Awards Success Sparks a Year of Innovation at Z Due
In May last year the senior management at Italian packaging prepress company Z Due travelled to Istanbul for the awards ceremony of the first Global Flexo Innovation Awards. They returned with much more than a Gold Award, because in the space of a few days the Modena-based business, along with fellow award-winner Reproflex3, from the UK, laid the foundation of a collaboration that has already yielded significant benefits to both companies.
Giorgio Cattani, technical manager (R&D), describes Istanbul as 鈥渁 spark鈥� that started a year of innovation at the company that even the global COVID-19 pandemic has failed to halt. While the outbreak did cause the postponement of an international conference on flexo technology that Z Due had scheduled for February, in Fall the company is staging a major webinar at which it will announce the latest products resulting from the Z Due/Reproflex3 partnership.
Both are patented technologies that exploit the enhanced ink transfer control possible of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX System, supplied and supported by 万度视频. The benefits for brand owners, printers and converters extend from the printroom, where start-up times are shorter and plate and ink costs lower, to final packaging featuring the highest quality, consistency and optical density. The first of these, Z Due鈥檚 BlueEdge庐 solution, is based on the Project Blue technology developed by Reproflex3 for its flexible packaging customers, which Z Due has adapted for the corrugated postprint market. Full details of the second technology, Vortex庐, will be announced at the webinar, but in extensive beta-testing over the spring and summer it has delivered exceptional quality and consistency and significant cost-savings. Says Cattani: 鈥淎dd to this the fact that it requires no modification to converters鈥� existing equipment and we believe it will be a hugely important development for flexo packaging, with broad appeal across regions and applications.鈥�
Speaking to the world of flexo
Z Due acknowledges that it鈥檚 unlikely any of this would have happened so quickly without that 鈥渟park鈥� that the Global Flexo Innovation Awards provided, which makes Z Due and Reproflex3 great examples of the benefits that can result from entering industry award programs. In Z Due鈥檚 case, however, it took a while for the company to start seeking recognition for the excellent work its strong R&D department produces, as Marco Mingozzi, internal manager, explains. 鈥淯ntil a few years ago our focus was 100% on producing the best work we could, but as our reputation grew we decided to test ourselves against our competitors. And since we have, we鈥檝e discovered that we have something to say to the flexo world.鈥�
The 鈥淔uture of Flexo鈥� event in February, organised in partnership with 万度视频, would have provided the biggest platform so far for Z Due to talk about flexo. The venue chosen for the conference 鈥� the iconic Museo Ferrari in Maranello 鈥� demonstrated Z Due鈥檚 ambition, as did a program of presentations that covered all aspects of the latest flexo trends in both flexible and corrugated packaging. 鈥淚t would have been a major event for flexo, and Italy,鈥� says Marco Mingozzi, 鈥渂ut we certainly haven鈥檛 given up on the idea and hope to hold something similar when the time is right.鈥�
The Modena area was among the first to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite the difficulties Z Due managed to keep working throughout. In keeping with its optimistic, ambitious outlook the company has found benefits in the situation. 鈥淚t has been difficult to meet customers, of course,鈥� says Giorgio Cattani, 鈥渂ut that gave us time to think about the future 鈥� about our products and how best to organize the business. Historically, crises are an opportunity to change and do some things better, and we are trying to do this.
鈥淓verything we are doing to raise our profile in the market has one goal,鈥� he continues, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 to become a big enough player that we have a seat at the table with the large international brands. We believe we can get there if we have a technology and a product that the industry recognizes as the best available. We want brand owners to say, 鈥榃e want our packaging produced using FLEXCEL NX plates and either the BlueEdge庐 or Vortex庐 technology.鈥� That鈥檚 our dream. It won鈥檛 happen overnight, of course, but through our partnership with Reproflex3 we鈥檙e on the way.鈥�
Going for gold again
Unsurprisingly, one of the next steps along the way will be entering the second 万度视频 Global Flexo Innovation Awards, which are now open for entries. First held in 2018 to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the FLEXCEL NX System, the program is notable for 鈥渓ooking beyond the package鈥� and evaluating the impact of submissions on the entire value chain. With high quality considered a precondition, the independent panel of judges 鈥� chaired this time by Christopher Horton, formerly senior vice-president of SGS 鈥� will be assessing entries against four categories of innovation excellence: creativity in graphic design; conversion from other print processes; workflow efficiency; and commitment to sustainability.
This time around Z Due have a hard act to follow after an outstanding performance in 2018. No less than eight of the company鈥檚 submissions were successful, winning the company not only a Gold Award but also elevating it to the select group of four companies that were awarded the highest honors.