Excelsior Marking adopts Asahi Photoproducts AFP-R reduced solvent plates

The company, founded in 1905, in addition to producing flexographic printing plates, also offers metal engraving and metal stamping with its team of 19 members.

‘We have used numerous Asahi products in the past,’ said Brian Collins, Excelsior’s technical sales manager. ‘This included AFP-DSF, the AFP-BFT family of plates, AFP-TOP, and AFP-TSP. The AFP-R plate is the first one where we have worked with Asahi’s distributor Wikoff Color Corporation. In addition to the AFP-R plate, we are still using the flat top BFT and medium hard DSF plates, as well.’

The AFP-R plate is a solvent washable plate with reduced environmental impact and improved pre-press and press productivity. Asahi said it can save 30 percent in solvent use and is 50 percent faster in platemaking, saving time and energy.

This is another milestone in Asahi’s sustainability journey, reinforcing its dedication to continuously improving product development in balance with the environment. This is a hard flexo plate for high quality flexible packaging, label and paper applications, featuring several improvements when compared to a standard solvent-wash plate.

Tami Warlop, Excelsior’s graphics manager, said: ‘Key drivers for switching to the Asahi reduced solvent plate related primarily to the faster processing time. With these plates, our plate turnaround time is about an hour to an hour and a quarter faster.

‘The washout and drying times are cut in half compared to other material we use. And I will say that the number one thing we are seeing with the AFP-R plates is the consistency. We rarely have to change the setting for the relief from box to box, which is huge for us. With other products we have tested, the exposure times may change for back exposure from batch to batch, costing us time and effort to get the quality we need.’

Collins noted that another key factor was to be able to offer Asahi’s CleanPrint technology to clients.

‘This is important to them, because they achieve better press efficiency since they rarely have to stop the press for plate cleaning, and thus the plates last an average of twice as long,’ said Collins. ‘Some are using solvent inks; others are using UV inks. And both types of clients are very happy with these plates.’

Collins reported that flexo platemaking comprises about 50 percent of the company’s business.

CleanPrint plates from Asahi Photoproducts have been specifically engineered by Asahi’s chemical engineers to transfer all remaining ink to the printed substrate, reducing makeready time, ink consumption, and press stops for plate cleaning while delivering exceptionally consistent quality.

Another benefit for Excelsior is that the company has gained new customers because of adding these new plates working with Asahi Photoproducts and Wikoff.