Indian prepress trade shop Numex Blocks has invested in the full Esko workflow and Crystal line of platemaking solutions following the recent virtual.drupa event. The Mumbai-based specialist in flexo and letterpress plate production, which serves customers in the flexible packaging, labels, letterpress and corrugated markets in India, has boosted its capacity with the Esko CDI Crystal 5080 plate imager and XPS Crystal 5080 exposing unit, together with extended gamut printing software Equinox, and the award-winning Print Control Wizard.
“Almost 20 years ago, Numex became the first trade shop in India to offer digital flexo platemaking,” said Murad Kalal, Esko’s flexo and software regional sales manager. “This trend continued throughout the years, with the company investing in the Esko CDI Advance Cantilever 1450 with HD Flexo to guarantee its customers the highest quality print results, before pioneering again in 2013, when Numex became the first company in South Asia to install the Esko CDI 5080 with HD Flexo & Pixel+.
“Over the years, Numex Blocks continuously upgraded its workflow software and works today with the full range of latest software from Esko, including Automation Engine, DeskPack, Imaging Engine and more than 20 seats for PackEdge,” Kalal said. “We have recently agreed a deal which will maintain their position at the leading edge of technology with the acquisition of the full Crystal line.
“With the innovative Crystal technology from Esko, the platemaking process – in terms of imaging and exposure – is now much less complex and has significantly fewer steps. The integration of our workflow solutions and hardware technology means that the Numex team are now completely in control of the quality and performance of their plates and subsequent print consistency.”
At the heart of its system, Numex has installed the award-winning Esko XPS Crystal exposure unit. Combining UV main and back exposure, the XPS Crystal uses LEDs which do not require warm-up time and always emit even light, producing excellent consistency of plate quality and subsequently on press.
“As well as the latest imaging technology, the team is using Esko Automation Engine and the Print Control Wizard – with its Crystal Screening technology – to automate the workflow,” explained Kalal. “They have a full Esko Crystal ecosystem in operation, producing consistently high quality plates.”
Nitin Patil, owner of Numex Blocks, said that the new acquisition was part of the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering the best quality plates to its customers, and would be a key part of its continued growth and development.
“The ability to produce the very highest quality plates, that deliver consistent print quality, improves our agility to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers,” said Patil. “Obviously, this is particularly valuable to us in terms of meeting the demands of those urgent, short runs with shorter lead times, but also on longer runs where consistency is key.
“Following our success with Esko integrated hardware and software solutions across the last two decades, we are delighted to have been able to install the entire Crystal line into our platemaking facility,” he said.
