Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41C—PROCESSES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR REPRODUCTION OF PRINTING SURFACES
  • B41C1/00—Forme preparation

Definitions

• the present invention relates to flexography printing and more specifically to methods and apparatus for reducing waste during the imaging and mounting of flexographic printing plates.
• Flexographic printing plates are relatively expensive compared to other types of plates such as those used in offset printing; therefore, flexographic printers will only use the appropriate amount of plate material necessary to transfer a graphic image. The graphic image is subsequently transferred to a substrate such as film, paper, or board, etc. Printers reduce the cost of printing when using flexographic plate material, by not using flexographic material where no graphic elements exist.
• Corrugated printing is a segment of the industry wherein this practice is common. To keep manufacturing costs as low as possible, the corrugated printer will manually prepare the electronic art in a manner that maximizes material savings, while minimizing the labor cost associated with manually mounting the plates for printing.
• This method is accomplished by breaking an electronic art file into smaller pieces called “slugs.”
• the slugs are then arranged using a software application such as the Kodak TIFF Assembler Plus, to produce an arranged "slugs file.”
• the arranged slugs file is imaged (or engraved) using a specially designed flexographic imaging device and software, to produce a flexographic plate.
• the flexographic plate is then cut into smaller plates called “slug plates.” Each "slug plate” represents a slug.
• the slugs plates are then mounted for printing. The process to prepare a job using this method is described in more detail below.
• a job planner or estimator will use an inkjet proof to evaluate which graphic elements are in close proximity to other graphic elements and can therefore grouped together onto a single slug plate.
• the planner or estimator is also evaluates the additional labor cost that will be incurred during the plate mounting process by breaking the file and flexographic plate into smaller pieces. Therefore, the quotation for the job reflects the optimal savings in plate material when labor to mount the plates for printing is included.
• a prepress operator will reference the "marked up" inkjet proof that was used during the quotation process to manually add and position registration marks in and around the elements that will make up individual slug plates.
• the registration marks aid in re-assembling the artwork during the plate mounting process.
• the prepress operator will then output a "mounting die" which is comprised of a CAD-CAM drawing of the container (or package) shape, along with the corresponding registration marks that were placed into the electronic art file.
• the mounting die is typically a piece of Mylar or film that is manually positioned on an optical/video plate mounting device or pin registration mounting device. The mounting die is used as a guide to properly position the individual slug plates on a "carrier sheet.”
• the electronic art is output to a TIFF bitmap format and checked for accuracy.
• the composite file is then broken into individual slug files for imaging. This is accomplished by breaking an electronic art file into smaller pieces called slugs, and the slug plates are arranged using a software application such as the Kodak TIFF Assembler Plus, and the resulting output file is imaged to a flexographic plate.
• the flexographic printing plate using current technologies is imaged (or engraved) using a specially designed flexographic imaging device and software. After the plates have been processed via solvent or thermal processing to create a relief image, dried, and cut to size, the slug plates are manually positioned on a "carrier or mount" using double sided sticky back tape and edge sealant.
• a method for reducing waste in imaging of flexographic plates comprises the steps of: receiving an electronic art file; displaying the file on a computer display; selecting a set of polygonal areas from the displayed file in response to cost calculation associated with the selection of the set of polygonal areas; automatically offering alternative polygonal areas based on automatic cost calculation analysis based on the selection of the polygonal areas; ganging the polygonal areas into a compacted slugs file; imaging the compacted slugs file on a flexographic imaging device to produce compacted flexographic plate; cutting the compacted flexographic plate according to the selection the polygonal areas into independent flexographic slug plate pieces; and mounting the flexographic slug plate pieces on a carrier while matching the original structure of the electronic art file.
• Figure 1 is a schematic illustrating the selection of slug plates with automatic indication of associated cost
• Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the complete slug plates workflow
• Figure 3 is schematic illustrating the complete slug workflow
• Figure 4 is schematic illustrating cutting independent slug plates from compacted plate.
• Figure 5 is schematic illustrating mounting slug plates on carrier according to the mounting die location.
• the present invention describes methods of selecting scenarios for reducing flexographic plate waste, while calculating the cost associated with a selected scenario.
• This invention will help in reducing labor cost as well as material waste in the process of flexographic plate production.
• digital image e.g. in TIFF bitmap format
