For Splash Graphics, the most important benefit of working with Miraclon and Flexcel NX Technology is the steady pace of innovation, said Dhiren Sanghani, co-owner of the company. “The Miraclon technical team is constantly making improvements, coming up with new technological differences every few years,” he said.
That steady pace of innovation is also why the Chicago-based pre-media provider recently expanded its flexographic platemaking operations by adding a second Flexcel NX System, this time in a 50″ x 80″ format. According to Sanghani, the investment increases platemaking capacity, adds flexibility, and helps the company produce and ship a wider variety of plate sizes to printers and converters nationwide more quickly.
Built on more than 30 years of strategic investments and technology partnerships, the latest expansion continues a pattern of major moves at key points in the company’s history.
Growth milestones
The company’s history began in 1992, when co-owner Valji Patel started the business in partnership with Bhavesh Vanani and Dhiren Sanghani. Initially providing prepress services to Chicago-area printers, the company made its first major shift in 1995 by adding multi-color presses and finishing systems, becoming a full-service printing company.
Splash Graphics’ next major move came in 1999 with computer-to-plate (CTP) technology. Though the technology was new at the time, the company invested in the largest Creo CTP unit available, a 58″ x 78″ system, along with a Creo digital proofing system. “Besides feeding our own presses, we were shipping large-size plates all over the country. We were early adopters of this game-changing technology,” said Patel.
In 2006, Splash Graphics sold its printing operations and returned its focus to prepress and platemaking services. “Instead of prepress diminishing – as we had feared in 1995 – our prepress was flourishing, so this became our 100% focus. Two years later, in 2008, we expanded into flexo prepress with Flexcel NX Technology,” Patel said.
Today, the company focuses on brand support, flexo, and offset prepress services. Prepress for food packaging is its largest market at 60%, followed by medical, healthcare, and shrink-sleeve labels. Additional services include packaging mock-ups and large-format display and signage.
A deliberate effort to differentiate
Sanghani described the 2008 move into Flexcel NX Technology as a deliberate effort to differentiate the company from its competition. Patel and Vanani evaluated the flexo platemaking options available at the time. Flexcel NX Technology had only just entered the market, but the two determined it offered the differentiation the company was looking for. “Flat-top dot technology was genuinely revolutionary, unlike anything else around, and delivered unmatched image quality and consistent print results on customers’ presses,” said Vanani.
A partnership that keeps evolving
Sanghani credited continuous advances in Flexcel NX Technology with sharpening the company’s competitive edge. “The Miraclon technical team is constantly making improvements. PureFlexo Printing is a classic example – we were a beta site for the triple-form patterning and now use it whenever the work suits it,” he said.
According to Sanghani, Miraclon’s commitment to innovation aligns with the company’s own approach of offering customers new solutions through pressroom problem-solving and press optimization. He said the company’s history – moving from prepress to printing and back to prepress – makes it well positioned to help customers improve quality, productivity, and repeatability.