Collaboration brings home flexo packaging industry recognition for Sunshine FPC and Trisoft Graphics

Published: February 17, 2022

James Chuang, president of California-based Sunshine FPC, has no doubt about the value of industry awards: “They let us show what we’re about, and what we’re capable of. They’re key to our brand.”

A crowded trophy cabinet testifies to the company’s success. It holds no less than 16 Gold awards from the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) — including ten Best of Show awards — plus a PIA award, and multiple FlexoTech awards from Europe. Sunshine’s partner for all these awards is Trisoft Graphics, an innovative flexographic prepress provider serving narrow-, mid- and wide-web flexible packaging and label printers globally.

The latest addition to industry recognition— another joint project with Trisoft — is a Gold award in the Global Flexo Innovation Awards (GFIA), sponsored by Miraclon to recognize packaging businesses that are transforming flexo with the help of KODAK FLEXCEL NX Technology. An independent panel of eight flexo industry experts recognized the partners for three achievements: successfully converting packaging to flexo from other print processes (in this case, gravure), their commitment to sustainable print, and designing an innovative print production workflow. In addition, they were also awarded Highest Honors – given to winners that judges believed demonstrated the biggest impact on advancing the flexo printing process.

For the last decade, Sunshine and Trisoft have worked together to turn things around through a program of R&D, continuous education, training, technology innovation and capital investment. And steadily they have pushed the boundaries of flexo printing, printing with higher line screens and more sophisticated graphics and showing that flexo can compete with, and outperform, gravure.

The entry that won Gold at the GFIA is a gravure job imported from overseas. Printed on Sunshine’s Windmöller & Hölscher Miraflex Series II press, and rated by the judges as “an outstanding print job,” it actually comprises two separate, highly-detailed impressions printed as a combination print — an approach that posed significant technical challenges. Nevertheless, the judges noted that the 250-line screen and 9600-dpi output produced strong vibrant colors and fine detail within the product images and exceptionally readable microtext around the UPC and “Sell By” boxes.

It also demonstrated the strength of Sunshine’s sustainability credentials, being printed on a plant-based substrate instead of conventional petroleum-based PET film. Sunshine and Trisoft overcame technical challenges due to different ink adhesion properties to produce a winning result that reduced the total gauge, size, and dimension of the package, eliminated a lamination process and reduced waste and power consumption. The finished packaging is compostable in both industrial and domestic composting environments and is also suitable for anaerobic digestion.

Find out more at www.miraclon.com.