• An enclosing rectangle 15 to indicate the carrier size will be displayed along with a guide to indicate the "first to knife” position off the die shape to the carrier.
• the user manually selects the polygonal shaped slugs 1 1 from electronic art file 10, which later on in the process will be broken or cut into separate slug plates.
• the slugs selection is illustrated for the purpose of an example, by the independent slugs 11 or by a combined slug 12.
• the combined slug will include more than one image, whereas the independent slugs 11 will include a single image each.
• the user might create a combined slug 12, usually in cases where the images that are forming the combined slug 12 are positioned in proximity to each other.
• Slug 12 illustrates an example of a combined slug since it combines image 12A and image 12B, which are positioned close to each other. (A single slug plate 210 will be prepared later on in the process reflecting combined slug 12.) In the case of a combined slug, images 12A and 12B will be separated after printing along the separation line 12C.
• the cost calculator 14 will automatically calculate and display the computed cost results, to reflect changes made by the user.
• the input data for the cost calculation includes:
• the cost configuration setup 13 includes among other parameters: fully loaded cost per square inch or mm for plates, fully loaded cost per square inch to manufacture each carrier, and fully loaded costs "per mount” to position and edge sealed slug plates.
• the invention helps the user reach the most cost effective slugs selection that is optimized to his or her specific needs, taking into account parameters such as plate cost, cost of labor, and other relevant cost related parameters.
• FIG. 3 The user can select to add marks to each slug.
• the type of marks can be set by the user.
• the user Upon completion of this step, the user will output a mounting die 32 to an inkjet device, filmsetter or plotting table.
• the user Upon finalizing the slug definition the user will select the option to compact the selected slugs to produce compact slugs 208.
• the user can gang the slugs manually or allow the software to gang them automatically.
• the resulting compact slugs 208 will be imaged on an imaging device.
• the user can choose to use a plate cutting device (such as from exact-technology) in order to cut the compacted slug plate 209 into separate slug plates 210.
• a plate cutting device such as from exact-technology
• Previously generated cutting instruction file will be supplied to the cutting device and it will start the automatic plate cutting process.
• the user may also choose to cut the compacted slug plate 209 manually into a plurality of slug plates 210, as illustrated in Figure 4.
• the slug plates 210 are then positioned on to a carrier surface 21 1 using double sided sticky tape and edge sealant.
• the populated carrier surface will later be mounted on a printing device for printing 37. Printing sites often tend to execute similar jobs from time to time.
• a job setup process 200 is performed to setup general parameters such as typical site cost scheme in a form of a cost file. In addition, parameters such in minimal margins and marks are entered. Usually these parameters are modified frequently, not per every slug plate job.
• the steps of a new job flow 201 will be described hereunder.
• a digital plate file 202 typically a TIFF bitmap file comprising plurality of plate pieces is displayed.
• the user draws 203 certain slugs e.g. 1 1 and/or 12 to represent desired plate pieces to be generated.
• a cost calculation 204 is made to represent the slugs drawing. The user might decide to draw more slugs 205, in this case steps 203 and 204 are redone.
• an automatic step 206 for calculating a better slug plate option that might be more cost effective may be performed by the software.
• the job planning 31 is completed, resulting in two outcomes: 1.
• a finished job plan 207 is ready and is being saved. 2.
• the geometry of the job plan is printed on a mounting die
• the next step is to compress the previously selected slugs resulted from job planning 31 into a better optimized layout geometry, resulting in compacted slugs area 208.
• the compacted slugs 208 are imaged to produce compact slug plate 209. Slug plates are cut from the previously imaged compacted slug plate 209 into independent slug plate pieces 210.
• Another embodiment of the present invention incorporates a reused job plan flow 202.
• a previously prepared job is opened and a required modification are made.
• the flow continues from steps 203 to 211 as has been described for the new job flow 201.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Manufacture Or Reproduction Of Printing Formes (AREA)
• Record Information Processing For Printing (AREA)
• Editing Of Facsimile Originals (AREA)
• Processing Of Solid Wastes (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Related Parent Applications (1)

Related Child Applications (1)

Publications (2)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (1)

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• 2008
  • 2008-02-05 US US12/025,807 patent/US8009330B2/en active Active
• 2009
  • 2009-01-28 WO PCT/US2009/000549 patent/WO2009099541A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2009-01-28 JP JP2010545014A patent/JP2011514545A/ja active Pending
  • 2009-01-28 EP EP09709259A patent/EP2242650A2/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2009-01-28 CN CN200980103967.XA patent/CN101932450B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related

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