The Fujifilm Flenex plates are water-washable
With the aim to increase production speeds and reduce its environmental impact, Italian label printer La Prensa invested in Fujifilm’s Flenex FW water-washable plate solution, which was installed earlier in 2017.
With an expected turnover of €25 million in 2017, producing more than 18 billion labels in the same year, the company uses solvent and UV printing to produce many different types of labels such as: paper labels; adhesive and thermal transfer labels; plastic labels and packaging; and shrink sleeve and adhesive film.
CEO Emanuele Delfino said, ‘We had a long wish list of things that we wanted to see in a new plate system. Optimal colour transfer and high-quality print were non-negotiable and we wanted a plate that combined those benefits with a fast processing system and reduced chemical use. Since these plates wash clean in water and a simple detergent, we have dramatically reduced chemical consumption and waste, as well as cutting our downtime.
‘It’s still relatively early days, but we have already noted that the quality of print from the plates holds up extremely well over long runs, our target is to get up to 600,000m² per plate set. With this investment we can be sure we’re keeping pace with a rapidly changing market and offering our customers the very best.’
Based across four locations in and around Milan, La Prensa is a major label manufacturer operating in the food and beverage sector for some of the biggest brands in Italy and around the world.
