Situated at the site of a former borstal in Pollington, in East Yorkshire, AC Graphics has over 40 years’ experience in producing wide format plates and film. It recently decided to reaffirm its commitment to flexo and invest in DuPont’s Cyrel DigiCorr technology.
AC Graphics was established in 1971, when managing director David Ball set up Accur-A-Cut. Mr Ball had gained his experience after art college at Reed Corrugated in Hartlepool and then at Linpac Packaging. In 1986, the business moved to its present location in Pollington, near Goole, in East Yorkshire, and in 1991, Mr Ball set up a sister company, ANF Limited, with Paul Stoddart, which still operates from its base in Shildon, Co Durham, providing pre-press services to the packaging industry. In 1998, the company name was changed to AC Graphics Ltd.
Preparing for the future
The company’s main area of operation is predominantly in the corrugated market and includes artwork and repro, film output and plate manufacture through liquid, analogue and digital production. It has a diverse range of clients, including brand owners, print management, wide web film manufacturers, corrugators and corrugated sheet plants.
Mr Ball said, ‘The majority of our customers believe that our quality and service always has been, and still is, second to none, and this is highlighted by the fact that we have worked with many of our customers for over 10 years. Fortunately we have been able to ensure we have always been in a position where if our clients needed to change or grow and improve, we have been able to respond very quickly and often it is ourselves that has lead and driven our customers through change.’
He continued, ‘Whilst digital print seems to be looming upon us, we believe that corrugated flexo still has a very long life ahead of it. We can see many changes and developments that still need to be explored and driven through evolvement.
‘With much more of our business becoming European based, we believe that we can further develop which will enable us to lead our clients with this latest stage of improvements through technology.’
Making a choice
AC Graphics is the latest corrugated pre-press operation to decide to invest in DuPont’s Cyrel DigiCorr system. This was developed to reduce fluting in corrugated printing and offers costs savings by enabling flexo jobs to be moved from pre-print liner to post print or jobs previously printed litho to be printed flexo.
The company looked into what it believes are the three main options for flat top dot technology and then chose to progress with DuPont and its DigiCorr system which employs what is described as ‘alternative dot geometry’. Mr Ball said that although the other two systems had their own plus points, having conducted several trials with clients, listened to their feedback and formed its own views, AC Graphics decided to progress with the DigiCorr system.
Mr Ball concluded, ‘We are currently working with over 25 different printers and groups throughout Europe and we believe that the DuPont technology will allow us to further cement relationships in the UK and in Europe, enabling us to help move forward some of our customers in achieving greater print results. Furthermore this will give us the advantage we need to gain new clients and grow our business in a very large European market.’
Steve Whitham, account manager, DuPont, commented, ‘I am very pleased that AC Graphics decided to invest in the DigiCorr exposure frame. Utilising this new plate exposure technology, the company will be able to offer its customers a step change in quality, helping them to reduce flute shadows and also giving a smoother laydown of ink.
Furthermore, because the DigiCorr exposure unit has the additional benefit of being able to expose plates in the conventional way too, AC Graphics has increased its production capacity as well as its technology offering with this purchase.’
