Inci-Flex classified at second place for having designed and realized the “Easy to Plate Four” system, the first completely automated unit for production of high resolution digital photopolymeric lates. The Best Practices Prize for innovation has been organized by Confindustria Salerno since 2006 with the intent to favor culture of innovation and guarantee visibility to innovative projects in the Services sector.
In the years the Prize has achieved satisfactory results such that it was also opened to manufacturing companies, start-ups and spin-offs and even crossed the borders of the Province to become a point of reference in the Confindustria national system. According to the organizers’ philosophy, innovation, for the Best Practices Prize, is in every new action that leads to significant changes in terms of product, process, organization, methods, and social approach.
This year the conclusive event was held at the Maritime Station of Salerno, where the project manager Antonello Naddeo received the award on behalf of Inci-Flex.
Among 82 ideas submitted, the system realized by Inci-Flex won the second place, an important result achieved thanks to the foresight and entrepreneurial ability of Vincent Consalvo, CEO of Inci-Flex, who made large investments always believing in the importance of innovation as a lever to business development. Fundamental were the partnership agreements with Esko Graphics and ViaNord, finalized respectively to product innovation and process innovation.
With Esko Graphics a new technology called “Crystal Led” was developed that is a further step toward the offset and rotogravure quality in printing applications for flexible packaging. This special technology has allowed full attainment of excellent level, with higher sustainability, superlative print quality, improved chromatic stability and lower printing cost. The second phase was creation, with Esko and ViaNord, of a new line that bypasses nine manual steps (that employed, in shifts, several working units) creating a completely automated and aerodynamic workflow.
The old phases of loading the photopolymeric plate, engraving, main and back exposure, washing, drying, finishing, lifting and storing of finished plates were completely automated, permitting to minimize man’s work (in the Inci-Flex case, the personnel was moved to two crucial places that are the starting and ending points of the process, in order to reinforce controls and supervision to guarantee high quality standards).
The specific advantages in terms of finished product are remarkable. Crystal Led raises the qualitative standards thanks to excellent “high lights”, transitions toward zero (da correggere), the output quality on long print runs, the neatness of text and the excellent details of image. This technology permits to add very effective inking, similar to that of rotogravure printing, characterized by the correct density of full grounds, along with bright and lively colors, and excellent platemaking consistency.
The track that Inci-Flex is following toward the concept of “Digital factory” has as ultimate goal to perform some sensitivity analyses on production planning with regard to possible uncertainties. Identification of anomalies in line, of deviation from production plans by performing short-term simulations, would enable to run maintenance and to schedule services, manage orders and requests, track maintenance expenses, check the inventory, manage the workflows and forecast possible upholding.