The development of the Revo system has involved eight partners: printing press manufacturer Bobst, Esko’s colour separation technology and platemaking kit, DuPont plates, inks from Flint Group, anilox rollers from Apex, AVT inspection systems and UPM Raflatac media.

Adare has field tested the extended-gamut system, which involves CMYK plus orange, green and either Reflex Blue or violet.

“The result is a revolution in our industry. There is no need for special inks or anilox rolls. We can produce solids, process colours and as many Pantone colours as you want – any of them,” stated Bobst head of narrow and mid-web products Federico D’Annunzio, the former chief executive of the Nuova Gidue business acquired by Bobst earlier this year.

Daragh Whelan, technical director at Adare Advantage, the Adare Group’s labels, flexibles and packaging wing, said: “Fixed palette printing has been around for 20 years, it’s the tools that are available now that have changed. We got together as a team and made it happen.”

The Haverhill plant produces flexo packaging and labels for the food and personal care market. Adare is running the Revo system on a Bobst M6 Excellence press.

“It’s all about giving our customers consistency and predictable results," Whelan added.

Bobst launched the Revo Academy at the show for converters to learn about the process.

It showed its M4 and M6 UV flexo presses changing between jobs on-the-fly with plate changes while the press was still running, and jobs switching from heavy solids to process colours. “A digital camera system is substituting the eyes and fingers of the operator,” D’Annunzio said.

Bobst claimed the “non-stop digital flexo” system could achieve 95% uptime.

The Swiss-headquartered manufacturer also showed a new flexible die system that allowed rotary printing to be combined with semi-rotary cutting.