IsmaColor: a pre-press service with innovation in mind
At the inaugural Global Flexo Innovation Awards, IsmaColor, an Italian flexo prepress service provider based in Ostra, Ancona, won a Gold Award in the following categories: Conversion from other print processes, Creative use of Graphic Design and Print Production Workflow Efficiency. The entry consisted of three cardboard folding boxes that, flexo printed and produced with sustainable materials, delivered a very high shelf impact.
IsmaColor provides its services to flexographic and offset printers, allowing them to outsource the preparation of files and plates needed to print their products. As owner Mario Mancini explains: “Outsourcing a highly specialized process such as prepress gives the customer several advantages. First, the guarantee of always having access to the best technology available as pre-press is our core business and not a complementary process, so that we stay up-to-date with the latest technology to ensure the best product quality, reduce costs and waste. Our customers also benefit from the security of an optimized and highly efficient process, the reduction of structural costs and, finally, high quality guaranteed by skilled color management operators.” These factors have been critical to the success of the company, which has in recent years established itself among the best Italian pre-press service providers.
As a result of its approach to service, IsmaColor now includes among its customers various well-known brands. Mancini adds: “As this market is characterized by elaborate, refined and attractive products, our flexible customer service, care and support, in addition to the best technology, have been crucial to remaining at the top of the class.”
“With a market characterized by elaborate, refined and attractive products, flexible customer service, care and support, in addition to the best technology, are crucial to remaining at the top of the class.”
This commitment to service of all the company’s staff has allowed IsmaColor to win important awards, including the gold at the Global Flexo Innovation Awards, an international, independently judged contest established by Miraclon to reward companies that, through innovation, drive the transformation of standards in the flexographic industry around the world.
Using FLEXCEL NX technology, images produced are brighter and more vivid in color, and a wider printable color gamut is available to the printer. The system delivers a resolution of up to 10,000 dpi. The flat dot point of this technology ensures lower ink consumption and longer plate life and reduces machine start-up times, delivering considerable production advantages. For this reason, more and more printers and packaging converters are moving from offset to flexo technology, convinced by the quality and efficiency advantages of the system.
“Persuading a company that historically has worked in a certain way or purchased from the same suppliers to change its point of view and its purchasing policies is not a rapid process, since every change generates a perceived risk,” says Mancini. “However, thanks to years of experience in prepress and the flexo printing sector, our technicians can minimize this perceived risk and support our customers in optimizing their processes. and reduce overall costs and time to market for customers.”
Producing its own award-winning products
IsmaColor has grown a lot in recent years, thanks to the experience it has acquired in flexo prepress activity, especially in color management and printing process quality. In 2016, Mancini decided to widen the company’s offering and entered the printing market with the installation of a Gallus CCS 510 flexo press. With this machine, the company produced the Global Flexo Innovation Award-winning products entirely in-house in one go, from web to die-cutting.
The box for Emmediciotto – 09 Old Solution (a haircare product) was chosen for its visual shelf impact. To print it, IsmaColor used an iridescent cold foil film and, thanks to the advanced technology of the printing press and to the technicians who fully exploited its potential, productivity was high and the ultimate print quality exceptional.
The Mascalzone Latino (shaving products) box is a perfect example of a very successful conversion from offset to flexo printing, where the use of FLEXCEL NX assured an amazing image resolution with a quality equal to offset. For the Vitamin D (Frau branded) sample, Chromocard 300gr FSC paper was used. The FSC paper is purchased from certified local paper mills and is managed responsibly, bringing not only environmental benefits but also social and economic benefits.
Founded in 1996 by Mario Mancini, whose two sons, Marco and Andrea, now work with him, IsmaColor has 20 employees and is based in Casine di Ostra. The company’s modern and efficient factory combines beauty with function so that the architecture of the workplace actively contributes to achieving high standards of well-being and quality of life, important for the success of every activity.