Metal packaging manufacturers needing greater flexibility and the ability to produce small runs at a significantly reduced cost can now take advantage of a new technology from Impress, which says it can now produce, on demand, paper proofs for printing on metal, “from digital data design to composite sheet, to can, to customer”.
With what it says is “the clear need to simplify production methods in the printing process”, Impress, in partnership with Agfa and Springfield Solutions, has developed “Digital Paper Proofing” technology, using Agfa’s Grand Sherpa device. Impress says the technology considerably reduces lead times, increases productivity and means “significant cost savings” for customers.
Although digital proofing has been available for some time, Impress says it has not generally been considered sufficiently cost-effective or accurate for the specialist application of matching colours printed on metal. The challenge for Agfa was to produce six colours, to match the Impress six-colour print process, from essentially a four-colour machine. With specialist colour measurement input form Springfield and intensive research the three-way team says it has achieved a high percentage of colour consistency by using colour washed paper to simulate base metal. Impress says “superb, sophisticated designs can now be accurately produced using this ultra-modern technology”.
