Miraclon, the new provider of KODAK FLEXCEL solutions, is vigorously pursuing its strategy of driving innovation in packaging flexo printing.
Customers, industry representatives, distributors and members of the Miraclon team from around the world come together at a series of Flexo Forums in the Americas, Europe and Asia to answer the question of „What's next?“ and get to the bottom of the future of flexographic printing. The agenda includes topics ranging from sustainability requirements to print production efficiency and automation, as well as technical innovations that will further advance the transformation of flexographic printing into a modern, standardised manufacturing process. The three-day events will shed light on the perspectives of the entire packaging value chain and promote ways to work more closely together to achieve a common goal.
Among the guest speakers so far Philippe Roulet of Pack & Mat Consult and former Head of Packaging Materials and Training at Nestle insights into the brand perspective of innovation with a special focus on flexible packaging materials and environmental aspects, while Markus Bauschulte, Technical Sales Director at Windmöller & Hölscher, who presented the company's views on Industry 4.0 and the future of flexo in the flexible packaging sector.
A lively discussion on the needs of global brands and how service providers can best fulfil their needs benefited from Christopher Horton and Tim Hirsch's extensive experience with growing service companies such as SGS and Pacificolor. Sanjay Patel, Former head of packaging innovation at Coca Cola, used its wealth of knowledge to organise workshops to promote creativity, agility and collaboration.
„Miraclon may be a new name,“ says Chris Payne, CEO of Miraclon, but we are already a force to be reckoned with.„ We have a decade of achievements to build on, a global presence and a forward-thinking team of more than 300 employees who are passionate about flexographic printing.
The launch of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX System in 2008 revolutionised flexographic printing and started a steady stream of innovation from our R&D teams, customers and industry partners, creating an entirely new industry in which flexo is a true alternative to offset and gravure printing. Supported by our KODAK FLEXCEL technology, today's highest performing flexo production offers a combination of quality, consistency and print characteristics that more and more brand owners want in their supply and value chains - and I'm delighted that together we're not standing still. There is much more that flexo can achieve and we are honoured to be at the forefront of this.“
Awards show the reality of transformation
The forums organised in the Dominican Republic and Istanbul attracted Winner of the first ever Kodak Global Flexo Innovation Awards together. Representatives of the companies from which the twelve award-winning competition entries originated accepted the coveted awards at a gala ceremony. These included prepress specialists, packaging printers and buyers from consumer goods companies, who shared their contributions in a series of interviews and panel discussions.
With different market focuses ranging from flexibles to the Cardboard and corrugated board production the innovators epitomise the theme of transformation. The fact that flexo has firmly established itself as the process of choice for packaging is demonstrated by the fact that 11 of the 12 winners have proven to their customers that flexo can not only match the quality of offset and gravure, but also outperform the other processes in terms of workflow efficiency and sustainability. All winning entries were printed with KODAK FLEXCEL NX plates.
