Miraclon announces winners of the 2021 Global Flexo Innovation Awards

Miraclon today announced the 13 winners of the Global Flexo Innovation Awards, which recognize businesses that are driving the transformation of the flexo industry with the help of KODAK FLEXCEL NX Technology. Over 200 entries from 24 countries were judged by an independent panel of eight flexo industry experts during a hybrid session that saw the judges convene both in person and through digital collaboration applications.

With high quality a pre-condition of entry, submissions were evaluated on four criteria: the efficiency of the company’s workflow, conversion from other print processes to flexo, the degree of creativity in the graphic design and the level of sustainable business practices in the project. Excellence in two categories received a silver award (seven winners), in three categories a gold award (five winners) and in all four categories a platinum award, demonstrating to the industry and to the winner’s customers a commitment to the highest level of print production. This year, Lorytex (Uruguay) became the first winner ever to receive the platinum commendation. The judges also awarded Highest Honors to four of the winners that they believed demonstrated the biggest impact on advancing the flexo printing process.

“At a time where all of us were experiencing the additional challenges because of the pandemic, these winners prove that we’re not only part of an incredibly resilient industry, but one that continues to innovate with companies that drive creativity and efficient, consistent and sustainable manufacturing processes,” comments Grant Blewett, Chief Commercial Director, Miraclon. “The high conversion rates from other printing processes to flexo, focus on fixed color palette printing, and efforts to maximize on-press productivity and efficiency that also contribute to sustainability that we have seen in so many of the entries, all demonstrate how much the flexo industry is set to become the print process of choice for packaging.”

Out of the top 13 companies, seven winners are based in Latin America, three in Europe, two in North America, and one in the Asia Pacific region. “We’re pleased to see companies from around the world innovating and being creative in growing their businesses as well as driving the transformation of the flexo printing industry,” continues Grant. “Each one of the winners, as well as the companies that received special mentions, demonstrated incredible commitment to the advancement of flexo and set great examples of what can be achieved when fully utilizing the tools and technology at their disposal; it should motivate the rest of the industry to do the same.”