Mega Embalagens awarded thanks to Flexcel NX technology

The company was also one of only four entrants awarded the Highest Honors by the judges to recognize companies that demonstrated the most significant impact on advancing the flexo printing process.

In 2018, after the initial testing, the company decided to implement ECG using Flexcel NX Plates. Four years on, the award-winning job showcases what Mega Embalagens can offer clients using ECG. In this case, the client — an Uruguayan brand owner — wanted to relaunch its dried fruit line with a radical packaging redesign. 

Instead of a clear, unprinted package, the proposal was a printed stand-up doypack bag, representing a step forward in on-shelf visual impact and offering consumers a package they could easily open and reseal easily while also seeing the product through a window on the back of the packaging.

A significant challenge in the relaunch was producing short runs of the new pouch for test marketing at the lowest unit price. Mega Embalagens and its partners combined a unique approach to job-ganging (four separate images ganged two-by-two on a four-out form) with an ECG workflow using Flexcel NX Plates. Analysis of the designs showed they could be printed using five colors (CMYK + White) instead of the 28 colors (seven colors x four SKUs) required conventionally. This approach optimized color while eliminating three printing set-ups and 23 plates.

Currently, ECG jobs account for around 50 percent of production, and the share is growing. 

‘These jobs are all printed with Flexcel NX Plates,’ said Roberto Auricchio, pre-press manager. ‘Our plate consumption is much lower, and with ECG, we can reproduce special Pantone colors using a fixed ink palette of seven colors — CMYK + OGV. This reduces downtime between jobs because we don’t change the inks, just the plates. We also get big productivity gains — press set-up is faster, and cleaning between jobs is significantly reduced. We can also gang together different jobs using the same stock.’

‘The stable density ratio the Flexcel NX Plates provide allows us to transfer ink correctly and consistently, so we can take on more challenging jobs — for example, using smaller text, or replacing Pantone colors with more confidence in the ECG. And we use significantly less ink, of course,’ added Auricchio.

According to Roberto Gräf, sales director of Mega Embalagens, the company saw a significant improvement in quality and resolution since adopting Flexcel NX plates.

‘A few years ago, we were working with 39 lines, but today many clients demand higher resolutions,’ said Gräf. ‘So, we’ve standardized on 52 to 60 lines, regardless of the packaging size. But with Flexcel NX technology, we can go up to 120 lines of resolution in the matrix, so as demand keeps increasing, we can migrate work upwards without a problem.

‘At first, there were understandable concerns about whether we could convert their Pantones to ECG and ensure colors matched their expectations. But as they saw the results — both the production efficiencies and the quality achieved — any doubts disappeared.’