Magnegraf

Established in the early 1990s, Magnegraf today offers a comprehensive range of printing plate and advanced prepress services. The company serves various sectors of the graphic arts industry, with a customer base that spans several European countries and parts of the Americas. Magnegraf's customer base includes manufacturers of high-quality folding cartons, self-adhesive labels, publishing products, and flexible packaging. Headquartered in Barcelona, it has a sales office in Madrid and a supplementary flexographic manufacturing plant in Murcia.

Magnegraf offers more than 40 different products, many of which are produced using traditional graphic arts film. However, the decline of this film system, along with evolving quality standards, forced the company to seek alternatives. "This posed a significant challenge for us, as it was very difficult to find a real and efficient alternative to this film. We've spent years testing and evaluating the quality of different options, but none of the systems fully met our objectives," explains Juan Mesa, Technical Director at Magnegraf.

Magnegraf found what they were looking for at Kodak. In collaboration with its Spanish Channel Partner Ferpa Graphic, Kodak delivered a solution that has elevated the prepress service provider's film production to a new level. Magnegraf purchased a semi-automatic KODAK TRENDSETTER Q400 Platesetter, which can handle imaging media up to 838 x 990 mm. The TRENDSETTER's 830 nm KODAK SQUARESPOT Imaging System can image thermal film in addition to offset printing plates.

Ferpa Graphic had the right film material in its portfolio with Mitsubishi Paper Mills' Mitsubishi TRF-IR830 film. The high-resolution film is imaged on the TRENDSETTER and can then be used directly to produce clichés and screen-printing forms without any processing. Unlike other dry film products, this film is non-ablative, meaning the imager's interior cannot be contaminated by debris buildup.

The TRENDSETTER Q400 integrated seamlessly into the existing digital workflow environment. Magnegraf has long relied on KODAK PRINERGY Connect Workflow to organize and manage tasks from initial file input to final output on various output devices. A key integral component of the workflow is the KODAK PRINERGY INSITE Prepress Portal (IPP), which facilitates customer file uploads and streamlines proofing, correction, and approval cycles. In addition, IPP ensures complete transparency and clear communication between Magnegraf and its customers, many of whom are located far away.

For Magnegraf, the TRENDSETTER Q400, utilized as a film imager in combination with the Mitsubishi dry film, has become an indispensable production platform. "Our philosophy has always been to choose the best equipment and materials available. The solution created by Kodak and Ferpa Graphic has significantly increased our productivity while delivering greater consistency and quality. In every respect, it outperforms our previous systems. Our customers have responded very positively to the results we achieve with the new solution right from the start," Juan Mesa concludes.

"This system has far surpassed our old systems in every single aspect," comments Daniel Hurtado. He adds, "With this latest technology, we’ve improved our products in gravure and embossing, various types of photopolymers, screen printing, and more. We have absolute density reliability and even better resolution. In addition to increased productivity, something very important is the incredible environmental improvement, as chemical products and/or powdered waste have completely disappeared."