With the deadline for entries to Miraclon’s Global Flexo Innovation Awards now extended to March 26, lead judge Chris Horton explains why it is so important to highlight flexo printing success stories
Miraclon announced the deadline extension earlier this year, allowing KODAK FLEXCEL NX users to submit their entries until March 26, 2021, with an additional two months to finalise their submission afterwards. Responding to the feedback received on the additional priorities, challenges and demands the industry is facing, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, organisers set a new deadline to offer companies an extended opportunity to participate in the awards.
The Global Flexo Innovation Awards are not just aimed at recognising print quality; its panel of judges look to reward innovation and honour companies that are at the forefront of the flexo industry’s transformation. Chairing the independent judging panel of industry influencers and experts is SGS former senior vice president, Christopher Horton. As an entrepreneur, innovator and executive, Mr Horton has spent the past 30 years of his working career driving exponential gains in the flexo industry. We speak to Mr Horton to find out more about the awards, why companies should enter and what the judges are looking for.
What are the Global Flexo Innovation Awards and why should companies enter?
The Global Flexo Innovation Awards is a ‘one of a kind’ programme for prepress providers, printers and brands who are looking to highlight innovative work that is enabling them to push the boundaries of flexo. We don’t just look at the printed sample; we also recognise the value added by the whole production chain. We’re looking for flexo companies of any and every size to demonstrate how their own innovative approach to flexographic printing, combined with KODAK FLEXCEL NX technology, has enabled them to deliver exceptional value.
In 2018, the inaugural Global Flexo Innovation Awards received over 200 entries, proving that there are a great number of businesses with motivational stories to tell. For companies thinking of entering, it’s an opportunity to celebrate their team’s hard work and talent. In addition, we’re bringing together like-minded individuals to build relationships and form a valuable network of flexo experts.
Why do you think it’s important to highlight flexo printing success stories?
Companies around the globe are accomplishing great things with flexo, differentiating themselves from competitors and adding value for their customers. Our goal is to demonstrate how the flexo process continues to innovate and grow, becoming more powerful as a tool to produce outstanding packaging.While other awards typically focus on quality print, the Global Flexo Innovation Awards allow the industry to showcase how they’re using flexo technology to be more efficient, reduce waste and leverage environmental benefits, and execute work to a higher level to meet both brand and financial needs. It’s the perfect platform to showcase the transformation – and future – of flexo.
I believe this year is more important than ever to highlight this talent. While the COVID-19 crisis has been undeniably disruptive, the flexo printing value chain has played a key role in helping the world respond. We need to recognise the resilience of these businesses.
Global Flexo Innovation Awards lead judge Chris Horton
What are the judges looking for in the entries?
We’ll be judging each entry against four criteria: the degree of creativity in the graphic design of the project, conversion from other print processes to flexo, the efficiency of the company’s workflow and the level of sustainable print in the project.
It’s easy to be excited by a new technology, but we have to remember that it’s a means to an end and that there’s no point in investing in it if you’re not going to make money from it. That’s why, as well as looking for unique applications, more importantly, we want to see real-life, profit enhancing ones that stay true to the work companies produce daily, rather than being one-off novelty applications created just for this competition.
We’d also like to get to know the entrant, how their company works and what steps they took to get to the final submission. So, for example, why was a particular ink used? How does it merge with the technical needs of the packaging? How has the flexo set-up enabled increased efficiencies? If we don’t have an idea of the creative journey, it’s harder for us to judge the entry.
If you had to give three top tips to a company thinking of entering the Global Flexo Innovation Awards, what would they be?
- Know what makes you special – and tell us: Last year, one entry caught the attention of the judges for its creative use of design on pet food packaging. Typically, in that kind of packaging, you’d put down a white solid flood coat before the other ink colours. This company knocked out the white behind the eyes of the pet, printing directly on to the foil and making the eyes shimmer and sparkle. It was a very interesting use of creative design.
- Set your bar higher: This year, the judging will be more rigorous as we have a wider and deeper level of experience in our panel, which includes technical experts, academicians, brand managers and researchers. As a result, each entry will be scrutinised from multiple perspectives to measure on its holistic impact on the value chain. We’re trying to demonstrate how the flexo process continues to innovate and grow and become a more powerful tool, so we are keen to see entries that are pushing the bar higher in terms of the quality of the submission content.
- Back it up with the facts: I’m hoping to see more detailed submissions that clearly demonstrate how modern flexo, with the FLEXCEL NX technology, is delivering concrete benefits to the bottom line of each entrant’s business as well as the full value chain. As evidence of how brands arrived at the final sample submitted, we’d like to see examples of prints produced by the previous processes they were using. That way, we can really evaluate the conversion process from start to finish. Last time, because some entries only gave a minimal amount of input, we had to go back several times to get more detail, whereas the companies that provided, as part of their entry, the most information about what they did and how they did it stood a greater chance of success.
Mr Horton concludes: “I’m excited to be judging the awards again this year and to see how companies have evolved and innovated and, particularly during the crisis, have managed to maintain and grow their businesses, as I believe this is where the real talent lies.”
Download an application form from www.transformingflexo.com. The judging panel will review the electronic entry information prior to the final awards judging and may request additional information, so early submissions are encouraged.
