“We moved into flexographic production during the mid 1990s at a time in Italy when it was not considered a sufficiently qualitative technology for labels,” says owner Luca Airoldi. “We have always had a policy of acquiring the most advanced machinery, equipment and software in the industry.
“Having an efficient pre-press department is vital so in 2012 we invested in HD digital flexographic platemaking facilities, which further improved quality and reduced production times. To increase throughput even more we have recently purchased several seats of PACKZ, which will not only aid the speed of processing jobs in the pre-press department but also cut down the possibility of errors.”
Italy is an extremely important market for PACKZ with customers there representing some significant milestones for HYBRID Software, which is the fastest growing software company in the graphic arts sector. In 2016 the 400th seat of PACKZ worldwide was installed by flexographic printer Z Due, one of the leading players in the Italian flexographic market.
Guido Van der Schueren, HYBRID Software chairman, says: “As the only vendor-neutral standard for graphics files, PDF eliminates the problems encountered by proprietary formats that lock-in users and deny them flexibility. By capturing all elements of the job in a single, convenient file, PDF ensures predictable results at every stage, without the need for file conversions which can often slow production. Offering support for advanced features such as transparency and versioning, PDF is increasingly the choice for packaging graphics production and platemaking.”
PACKZ is a revolutionary application that makes high quality editing of packaging and labels accessible to small, medium and high production volume professionals. PACKZ, available on OSX and Windows platforms, offers 64-bit multiprocessing as well as multi-threading for high performance PDF editing. The software can be used for automatic and manual trapping, color separation mapping, step and repeat plus text and barcode editing, basically handling all production requirements for flexo printing.
“We listen carefully to what printers want to achieve and develop our software accordingly,” says Guido Van der Schueren. “Companies are installing PACKZ because they need high productivity, cost effectiveness … and freedom to choose. Artes was able to easily integrate PACKZ within its existing pre-press workflow without having to make any changes. It’s one of the many attractions of the software. In addition, new features are continuously being created to ensure that PACKZ remains unchallenged in its leading position in the market.”