Reduction of costs, waste and unscheduled downtime!
Not just sustainable and affordable, but also delivering reproducible and consistent print quality.
Highly desirable for printers
Due to the highly competitive nature of the flexographic printing industry, customers and brand owners are looking for cost reduction, reduced lead times, higher quality demands and waste reduction; making material selection important for the printers. Water washable flexographic printing plates have thus become highly desirable to printers. Toyobo is a market leader in water washable flexographic printing plates.
Toyobo as a company was established in 1914. During 1970 it shifted away from fibers and Put its synthetic fiber and polymer chemistry technology to new uses, creating film and plastic businesses. In 1977, Toyobo launched the world’s first water washable photosensitive solid nylon resin relief printing plate, Printight. With the Cosmolight water washable flexo plate, Toyobo was again the first to provide a unique product. A flexo printing plate that combines the opposing properties of processing in water while being tolerant for water based inks. And thus Cosmolight lessens the environmental impact and creates a better working environment.
Toyobo’s mission is to build a richer and a more sustainable society by creating innovative products inspired by their customer’s needs and demands. Toyobo has a rich history of 130 years, shaped by listening to people’s needs and creating new technology to meet those needs. Toyobo attunes to the environmental changes and provides a flexible response by constantly widening their business.
The water washable printing plates are proven to deliver high quality image reproduction. The excellent print quality is a result of the phenomenal ink transfer which is delivered by the unique chemistry of the Cosmolight plates. Their highly innovative production, specifically their chemical composition and process, results in an increased lifespan of the plate as the ink is transferred with minimal impression settings. Minimal impression settings also results in reduced dot gain which helps in enhancing the print quality. Both these features allows the printer with to print the finest details and good solid area densities with the same plate.
An additional advantage of Toyobo water washable printing plate, is the lack of hydrocarbon based solvent and other toxic cleaning chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide. Only a small proportion of a mild detergent and regular tap water is needed. This not only improves the carbon footprint of a company, but leads to reduction of costs. Furthermore, plates do not need take long time to dry, making them “press ready within an hour”. This reduces the energy consumption allowing printers to cope with last minute changes in production. The time saved can be used for printing a sellable product, improving the efficiency. The Cosmolight water washable flexo plate is best processed on the Aquasupreme or Cosmoline with integrated water filtration unit. Disposal or reclaiming of solvents and polymers at the end of the process is no longer a concern. More interestingly, the polymers of any other solvent based plate are disposed of as a chemical while the polymers of Cosmolight flexo plate can be disposed of as regular household waste.
Toyobo’s water washable flexographic printing plates are not just sustainable and affordable, but also delivers reproducible and consistent print quality, reduces costs, waste and increases productivity. AllFlexo is proud to be the distributing partner of Toyobo for the Benelux, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Romania.