[dropcaps style=’2′]Shilp Gravures, one of Asia’s largest gravure cylinder makers, has become the first company in India to install the Kodak Flexcel NX Wide 50 x 80 system. The investment in Kodak’s Flexcel NX technology underpins Shilp Gravures’ strategy and confidence in the system to help grow its flexography business. At its Plastindia stand, Shilp displayed India’s first 50 x 80-inch NX flexo plate which was made using the Kodak Flexcel NX Wide 50 x 80 system.[/dropcaps]

Explaining how the company chose to invest in their new flexo plate-making setup, Gajanan Bhavsar, marketing director at Shilp Gravures, said, “The market and our customers demand higher levels of productivity and improved output. There is a realization that flexo quality today rivals gravure, while also reducing the number of colors on press. With the Flexcel NX System and plates, Kodak has better technology on offer and also the capability of imaging a 50 x 80 flexo plate – a first for India, that enables us to efficiently make large-format plates. With this, we can also cater to the demands of corrugation industry. We have observed smoother vignettes and better solid ink density with Kodak’s NX digital flexo plates, meaning we can use higher screens and really bump up quality. Add to this enhanced ink transfer capacity and higher resolution with flat top dots, and we get a quality plate that allows for fine image reproduction that delivers superior output with today’s new, high-tech CI and label presses.”

Bhavsar added, “Kodak and their technology has been serving the printing and graphic arts industry since a long time. Their local service as well as continuous efforts with global R&D are a good fit. This recent addition of the Flexcel NX Wide 50 x 80 system blends well with our existing setup and helps us be future ready.”

–Pranay Mathur