Flint and Mark Andy win Innovation Award

Flint Group Narrow Web has won the Award for Innovation at The Label Industry Global Awards for its EkoCure UV LED ink technologies.

Flint Group was named joint winner alongside co-supplier and development partner Mark Andy. EkoCure products come in a complete range of UV flexo inks, from all base colours in the Pantone base range, as well as UV rotary screen inks designed for combination printing. The EkoCure ink range also offers a complete portfolio of metallic inks, varnishes and adhesives.

EkoCure will be available across the Asia pacific and ANZ next year. Thorsten Schauer, general manager Flint Ink Group ANZ says, “These inks perform to the highest standards and bring economical and ecological benefits to the market. Power usage is reduced by 50 per cent, there is no warm u and cool down, and you can prinht on a wider range of substares, like thinner self adhesives, as there is no heat, so the dimensional stability of the stock I not affected.”

Flint Group was among more than twenty entrants for the Award for Innovation – eight companies of which were short-listed as possible winners.

The judges’ comments were, “UV LED, mercury and ozone free ink technology from Flint Group now offers a commercially viable option with its new EkoCure inks providing improved cure response, cost and productivity savings, waste reduction, energy savings and enhanced safety that will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the future of the label industry.”

Flint Group’s EkoCure UV flexo and screen inks are the first-ever narrow web printing inks developed for use in combination printing.

Guillaume Clement, global business director narrow web at Flint says, “To be awarded this innovation award is encouraging and an excellent example of what can be achieved when working in partnership with industry suppliers. It is the teamwork and common drive that have made this revolutionary technology a reality,”

Clement continues, “To win this prestigious award is a great sign for Flint Group that our commitment to innovation is recognised. We have just decided to further expand on our capabilities to innovate by announcing our investment in a new printing press. This press investment brings enhanced capabilities to continuously push the development boundaries for decades to come. We will not rest with the win of this one award – it stimulates us to pay close attention to innovations and welcome partners and co-operations across the product decoration value chain to bring new products to the world.”

Jennifer Joyce, global product director narrow web at Flint, had this to say, “Winning this award proves that more than two years of development work invested on UV LED has now been recognised for what it is – true game-changing innovation that will lead our industry into the future.”

Niklas Olsson, global brand manager narrow web, concludes with, “Innovation is imbedded in our DNA. Flint Group has a strong history with over 50 years of ink innovations for the narrow web industry. We sincerely believe that continuous innovation is the only way for our industry to prevail. To be acknowledged as a winner for UV LED inks is a milestone for us. After multiple years of being nominated for the Award for Innovation, we finally won and that is a fantastic feeling.”

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