From the FIRST Printrun to the Last - Always Consistent
$99.00 FTA Members | $198.00 Non-members
Order your copy today!
Get Your FREE Design Guide Built from FIRST 4.0!
It's something everyone in the flexographic printing and converting industry can say they've encountered before: A design that has clearly not been built with flexo in mind. The solution? A designer-friendly guide to producing flexo-friendly files. This free educational text, based on the guidelines outlined in FIRST 4.0, is perfect for graphic artists interested in learning how to design and prepare files for flexo. Not a designer? Printers/converters should make a point to share this document with whomever they work with. The sooner this text gets inserted into the loop, the less time and effort will be wasted correcting unprintable designs.
Download your free copy here
FIRST 4.0 Podcast: The Inside Scoop
Listen to Bill Pope, FTA's Technical Director, discuss FIRST 4.0, the essential, must-have process control tool for all members of the flexographic supply chain.
This podcast is 11 minutes. Listeners can pause the recording by pressing the "ll" symbol and fast-forward/rewind by dragging the progress bar forward or backward.
About FIRST 4.0
One flexographically printed poly shipping bag. One flexographically printed corrugated box that doubles as an easel for display purposes. One CD-ROM containing many new process control test elements and tools. One book with 328 pages broken down into 8 chapters. Input and updates from hundreds of industry experts from around the globe. This is FIRST 4.0. It’s here folks, and it’s impressive.
Since the premier edition (debuting in 1997), FIRST has become the most comprehensive, most frequently referred to, technical resource for the flexographic industry. Its aim is to provide all participants in the flexographic reproduction process (i.e. customers, designers, prepress providers, raw material & equipment suppliers, and printers) with a common set of guidelines, tutorials, targets and tolerances that can be used as communication and production tools. When adhered to, the specifications outlined in FIRST 4.0 will help all members of the supply chain improve quality, reduce cycle times, minimize rework and waste, and facilitate producing a predictable, consistent result, printrun after printrun.
FIRST 4.0 gives you the tools you need to...
• Optimize your processes
• Improve color consistency
• Minimize waste and downtime
• Increase throughput and productivity
FIRST 4.0 has expanded coverage on...
• Print optimization, fingerprinting, characterization and process control
• Process color calibration
• Near-Neutral Calibration (G7TM)
• Color management
• Color measurement and tolerancing
• Substrate attributes and testing
• Specialty inks and coatings
FIRST 4.0 is nearly double the size of the 3rd Edition and has new features including...
• Improved organization with tabbed section dividers
• Individual table of contents for each section
• A comprehensive, 1,200 word Index
• Enhanced graphics & images
• A CD with many new process control test elements and tools Order your copy today!
Take a peak inside...
Prepress Section
Print Section
Read more...
Chapter One
In the first chapter, Implementing FIRST: The Foundation, FIRST 4.0 maintains that effective communication during the design development, final art, and printing will result in a final printed product having fewer errors, thus decreasing costs and time to market. It goes on to say that a design matching flexo’s capabilities will yield increased production efficiencies, improved throughput, more consistent and predictable printed results, im
proved print quality and reduced downtime. To aid the reader, a two-page visual representation of the communication process is laid out, defining the ideal packaging workflow process, beginning with the “customer need” and aptly ending with “customer approval.”
Design Section
FIRST 4.0 boasts an expanded chapter on design, with the primary goal to assist the designer in understanding the flexographic process and to provide him/her with guidance on how to create electronic files that will enhance quality and speed of manufacturing while minimizing costs. It includes information on:
- Attributes of the flexographic print process
- Materials and information needed to begin
- File naming conventions
- Keys to understanding color management
- Process control test elements
- Typography capabilities
- Bar code design considerations
- Photography
- Preflighting requirements
Prepress Section
As packaging graphics continue to increase in complexity and production timelines continue to compress, the clear assignment of responsibilities is critical to ensure a quality printed product in a timely manner. The Prepress chapter outlines the ways in which the prepress provider must fully understand the flexographic print considerations necessary to produce quality graphics files in today’s environment of tight timelines. It details how to produce the appropriate films/files/plates, how to document the controls, and how to produce a contract proof calibrated to print –all factors that will enable the printer to meet the expectations of the customer. A highlight of the section is expanded coverage on Process Color Calibration, where the various ways that 4-color process images can be reproduced are covered in detail. This includes conventional dot gain compensation, near-neutral calibration (G7), and International Color Consortium (ICC)-based color management. There are also new process control targets to serve both prepress and print areas in the control and consistency of output.
Print Section
FIRST 4.0 provides the printer with the specifications necessary to ensure that accuracy and consistency are achieved throughout the pressrun and between pressruns. This chapter aids the printer in determining if the printing process can achieve the requirements of the job (i.e. color, tone reproduction, register, etc.), to help identify design elements that may be potentially troublesome, and to provide guidance on how to make that same print job reproducible time and time again. Expanded sections include: print optimization, fingerprinting, characterization, and process control. Additionally, FIRST 4.0 outlines a systematic approach to aid in the selection process of a substrate and addresses the different substrate properties such as brightness, ink absorbency, and moisture content and how such properties influence print quality.
Other Features
In addition, FIRST 4.0 boasts new features including: improved organization with tabbed section dividers; an individual table of contents for each section; a comprehensive, 1,200 word Index, enhanced graphics and images, and a CD-ROM containing many new process control test elements and tools.
