Throughout my first year since leaving the Flexographic Technical Association as Technical Director to join the rapidly growing Flexo and Packaging team for Kodak, I repeatedly heard people question if Flexo really needs to be able to print at higher resolutions with higher consistency and repeatability. I've even heard comments like "as Flexo printers you don't need to be able to print the Mona Lisa." All these remarks amaze me.

As Flexo printers you need to be able to print what your customer wants, and if that is the Mona Lisa, 0.8 pt micro text for security print, 300 lpi, 10.6 micron SQUAREspot, or on lenticular lens material, then not being able to do that just holds back your company. If you can't do it then your customers will be going to someone who can, and that will mean more market share and work for rotogravure, offset, digital, or screen printing, and less for you!

Lenticular printing is a classic example, traditionally printed offset because Flexo can't do it at all well, using analog, digital or direct engraved plates. Pacur, the leading manufacturer of lenticular lens material, have been attempting to print lenticular jobs using Flexo for almost a decade with no acceptable successes. This has meant the need to use sheetfed offset, with thicker and more expensive lens materials, and offline processing, all driving up complexity and costs. 

In the fall of 2008, Pacur and their prepress partner, Pixalen Studio, learned of a new Flexo plate from Kodak that was said to be doing things that Flexo has never done before. The Flexcel NX Digital Flexographic System used SQUAREspot technology, the same imaging technology used for offset lenticular, so they decided to see what it could do. They set up a test at a local printer using a Mark Andy 2200 to compare direct laser engraving plates to the Kodak Flexcel NX Plates. After 15 minutes on press the direct laser engraving was given up on--still no hope for lenticular. Then the Flexcel NX plates were put on, starting a new age for lenticular printing using Flexo.

Lenticular printing requires lines of precise size and location that combine to produce sharp crisp images and perceived depth. Because the Flexcel NX System transfers data precisely from the square pixels via the Thermal Imaging Layer to the Flexcel NX Plate as a 1:1 transfer, it fit the requirements for lenticular perfectly. The plates are used to print on the back of the Lenstar Lenticular Lens material, and when viewed from the front the image appears 3D. According to the people at Pacur, who really know lenticular printing, the Flexcel NX Plates printed as sharp or sharper than offset. 

I have repeatedly seen the enthusiasm and wonder from printers, trade shops, and consumer goods companies around Flexcel NX—from seeing samples at major exhibitions to witnessing demos such as at the Dallas open house where Narnia movie posters were printed at 300 lpi. But never have I seen such incredible excitement from the printers who had repeatedly tried to print lenticular using Flexo when they realized that there was now a viable option. At Pack Expo in Chicago recently we showed samples of lenticular printing from three print runs at three different printers, using Mark Andy, Nilpeter, and Gallus presses, with one set also printed and converted inline to be self adhesive labels. All 3 trials used a 10 mil Lenstar material and were printed using Flexcel NX.

From the first trial to the exhibition it was only 3 weeks, and so as great as the results were, even better is knowing that this is just the start. Now that it has been proven that high quality lenticular samples can be produced in-line using Flexo, more sophisticated effects such as motion will be tested. This could be the beginning of a new growth market for Flexo, with the sharp printing capabilities and significant potential cost benefits of printing and converting inline on a Flexo press. It will be a significant differentiator for companies using the Flexcel NX System, the only one capable of this. 

I joined Kodak to advance and grow the capabilities and market of the Flexo process, and this is a clear and significant step on that route. Even if lenticular is not for you, the capabilities of the Flexcel NX System will continue to open new doors for Flexo. This is not about little dots, or software magic, it is about the 1:1 transfer of the pixel from your digital file to the plate, and the huge improvements that can bring in print consistency and repeatability on press, where the Flexo industry must succeed. If your plate supplier can't achieve the stability of 1:1 image transfer from digital file to plate, talk to Kodak to see how we can help to add depth to your Flexo printing capabilities.

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