Global Flexo Innovation Awards

In a bid to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Kodak has launched a call for companies that are using their FLEXCEL NX technology to participate at the Global Flexo Innovation Awards. We decided to participate because we posses the technology and human resources to compete at the global level and we decided to choose samples that highlight the technical challenges that we have faced; and represent our daily activities.

One-hundred companies took part from 26 different countries with more than 200 entries for these awards. Mr. Pier Luigi Sassanelli, the president of the panel of judges, who is completely independent from Kodak, gathered a select group of international experts in flexography and global brands including Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and Kimberly-Clark to classify the samples received. Considering that high quality is a prior condition, the panel of judges assessed the entries in line with four categories of excellence in innovation:

1. Creativity in graphic design.
2. Conversion to other printing processes.
3. Work flow efficiency.
4. Commitment to sustainability.

The prizes were divided into three categories:

1. Silver (excellence in two categories)
2. Gold (three categories)
3. Platinum (four categories)

The panel of judges granted seven Gold Awards and five Silver Awards and four companies received the highest distinction with honors based on a numerical points system. Europe, Asia, North and South-America, produced 12 winners. Plastilene won an award in the Gold category for: conversion using other printing processes, work flow efficiency in printing production and a commitment to sustainable printing, Plastilene competed using world-class printers; exploiting the full range of Kodak technology to convert clients to the process of flexography. The stochastic and hybrid screens and advanced surface design techniques are applied to screening rules of 175 Lpi in Bandwidth to obtain: good quality, stability, sound reproduction, image definition and soft vignettes with soft fading that reach 0% without producing cut-off borders. We manufacture our own ink and implement our own densities and dot gain, which provides consistent color in long jobs.