UK’s first ESKO Flexographic Partner Certification Awarded to Smurfit Kappa

ESKO is renowned for setting the highest standards for HD flexographic printing employing around 1300 people worldwide with a reach covering Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Americas and the Asia Pacific, Japan and China. 

Also referred to as High-Quality Post Print (HQPP), this demanding level of flexography requires high levels of quality control, ensuring that the correct reprographic and plate material is chosen to suit the length of run, colour coverage and substrate that is being printed. Working closely with prepress origination suppliers, Smurfit Kappa Chelmsford selects the perfect combination of plate material, screen ruling and corrugated material sourced from Smurfit Kappa UK’s own sheetboard plants, to achieve high-definition packaging.

Smurfit Kappa customer ‘Surrey-Down’ manufactures a continental quality range of duvets and pillows for the British market, and demands packaging that reflects the premium positioning of its brand. Packaging produced by Smurfit Kappa Chelmsford, was submitted for accreditation using colour measurement and repro quality assessment against ESKO’s high-definition standard. Following the successful completion of local tests, the packaging was then submitted for final assessment and qualification by ESKO’s European excellence centre in Germany.

Vic Marland, General Manager of Smurfit Kappa Chelmsford explains, “Being the first at anything is always a great achievement. However, to be acknowledged as the only location in the UK to maintain the best achievable quality consistently for our customers is a considerable honour. Our customer, Surrey-Down is extremely happy with the results that we achieve for them, and their packaging has also been recognised by the print industry itself with an EFIA 2015 award. This is a ‘feather-in-our-cap’, and provides confirmation that we are a market leader in the delivery of high quality flexographic packaging solutions.