Sebastian Longo, Owner and Managing Director of trade shop Fotograbados Longo S.A., Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, Argentina, has a personal definition of quality. “For us, it isn’t just about offering print quality. It’s also about the quality — or efficiency — of the printing process. We want our customers to be comfortable using our prepress tools, our plates. Comfort means no problems during press set-up or during the print run. It means consistency, and everything being right the first time to maximize efficiency and save costs. “
To address the company’s needs, it installed a number of Miraclon products Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, including a FLEXCEL NX System with PureFlexo Printing, and a Shine LED Lamp Kit, innovated by Miraclon, which enabled the company to refurbish an older fluorescent exposure unit and increase their LED plate exposure capacity.
Sebastian says that he had tracked Miraclon’s technology innovations for some time, adding that a contributing factor to his investment decision was his membership of the judging panel for the Global Flexo Innovation Awards in 2019 and 2021.
“I saw first-hand the benefits that trade shops and converters were gaining from FLEXCEL NX Technology,” he said. “Our company slogan is ‘All Options, The Best Solutions’, and I realized this was a solution we absolutely had to offer our customers in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. After Miraclon introduced PureFlexo Printing and when I saw the print and process quality this technology enables, I thought ‘That’s it. Let’s start!’. It couldn’t have been soon enough.”
Fotograbados Longo was founded in 1938 by Sebastian’s grandfather Alfonso, initially providing zinc plates for letterpress. Under his father Rodolfo, the company was a player in the development of the Argentinean flexography industry during the 1980s and 1990s and is now a major player in wide web flexible packaging prepress.
Fotograbados Longo provides a full prepress service, from packaging design to plate imaging. The company works very closely with both converters and brands to provide tailored solutions for each job. Explains Sebastian:
“At the start of a new project we meet with the designers, the brand and the converter. Our role is to say what is possible, and what isn’t,” said Sebastian. “If necessary, we take the design apart and rebuild it from the color separation stage, so that everyone involved understands what we’re proposing. Since introducing FLEXCEL NX plates with PureFlexo Printing, we’ve had customers commenting on the increase in plate stability and ink control they’ve experienced during a print run, which is much better than what they thought was possible.”
With PureFlexo Printing in Fotograbados Longo’s ‘toolbox’ the company can now “confidently offer customers the option of fixed color palette (FCP) printing, and the massive production, efficiency and cost saving benefits that come along with it,” said Sebastian.
PureFlexo Printing, available through FLEXCEL NX Print Suite for Flexible Packaging, utilizes triple-form plate surface patterning to resist ink spread during printing, which is said to lower dot gain and significantly reducing ink build-up.
