When you consider what can be done in a small increment of time, building a better package is not likely to be on that list. But what if it can be? What if you can increase your quality of print and lower costs in just five minutes? And the icing on the cake: most operators already know how to do it what it takes. There is no training required or limitations on the press that can be used to make it happen.
Let me begin by telling you how I came to this conclusion; it took a lot longer than five minutes. I started in the print industry when I was nineteen years old. After working for many years in different departments and having a range of experiences, I noticed that there was one consistent issue throughout: the struggle to maintain print quality because of dirty anilox rolls. It seems that this problem and the fight to correct it have been around for as long as flexo printing has existed.
We all know that one of the main factors of good print quality is the cleanliness of anilox rolls. When a roll is new and proper steps are taken, print quality is great. But that quickly changes as the cells get plugged with dried ink. That’s when the questions start flowing: ‘Is this print quality still acceptable?’ ‘Should we let this go or is the order going to get rejected?’ ‘Didn’t we just clean the rolls?’ It soon becomes an every day hassle. No one wants to stop production to clean anilox rolls; time is money.
After realizing that there weren’t many options for keeping anilox clean without losing time, I set out to develop my own alternative. I started looking for the right materials, ones that would attach directly to the print cylinder. During my research, I traveled to Europe and met with manufacturers there. After study, testing, and re-testing with multiple materials, I was finally satisfied with the results that came from micro-fiber.
It takes five minutes or less to install a Micro-Fiber Anilox Roll Cleaning Plate on most machines. And it’s the same principle as the printing plates that operators already know how to mount. The best part? Once the plate is mounted, it cleans the anilox roll while running press. No more forced down time.
By Dominik Mietus
