With Print Control Wizard’s Crystal Screening, Rivendell Manufactures “Perfect Plates that Deliver Perfect Results” for Packaging Customers

UK reprographics and platemaking company uses in-line Crystal technology and award-winning software to maximize plate and print quality while reducing waste

The Challenge:

Delivering highest quality plates for optimum print results

The Solution:

Crystal screens in plate creation with Esko Print Control Wizard software

The Benefits:

Perfect plates, greater ink laydown and overall print quality, waste reduction and efficiency gains

Case Study Summary

Working with leading retailers and brands for over 25 years, Rivendell are responsible for delivering award-winning packaging designs from concept through to shelf. As brand implementation specialists, Rivendell’s services span the entire retail launch process from design, artwork and graphics to photography, platemaking and print management. Increasing efficiencies and brand control, Rivendell is also part of the Coveris Group, responsible for delivering sustainable paper and plastic packaging formats to the world’s leading brands.

From its facility in Leeds, United Kingdom, Rivendell offers the complete range of print and graphic support services, using Esko Print Control Wizard in its plate production for customers across the flexibles, paperboard and corrugated packaging sectors. “In our experience, the Crystal screening in Print Control Wizard simplifies the overall platemaking process and ultimately gives a better quality plate, that subsequently delivers improved ink laydown, better highlights and – put simply – a better quality print,” said Gary Dawson, Quality Manager at Rivendell.

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Photo of Gary Dawson, Quality Manager at Rivendell running Print Control Wizard on his computer.

Better Plates Deliver Better Results

Rivendell uses a full ecosystem of Esko prepress software in its reprographics and platemaking, from Automation Engine, DeskPack and WebCenter through to Imaging Engine, Flexo Engine and Print Control Wizard with its Crystal screening.

“We use pretty much every bit of software from Esko in our prepress,” explained Lee Jones, Head of Graphic Systems at Rivendell.

With Crystal screening, we’re able to offer the best quality product. This means printers get better ink laydown, better white coverage, much better solid color, transition of highlight dots and so on. The overall quality is just massively improved.

Gary Dawson – Quality Manager, Rivendell

“We have our own in-house platemaking facility, equipped with Esko 5080 CDI Crystals as well as XPS Crystal exposure units,” said Lee. “We started using Print Control Wizard around four years ago, and as recently as the end of 2023 we began using PCW for Corrugated.”

Gary Dawson explained that Rivendell prides itself on being at the forefront of technological developments in the industry, and so the team was quick to see the benefits of Crystal screening. “Then when our customers hear about it, they are keen to see the difference it gives to their plates and the final print quality,” he said. “With Crystal screening, we’re able to offer the best quality product. This means printers get better ink laydown, better white coverage, much better solid color, transition of highlight dots and so on. The overall quality is just massively improved.”

Perfect Plates for Optimum Print Results

As well as supplying its parent company and working direct with packaging print converters to deliver flexo plates, Rivendell also supplies plates to a number of brands across the packaging sector.

“Because we are using the large Esko CDI 5080 and XPS machines, we can easily make the highest quality plates for both our narrow web and wide web customers,” added Lee Jones. “This means we have been able to build up a portfolio of client brands and customers from across the packaging sector, from food and drink, films and flexibles through to labels and corrugated. We make flexo plates for any and all sectors,” he said.

The Print Control Wizard software from Esko outputs a set of Crystal Screens and curves used for plate exposing on a CDI Crystal XPS, resulting in the most optimal flexo print quality. Gary said that this end quality was incredibly important to customers, particularly in the corrugated sector.

“The corrugated market is changing,” he said. “Consumers are now looking for just a single piece of packaging when they buy goods, to address their own sustainability concerns. But obviously that packaging needs to be made appealing to them. We’re using the Crystal screening in Print Control Wizard to demonstrate to customers ‘this is where your packaging currently is, but this is where it could be’!”

Photo of Rivendell employee running a crystal screening on the machine.

Superior Plates, Reduced Waste

The combination of Esko Print Control Wizard software, the CDI Crystal 5080 and the XPS Crystal 5080 means that not only is Rivendell producing superior quality plates, but the company also benefits from significant energy and waste reduction.

“Sustainability is hugely important to us,” said Lee. “We’re equipped for thermal and solvent processing and have our own in-house distillation to maximize solvent use and recovery, and we also have a CATOX (Catalytic Oxidizer) that controls VOCs.

“The Crystal line not only enables us to produce the perfect plate, which consequently gives our customers the perfect result when printing, but the process improvements also mean we’re saving on energy efficiency throughout,” he said. “We benefit from fewer errors meaning less waste, solvent use reduction thanks to Solvent Saver in Flexo Engine, and the front and back LED exposure in the XPS Crystal means that we are using significantly less energy.”

The Esko XPS Crystal exposure unit uses a UV LED array instead of mercury tubes used in a traditional main exposure bank light table. The XPS Crystal recently achieved both Certified Energy Savings and Dematerialization certifications from GreenCircle, the internationally recognized third-party certification entity that independently verifies the validity of sustainability claims.

The digital UV LED exposure of the XPS Crystal not only significantly improves the quality and consistency of flexo plates, but the power required for perfect curing of a plate is provided absolutely uniformly through the preset parameters by a single click per plate type and plate thickness. The energy consumption in the idle state is almost zero.

For more information about how Print Control Wizard and the entire Crystal line can help your business, click here.