency. 

“The XPS Crystal Certification Program was developed to ensure the entire supply chain can meet the exacting needs and requirements of brands and converters in terms of predictable and accurate plate quality and the highest plate making consistency available, for any given photopolymer,” added Kalal.