MacDermid Graphics Solutions plans the Flexo Xperience Center (The FXC) in partnership with SOMA that should open next year.
It is part of an expansion of an initial plan to install a SOMA Optima2 printing press at MacDermid’s facility in Atlanta, Georgia, first announced in late 2020.
The FXC will include multiple partners providing software, equipment, and consumables. The center was conceptualized in late 2020 by the leadership, marketing, R&D, and sales teams at MacDermid and SOMA, while discussing plans to install the printing press and plate mounting equipment at MacDermid’s facility. The teams identified a need in the package printing industry for a wide-web flexo printing center with every aspect of the flexo process, including artwork, prepress, platemaking, print, print finishing, and print evaluation, the company says in a news release.
The mission of The Flexo Xperience Center is to move flexo forward. This global center will combine both hands-on and virtual visits for a “one-stop-shop” for the package printing industry’s entire workflow to experience the latest flexographic printing innovations. In addition, the FXC will foster and host industry training, collaboration, research, experimentation, and learning, all designed to ensure package printing excellence. The center will be open to pre-media suppliers, tradeshops, printers, converters, consumer product good companies, industry associations, educational institutions, manufacturers, and other players in the package printing market, the company also says.
The FXC is expected to open in the first quarter of 2022.