Hyderabad-based prepress bureau Digiflex opted for an Esko CDI Spark 5080 imager. The partnership was announced at the recently concluded Labelexpo India 2018. This will be Digiflex’s second prepress line as it already employs Kodak Flexcel NX line.
“We were looking for a bigger format and wanted a different brand than Kodak. Basically, we wanted diversity in the technology that we employ so that we can service a wider gamut of customers,” said Muralidhar Nalli of Digiflex.
The CDI Spark 5080 can image digital flexo plates up to 50 x 80 inch size at a speed of as high as 8 square meters per hour. In just 12 minutes, it images a full size 42 x 60 inch plate of arbitrary thickness. The CDI Spark 5080 comes with an optional EasyClamp, to securely hold down flexo plates of any thickness on the vacuum drum.
According to Shyam Sunder of Digiflex, with the Esko CDI Spark 5080 the prepress bureau’s volume will double.
John Winderam, Southern Asia-Pacific general manager for Esko said, “We have been talking to Digiflex for many years. It just seems a natural thing at this time in the evolution of the industry and evolution of their business and our business that the technology that we have fits into what Digiflex is trying to achieve.”
“Digiflex has great reputation and it is important for us to be associated with them. It is important for us because it is another large format machine in India. It is also important because it is in Hyderabad. So, this is important to us for several reasons,” Winderam said.
This will be the first Esko CDI Spark 5080 imager in the southern India and Sri Lanka market. Esko has installations of CDI Spark 5080 in western and northern Indian regions.
Digiflex also tied up with USA-based MacDermid for plates. “This partnership, of Digiflex’s repro and prepress know-how and our different plate technologies, will push flexo quality higher and higher,” said Rahul Dwivedi of MacDermid.
