Anderson & Vreeland (A&V) and Toyobo MC Corporation (Toyobo) are making waves in the metal decoration market with their water-washable photo-sensitive printing plate. A&V is the exclusive North American distributor for the Toyobo Printight plate, which has brought a revolutionary change to their plate portfolio for the can industry.

Since its introduction to the industry, A&V has partnered with major can producers throughout the United States. This marks the entry of a new player in North American distribution.

One crucial aspect is that A&V assists clients with inventory management for imported master size plates from Toyobo, Japan. Additionally, A&V provides the advantage of cutting the master plates to the specific needs of the customers at their own headquarters in Bryan, OH. This control over the process ensures that the clients’ specific requirements are met.

The Toyobo Printight plate offers several advantages over the competition.

• It eliminates the long-standing issue of plate cracking, which minimizes plate replacements and downtime for decorators.
• The plate’s longevity has been a strong attribute.
• There is less need to stop and clean the plates.
• The Toyobo Printight plate has been matching and exceeding customers’ benchmark tests.
• An impressive, high-quality 1% dot that remains stable on the plate.
• With various steel back options, it allows for flexibility and easy mounting.
• Excellent tonal ranges for detailed artwork.
• Ensures excellent solid ink transfer.
• A mask layer that is slightly thicker, and therefore, more stable with less delamination issues.
• No use of solvents or soaps, straight tap water.

Due to the many advantages over its competition, A&V has seen an increase in requests for trial runs, due to a growing reputation within the tight knit community of metal deco, as an outstanding alternative to the competition.

The success of the Toyobo Printight plate has also extended to the dry offset world of cups and other offset applications. In addition, the Printight plate has a long history of serving various markets, including letterpress, emboss/deboss, labels, business forms, and pad printing.

Toyobo also has film backed plates for date code slugs in the metal deco space as well as other film backed needs through out many print industries.

As the pioneer of water-wash plates, Toyobo started selling Printight® for letterpress printing in 1977. Printight® has been producing outstanding process print reproduction, sharp and fine lines, extreme accuracy and consistency of plate thickness, and great longevity of plates on press.

Toyobo computer-to-plate (CTP) products are the first water-wash CTP plates in the world. CTP technology enables digital images to be depicted through an IR laser head directly from the computer to their unique mask-layer. By eliminating the use of dangerous hydrocarbon and hazardous washout solvents from the plate-making process, these plates are solvent-free in the plate making process, creating a toxic-free environment for the operator.

If you’re interested in trying out the latest technology from Toyobo, A&V has a specialized polymer business development team available to discuss the benefits of this innovative plate to your team. The goal of the polymer team is to bring value to A&V customers and prospects by better understanding each of your goals and needs to help advise you on the best polymer choice for your operation. The formation of the team represents A&V’s commitment to bringing the best of the best to the printing industry with a variety of world class products in an everchanging market.

In addition to the polymer business development team, A&V has dedicated regional account managers and a field service team for further discussion and support.