Digital Proofs
Intelligent proofing to help you reduce risk.
When produced to the highest standard, a digital proof can be an immensely powerful tool to keep your packaging project on track and ensure you realise your aesthetic, branding and practical ambitions. Our decades’ of reprographic expertise enables us to exceed industry standards with regard to colour accuracy. As one of the world’s only reprographics companies to achieve the ISO 12647 colour management standard, we provide you with independent assurance that you will receive proofs with the greatest possible predictability about how your final product will look.
Proofing is an often misunderstood and highly technical area of the print production process, but one that can help you save time and money. Our proofing expertise benefits from our close working relationships with the world’s leading proofing software developers, and a deep understanding of the many different print environments that will ultimately manufacture your packaging.
The process of ‘fingerprinting’ enables us to calibrate our artwork files with the known profile of the target printing press. This helps us proof to the characteristics of the press in areas such as density, trapping, dot gain and colour gamma.
We go one step further, however, by utilising the trim area around the edges of your print to optimise consistency. We create control strips away from your artwork area which are for production use only and provide a standardised quality check which can be measured for consistency by everyone in the supply chain. This is absolutely key in the quality control process to deliver you the most accurate digital proof.
Flexo Proof
Making the ‘press pass’ a thing of the past.
For projects where you are seeking the greatest possible predictability about how your packaging will look on press, there is no better solution than a flexo proof. This is a step up from a digital proof, utilising the actual substrate that your packaging will be printed on to further eliminate the risk of inconsistencies. It’s so accurate that having to spend time out the office to go to your packaging printer to do a press pass may no longer be necessary.
A high degree of accuracy is possible with flexo proofs thanks to our ability to match our clients’ artwork to the target profile of the press. We do this by utilising the most sophisticated software available to simulate the characteristics of the press. This enables us to engineer the artwork backwards to ensure colours and effects will reproduced as desired.
With a variety of printing technologies in-house, we print directly onto the packaging’s intended substrates to deliver a proof that looks and feels exactly like the finished product. In fact, we aim to provide a match which exceeds current standards. This helps to reduce the expensive risk of incorrect plates being supplied when you finally get the opportunity to see your packaging on the press.
Our collaborative approach achieves the best possible result. We work with printers to define the characteristics of their press and create a target profile, which we can match to using colour software to measure densities, dot gains and grey balance.
HD Plate Making
Perfection in plate making – always in HD.
YRG’s plate making expertise plays a key part in the success of many of the world’s leading consumer brands by providing the vital link between the design, conceptual stages and the tangible packaging product.
Only with the right plates will your packaging have the maximum customer appeal. Which is why every flexo plate we manufacture is HD – no compromise. Couple this with our ability to deliver plates with a fast turnaround, we are able to react quickly to unforeseen artwork changes. Whilst offering a quality service.
Our strong relationship with Esko, the global leader in flexographic plate making technology, ensures we have the technical knowledge and skills to deliver an outstanding result every time. Their pioneering equipment is deployed throughout our plate making operation, enabling some of the characteristics of the plate to be adapted in line with those off the press. We can create a custom screen for a specific print environment, and substrate and build micro cells into the plate, improve the laydown of ink. It’s what our highly skilled plate makers do every day.
Our plate making process is configured for optimum environmental sustainability. Our recent investment into the Esko XPS Crystal 5080 across all sites, offers a consistent flexo platemaking workflow and reduces plate wastage. Thus enhancing our environmental sustainability pledge. Regarding our flexo plate productivities, virtually all of the solvent used is recirculated and collected into a storage tank, being fed back into the next plate’s manufacture. For some applications, we can also manufacture flexo plates using a water-based process for clients who are seeking to meet the strictest environment goals with their packaging.
Digital Flexo Sleeves
Superior quality, faster and more efficient flexo packaging.
As the UK pioneer of seamless photopolymer sleeves, YRG has the experience and technical expertise to provide you with the perfect printing sleeves for your press. Delivered ‘press ready’, digital flexo sleeves are an all-round winning solution for flexo printing – they allow for faster press set-up and run speeds, with improved print quality and reduced wastage.
Our platemaking team manufactures the flexo sleeve to the exact diameter of the mandrel of the press –this eliminates the time-consuming job of pre-mounting and the cost of mounting tape. Importantly the flexo plate allows for enhanced quality print, with no plate lift from the butt joints and perfect registration possible with minimal trappings and grips.
What makes YRG unique is our flexibility to provide any type of sleeve in a range of polymer materials. We manufacture sleeves in two different styles – ‘classic polymer’ or ‘thin polymer’ – to suit the printer’s set-up.
Production efficiencies are an important advantage with digital flexo sleeves. They make it easy to stagger designs, which can be interlocked and therefore cut the amount of wastage. The flexo sleeves can be mixed and matched with flat plates too.
Corrugated Plates
Customer focused and unbeatable service
No compromise approach
Huge experience and expertise
Latest screening technologies for the highest quality plates
More Info to follow.
If you need any further information contact
stuart.williams@yrggroup.co.uk or ian.newbon@yrggroup.co.uk
