Strategic Partnership Seeks to Disrupt Flexographic Printing Industry
18th September 2017
CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM – Apex International, a global anilox and metering solutions provider, and Hamillroad Software Limited, a UK based software company specializing in pre-press solutions, announce the formation of Aniken Graphics International, a joint venture created to bring Bellissima Digitally Modulated Screening into the flexographic mainstream.
Developed by Hamillroad, Bellissima Digitally Modulated Screening (DMS) is the company’s award-winning screening solution for flexographic printing. Bellissima’s patented technology has been fully optimized to work at 4,000 dpi on industry standard equipment allowing printers to achieve a high level of detail & quality of print normally associated with gravure and offset, typically 300-450 lpi. In addition to the image reproduction fidelity benefits, Bellissima DMS drives impressive benefits for the business.
“Bellissima is transformative technology.” Says Andy Cave, CEO of Hamillroad, the original creator and Chief Designer of the Harlequin RIP and founding member of Harlequin Limited (now Global Graphics Software Limited).
Cave continues: “We’ve eliminated moiré, the highlight dots are down to 1% and the shadow dots are up to 99.5% meaning beautifully smooth vignettes that fade to zero are a reality. A printer can breathe new life into their existing printing press using Bellissima; we significantly reduce common machine issues including bounce, barring and slur – features which are all patented in Bellissima. The benefits don’t stop there. Bellissima is helping printers save between 5-10% on ink, reduce make-ready times, and creates a solid foundation for the implementation of fixed palette printing.”
As a result of the partnership, Apex International has been granted distribution rights to Bellissima worldwide following their launch event at LabelExpo Europe 2017. For its part, Apex has aligned considerable commercial resources to support the partnership and their customers.
“Distribution has always been part of our long-term strategy at Apex.” says Doug Jones, Vice President of Marketing at Apex International. “For us, it is not just about selling anilox rolls and sleeves. It’s about delivering a total solution from wet-end to pre-press side to the printers we serve. So, when we have the privilege to align with like-minded companies like Hamillroad and we have the opportunity to deliver even greater value to our customers, we’re excited to be able to do that.”
“When we looked at the value our customers see with Apex anilox solutions, particularly our GTT anilox products, and we compared those with the value realized by integrating Bellissima into the printing process, we knew the two products combined would naturally provide better printing results for our customers,” says Nick Harvey, newly appointed Managing Director of Aniken. “Bellissima was developed and fine-tuned using GTT, so not only can our customers consistently see print quality results that exceed gravure and offset, but they can do so for a fraction of the cost allowing flexographers to gain significant competitive advantages especially with shorter runs.”
“We are extremely excited about our partnership with Apex. Their global sales network and marketing are well-established strengths at Apex and combining Bellissima with the standardization and consistency of their GTT anilox technology has produced considerable benefits for our mutual customers. For those reasons Apex was the natural choice for a distribution partner.” says Cave.
Hamillroad will be exhibiting alongside Apex International at LabelExpo Europe 2017, September 25-28, Brussels Expo Stand 11B20 and 11B22.
From the left: Pierre Hammond, Nick Harvey, Andy Cave, Robert Miller, Sally Dowding & Ken Ralton.
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About Apex
Apex International is a global leader of anilox, glue set, and metering products and print maintenance solutions. With 5 production facilities on 4 continents, a strong portfolio of clients in over 80 countries and a high-performance continuous improvement culture, Apex’s value proposition is founded on developing solutions to satisfy the complex challenges our customers face every day.
About Hamillroad
Hamillroad Software is a global supplier of software solutions for the prepress industry. Hamillroad solutions help customers save time and money during all stages of the printing process whilst also improving the final printed image fidelity.
Portfolio
Hamillroad Software specializes in Digitally Modulated Screening which provides unparalleled screening technology for Lithographic (Auraia DMS) and Flexographic (Bellissima DMS) printing.
The FirstPROOF solution allows users to simulate errors which may occur on press before plates have been made. It helps users save valuable time and money during the pre-press process.
In addition, their Lightning Plugins work with the Harlequin RIP to improve the output speed of TIFF, PDF or LEN files by up to 4x or more, making the prepress screening (RIP output) process faster and more efficient.
Company
Hamillroad Software is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and partners with resellers and OEMs worldwide to distribute and sell their solutions. For more information on Hamillroad and its products please visit their web site at www.hamillroad.com