International prepress company Hamillroad Software announced a new partnership today with Asahi Photoproducts, a leading pioneer in the development of photopolymer flexo printing plates. The partnership is set to satisfy growing global demand from brand owners, trade shops, printers and converters for a more environmentally friendly ‘water-wash’ plate making process that delivers best-in-class image reproduction.

Andy Cave, Hamillroad’s CEO said: “Hamillroad are delighted to announce our strategic partnership with Asahi Photoproducts. We were thrilled to discover how closely aligned our strategies for the future of flexo were when we first engaged, and we’re excited to see how our partnership can support the industry in the move towards a more sustainable manufacturing process with fixed palette CMYK and ECG printing.”

Brand owners are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and are taking a closer look at production practices including the reduction of harmful solvents and greenhouse gases. The combination of Asahi’s move to ‘Solvent Zero’, and Bellissima’s ability to enable fixed palette CMYK and ECG printing, offers the flexo market a strategic opportunity to drive down the consumption of harmful solvents and greenhouse gasses whilst driving efficiencies by accelerating the production process. Sustainability benefits can be achieved through the elimination of press wash ups when switching to a standardized ink set and replacing the use of solvent with water in the platemaking process.

Jane Petrucci, Hamillroad’s Head of Marketing said: “The first step in our partnership was to evaluate the Asahi AWP™ CleanPrint water-wash plate for narrow web use with Bellissima DMS and we are thrilled with the results! Hamillroad’s stringent and thorough plate qualification process demonstrated the Asahi plate to be of the highest quality, and in complete synergy with our aim to provide innovative flexo solutions to reduce waste and environmental impact. We anticipate significant interest from brand owners, trade-shops, printers and converters looking to align their packaging production processes with greener, more efficient and lean manufacturing practises.”