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Innovation in print

DS Smith demonstrates its commitment to innovation after taking the pre-print category gold, technical jury, and outstanding awards at the ‘Flexostar Awards 2014’.  

At DS Smith we are passionate about innovation. We like to push the boundaries and use the latest technologies to demonstrate our expertise – and that is exactly what our packaging division did at the 2014 Association Technique Française de Flexographie's (ATF Flexo) Flexostar Awards.

After unveiling a high definition print of a quality never seen before, we didn't just scoop the award for our own pre-print category; we also took home the prestigious 'Super Flexostar' award along with the 'Prix du Jury Technique'.

ATF Flexo: promoting flexographic printing

Founded in 1982, ATF Flexo seeks to enlighten the world of packaging to the wealth of possibilities enabled through flexographic processes. The association's members include printers along with ink, machine, and board manufacturers – primarily specialising in packaging print.

Each year, ATF Flexo organises its Flexostar competition to reward the best of flexographic printing. The 2014 event was its 28th. A total of 39 companies entered 150 prints divided into 14 categories, according to their usage: cardboard, paper, films, and labels, to name a few. Entries were judged by two juries: a technical jury, focusing on the complexity of the design, and an artistic jury that judged the aesthetics of the design.

Although DS Smith is not a member of the association, we have entered the competition a number of times and won a bronze award in the pre-print category in 2013.

Recognising innovation in print

Two representatives from our packaging division stepped up to receive three awards at the flexography gala evening at the Palais des Congrès de Biarritz on 18 December 2014:

  • The gold award for the pre-print 'pré impression pour carton ondulé' category
  • The 'Prix du Jury Technique', which rewards exemplary technical achievements across all categories
  • The 'Super Flexostar' award, which rewards the top design and print in all categories

The winning 'Envoûtante' (which means 'bewitching' in English) pack was designed specifically for the event. The challenging full colour print and varnish was produced using a 175 lpi high definition print on coated white kraft paper.

It showcased advanced pre-printing techniques including gradients, light halos, gold and silver tones, transparency effects, and chiaroscuro – contrasting effects of light and shade. Judges praised the way the pack illustrated the advances made in flexographic printing, including the 2.8 metre flexographic printing width, the print finesse, and a powerful colour calibration.

Pre-print innovation improves print quality and cost

Envoûtante was printed on our Fischer & Krecke machine recently installed in the DS Smith Packaging plant in Velin. Equipped with latest technologies – including a GPS RFID for ensuring perfect pressure and registration between up to eight colours – it is one of only two such machines in Europe, and one of three in the world. The machine allows for HD printing with very specific criteria and the prints it produces are comparable in quality to offset prints – but at significantly lower cost.

It may have been the pack's technical complexity that led the technical jury to award us with the 'Prix du Jury Technique', but it was our ability to also impress the artistic jury that brought us the esteemed 'Super Flexostar' award, the highest honour to be received at the ceremony.

This is just the beginning. We plan to continue to push the boundaries, bringing our customers the latest in technical and design innovation.