Steurs reflects on how introducing flexo into its printing offer, 'to broaden its appeal to brands and converters', was a winning formula, for creating solutions for today and tomorrow.
An anniversary is a time for reflection: a time to pause, look back, and see distance traveled. Steurs Graphic Solutions can look back a long way 鈥� 70 years, to 1949, when the two Steurs brothers started what has become one of Belgium鈥檚 leading packaging prepress houses. The backward look will be a short one, however, because all eyes at the Antwerp-based business are firmly fixed on the present and the future 鈥� 鈥渙n continuing to create solutions for today and tomorrow鈥�, as the company鈥檚 tagline has it.
Those solutions have to do a lot in today鈥檚 packaging market, says general manager Dirk Cantens. 鈥淲e work across all three processes 鈥� gravure, offset and flexo 鈥� and the full spectrum of packaging materials: metal, plastic, folding cartons, glass and foil. So not only are we operating in a sector that鈥檚 constantly changing, but one where every brand, printer and converter has their own needs. Every environment is different.鈥� He adds, however, that there are some challenges that all these players face. 鈥淭o stand out, packaging has to make an impact. We call it 鈥榞etting to the heart鈥� of the consumer. And impact is a combination of things 鈥� colour, image quality and, of course, creativity.鈥�
R&D is the difference
Steurs offers its clients all three, positioning itself as a 360-degree service provider of prepress, premedia and creative design. Since 2014 a further string to the Steurs bow has been the R&D department tasked with solutions development. Explains Cantens: 鈥淩&D is critical to our philosophy, which is that to be a serious prepress partner you have to be able to innovate 鈥� to develop tailormade solutions to customers鈥� challenges. The department works closely with our sales and production managers, and is almost always at the table when we鈥檙e talking to brands and converters. We believe we鈥檙e the only prepress supplier in our region that does this.鈥�
So how does the approach work on a typical project? After the initial briefing, R&D creates a project plan to establish the steps needed to develop and implement the proposed solution: for example, custom testing on the press, followed by in-depth analysis. Next, Steurs engineers the proprietary screening and/or color management solutions 鈥� branded S-dot and S-color respectively 鈥� needed to deliver the project and submits recommendations to the customer. After sign-off, the solutions are implemented into the workflow.
Broadening flexo鈥檚 appeal
“In the last decade flexo has come on leaps and bounds. So we decided to make NX the platform for a new strategy聽to promote flexo as an alternative to the other processes.”
S-dot was among the first products of Steurs鈥� R&D investment, and illustrates the thinking behind the decision to set up the department. The initial objective, Cantens explains, was to broaden the appeal of flexo to brands and converters. 鈥淚t鈥檚 accepted that flexo has advantages over offset and gravure: lower cost, greater flexibility as regards substrates, and shorter lead times 鈥� and these are all important to brands and their printers. But in the past doubts about print quality and consistency outweighed them 鈥� things like lower densities and flexo edges.
鈥淭hat changed when Flexcel NX arrived on the scene, and in the last decade flexo has come on leaps and bounds. So we decided to make NX the platform for a new strategy to promote flexo as an alternative to the other processes, and made it a priority for R&D to develop solutions for high-quality flexo to increase its quality and stability.鈥�
He describes S-dot as a group of screening technologies that Steurs applies to Flexcel NX to control ink transfer and dot gain either locally 鈥� in specific image areas 鈥� or across the plate. 鈥淭his means we can print variable densities of the same color on the same plate, reproducing higher densities for solid colors while reducing dot gain in screened areas. There鈥檚 no edge on barcodes, and text is sharper. Whatever the substrate, we can guarantee these results. Today, more and more brands are convinced of flexo鈥檚 benefits, quality concerns have faded, and they鈥檙e willing to consider moving products across.鈥�
Asked how Steurs makes the case for flexo to brands and converters, Cantens鈥� reply is concise: 鈥淲e simply show them. We have an increasing number of successful projects in our portfolio: these show what鈥檚 possible 鈥� the faster time-to-market, the lower costs, and so on.鈥�
Steurs can also show prospective customers an expanding awards cabinet, home to a Benelux Packaging Innovation Award (for S-dot) and a gold award in 2018鈥檚 inaugural Kodak Global Flexo Innovation Awards. The entry, printed CMYK on high-shrink PET-G material, was a joint project between Steurs and printer Helios Packaging, with whom Steurs has worked since 2016. The relationship came about when Helios 鈥� predominantly a gravure producer of shrink sleeves 鈥� decided to focus 100% on flexo.
This radical change in strategy was driven by three new customer requirements: shorter lead-times, shorter runs, and greater cost-efficiency. 鈥淚t was a bold decision by Helios,鈥� says Cantens, 鈥渂ut one based on a clear understanding of how the market is changing, particularly the retail sector where most of Helios鈥� business is. It was made with eyes on the future.鈥� Approaching Steurs was a natural next move, and the last three years have seen steady progress in testing and fine-tuning new S-dot technology, including extending its application to shrink-foil.
“We don鈥檛 need to sell aggressively, usually the samples speak for themselves, and all that the brands ask of us is that the flexo result is equal to, or better than, gravure.”
The result is a growing number of brands looking seriously at flexo as an alternative to gravure and offset. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to sell aggressively,鈥� says Cantens. 鈥淯sually the samples speak for themselves, and all that the brands ask of us is that the flexo result is equal to, or better than, gravure, and that the design doesn鈥檛 have to change.鈥� He acknowledges that there remains a lingering perception that quality is an issue, but says it鈥檚 fading with every successful gravure-to-flexo conversion. 鈥淓ach day we鈥檙e proving the opposite.鈥