TC Transcontinental Packaging announces that its plant TC Robbie, from Lenexa, Kansas, won not only a Gold and a Silver award in the Wide Web/Process/Film category but was also given the highest honor of “Best of Show” for the category at the 2017 Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) Excellence in Flexogaphy Awards Competition. Thanks to its Tops Herb Seasoned & Italian Seasoned Croutons packaging (gold and “Best of Show”) and Fresh Gourmet Crispy Onions Bag packaging (silver), these awards celebrate TC Transcontinental Packaging’s print performance, as well as its innovation in processes and execution.

“It is a great honor to win this award and to be recognized by the industry to set a new bar for packaging printing. Significant to the Tops Herb Seasoned & Italian Seasoned Croutons packaging was the requirement of flexibility to run multiple SKU’s per press run in ECG. Saturated solid and near solid color builds in combination with highlight detail in nearly all colors on the same plate required all areas of the tonal range be well executed and extremely tight register control,” says Pepper Stokes, General Manager at TC Robbie. “We brought together the best of the latest technologies in prepress, plate materials, and tooling with world class press room execution to address these challenges head-on showcasing the capabilities of flexography.”

“Very impressive registration of built type. Holding register on two sets of plates across the web was also noteworthy. Remarkable tonal range.” – Judges’ comment on the Tops Herb Seasoned & Italian Seasoned Croutons packaging

“An expanded gamut job with excellent registration in the knockout, challenging coverage of the highlight dots and impressive spot builds.” – Judges’ comment on the Fresh Gourmet Crispy Onions Bag packaging

During two entire days in January, 30 flexographic professionals worked diligently, examining and scrutinizing 481 entries for the 2017 Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) Excellence in Flexography Awards Competition. Judges were asked to evaluate each print on two aspects: how complex the print is (its degree of difficulty) and how accurate it is (its level of execution). The degree of difficulty included factors such as the substrate printability/ink compatibility, registration tolerances, plate/printing complexity, fineness of print or screen, tonal range and defect detectability, while the level of execution was rated on factors such as image sharpness, ink coverage, registration, dot/screen/vignette and consistency.