Impress Norwich - Norwich, UK (Package Printer)

Reaching New Levels in Metal Decoration

Impress is the second largest European supplier of food cans, worldwide leader in the seafood can market, European leader in cans for paints and coatings and a significant producer of aerosol cans. Impress Norwich U.K. recently installed a new CtP system and chose the :Grand Sherpa for a digital colour proofing system that could link to its workflow.

Top Packager Strives for Excellence and Distinction

Impress is a firmly established, internationally present canmaker and realises that responding to changing market needs requires continuous innovation, as much as it requires day-to-day manufacturing expertise. This is one reason why the British owned, Netherlands-based company looks for responsive partners to help find solutions to new challenges.

Recently, Impress Norwich engaged in such a relationship with Agfa and Repro company Springfield Solutions. The goal was to develop a state-of-the-art system for proofing on paper that would be as precise, reliable and vibrant as proofing on metal. In the past, such processes were time consuming and costly, with productivity levels not up to the demands of Impress, a company who prides itself not only on meeting customer demands but exceeding all customer expectations.

Preserving Strengths

"Impress has always built strong partnerships with its customers," says James Sargeant, manager of the Impress Norwich Plant in the U.K., which specialises in metal packaging for paints and coatings. "We have an excellent reputation for quality and service in our packaging activities, and we wanted the same kind of status for the printing and proofing of the tinplate containers. Our customers want effective printing as much as they want safe and durable packaging."

Impress has made tremendous progress using a special 6-colour printing process developed jointly with Springfield Solutions and an Agfa :Grand Sherpa for colour proofing. The three companies worked together so well that the new process has exceeded expectations and reached the highest level of quality. A standard that Impress has come to expect of itself and its suppliers.

"Following intensive research, we can now reproduce superb, sophisticated proofed designs on paper. Together, we have made a technological breakthrough," says Peter Hall, Graphics manager at the Norwich plant.

Impress traces its earliest roots back to the late 1800s, with metal-works factories in the Netherlands, Germany and France. The company is now organised into product Divisions, which cover metal packaging for processed, dry and general foods, seafood, beer, paints and coatings and aerosols. People throughout Europe and beyond use these metal packaged products, from soup cans, to hairspray, to paints. Impress plays a key role in helping its customers differentiate their brands by designing and manufacturing innovative packaging solutions in steel and aluminium, in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, bringing value to the market place. Impress is devoted to metal packaging with operations in Europe, North America, Japan and The Seychelles. It is currently the second largest supplier of food cans, worldwide leader in the seafood can market, European leader in cans for paints and coatings and a significant producer of aerosol cans. Head office is in Deventer, the Netherlands and employees number in the region of 6500, at 43 facilities, in 17 countries. The U.S. division is based in Pennsylvania, formed in 2000, following the acquisition of the StarKist can manufacturing operation from the H.J. Heinz Company.

Quality Measures

In addition to researching effective new processes, Impress also makes day-to-day quality management a top priority. All operations are very carefully monitored to meet the highest standards, which is particularly important for those cans and packages used in the food industry. Quality is also a major component of all its printing and proofing activities.

"As part of our recent CtP installation during the summer of 2005, we looked for a process that would initially comply with our own in-house ISO procedures," Hall explains. "A digital colour proofing system linked to our CtP workflow was the obvious solution but could we take a "colour print" to the quality level of a "colour-matched proof" capable of competing with the tried and proven method of proofing directly onto tinplate? That was the challenge we set for Agfa.

Having selected an Agfa :ApogeeX workflow system, Impress decided to test the Agfa :Sherpa proofer. Hall and his entire graphics team were greatly encouraged by the results. "Impress, Agfa and Springfield Solutions Repro company recognised at the start of this project that there could be no compromise on quality, so we all pursued the idea by combining our technical expertise and we are delighted to say that it works," Hall says. According to Impress, the reasons they selected Agfa were because of the proven quality of the products, the full product line, customer service, and the open architecture of their solutions, which enable Agfa products to be used with existing components, even if they are from competitive systems.

The Agfa :Grand Sherpa 50 uses dye-based inks and features advanced in-RIP colour management, quality control software and specially formulated proofing media to help Impress obtain a complete contract proofing solution. The :ApogeeX gives Impress top workflow performance, enhanced quality, and total support for the latest application files.

World Class

Impress has always offered an unmatched combination of distinctive, classy designs on metal packaging and with a wealth of know-how and world-class technological development, the printing process has continued to improve year on year. Impress keeps ahead of the game in metal decoration by providing the international community of fillers with state-of-the-art metal printing. There is a need that will probably exist for a long time to come as canned products continue to appear in thousands of stores and millions of households around the world.