Asahi launches new flexo corrugated plate

Asahi Photoproducts has introduced a new photopolymer flexo plate, AFP Leggero CleanPrint, for printing on lower quality low-liner corrugated board.

Asahi’s AFP Leggero plate is a flexo plate that uses a soft base for printing to lower quality low liner corrugated boards.

The key to these plates is the soft base material leading to a plate that’s suitable for kiss-touch printing to avoid crushing the boards while also helping to transfer all the ink to the printed substrate leading to good ink density with reduced washboard effect. The CleanPrint technology also reduces the amount of cleaning needed, leading to better productivity. 

The plate is said to be ideal for simple brown-box corrugated applications such as fruit trays and single-colour logo type printing. Dieter Niederstadt, Asahi Photoproducts’ Technical Marketing Manager, adds: “Not only is the historical problem of board crush and washboarding virtually eliminated due to the softness of this plate, but there is also virtually no dot bridging and good ink laydown. That means that areas of solid colour as well as highlight areas are clean and crisp, as are fine lines and smaller type. This is the ideal plate for corrugated board post-print and will enable packaging converters to broaden the range of applications they can produce for customers, especially those that are not willing to sacrifice quality.”

Niederstadt points out that brands are looking both to increase the print quality and the protection of their products, explaining: “Asahi’s AFP-Leggero flexographic printing plates deliver both higher quality and better protection of the product by not damaging the corrugated box flute structure. This is a very new approach inside Asahi, not only to focus on print quality aspects, but also to add value for protection of the packaged goods. Our ‘Just Kiss. No Crush.’ tagline reinforces this quality and protective result delivered by Asahi AFP Leggero CleanPrint plates. In addition, as with all of our CleanPrint plates, the Leggero plates ensure less waste, fewer press stops for plate cleaning and consistent exceptional quality throughout the run, the hallmark of Asahi’s CleanPrint flexo plates. We expect packaging converters will be able to achieve up to 15% improvement in Overall Equipment Effectiveness when they use these plates for corrugated post-print, delivering a solution in harmony with the environment.”

You can find more details from asahi-photoproducts.com.


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