Explore the efficiency of waterless printing with Verico Zahara Elite Plates
Experience a revolution in printing technology with chemical free Verico waterless plates.
Elevate your prints to new heights with cutting-edge technology and aim for greater sustainability.
We provide more than just plates. We offer a complete solution for your waterless printing needs: high-quality blankets from leading producers in the market, a full range of waterless offset inks for all kinds of printing applications that bring your colours to life and environmentally friendly waterless processors.
Our dedicated team is focused on expediting your project as fast as possible, from concept to completion. Faster development not only saves money – it allows faster entry to the market.
We are continuously reinvesting our resources into growing our knowledge, processes, testing and production assets. This inspires us to continuously explore new technologies and equipment for future challenges.
Clear communication removes barriers to problem solving. We invite you to participate at any level you deem appropriate. Our facility is open to you at any time throughout the entire journey.
We can guide you through your product development path, from chemical formulation through scale-up to manufacturing. We put at your disposal our 30 years of wisdom, know-how, and robust laboratory capabilities.
Sustanaibility
Sustainable company
Waterless printing is an offset printing process that eliminates the water or dampening system used to keep the non-image area free of ink. Instead of water, this method uses a layer of silicone that repels ink from the non-image printed area. There are two important differences between waterless printing and water-based printing: the need for higher viscosity inks and a controlled temperature system to maintain the correct viscosity, since the surface of the Plate is designed to repel unnecessary inks at a specific viscosity level.
- Printing plates
- Inks
Waterless printing yields higher ink densities and a broader color spectrum than conventional offset printing. Usually, Waterless plates used on sheet-fed presses are suitable for runs of 100,000 to 200,000 impressions. The plates designed for web-offset presses can yield 300,000 to 500,000 impressions.
The advantages of waterless printing include:
- Higher screen rulings, resulting in better image definition, increased print contrast, and higher compatibility with FM screening.
- Expands the color gamut
- Higher ink densities with better ink holdout on any substrates
- More consistency of color during the print run
- Sharper dots and more highlight and shadow detail
- Make-ready time is halved
- Elimination of ink-and-water balance variables reduces running time and waste.
- Better registration control (elimination of paper stretch caused by fountain solution)
- Elimination of dampening solution results in no emission of hazardous VOCs if using alcohol
- No wastewater or dampening solution additives
Download the paper:
"A current comparison of waterless printing to conventional lithographic printing"
Sustainability and environmental benefits
Zahara Waterless printing offers four significant environmental benefits:
- Minimal printing waste
- Zero water consumption and alcohol or dampening solutions on press
- Eliminate chemical usage for plate processing
- 100% reduction of VOC emissions
In addition to these primary benefits, waterless printing also provides other advantages:
- No wastewater treatment of spent fountain solutions
- Aluminium printing plates are 100% recyclable
Reduced Carbon Footprint
Climate change is a severe threat, and its consequences affect many different aspects of our lives.
The leading cause of climate change is the greenhouse effect. Certain gases in the earth’s atmosphere act like the glass in a greenhouse: they capture the sun’s heat, preventing it from returning to space and therefore causing global warming.
Many of these gases occur naturally, but human activities increase the concentrations of some of them in the atmosphere, especially:
- carbon dioxide (CO2)
- methane
- nitrogen oxide
- fluorinated gases
CO2 produced by human activities is the leading driver of global warming. In 2020, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere exceeded the pre-industrial level (before 1750) by 48%.
Since every ton of emitted CO2 contributes to global warming, all emission reductions help slow it down.
Reduced VOCs emissions
Using the waterless printing method drastically reduces VOCs emissions. Why is this important?
VOCs can cause a wide range of effects ranging from sensory discomfort to severe alterations in health; at high concentrations, in indoor environments, they can cause effects on numerous organs or apparatuses, especially the central nervous system. Some are recognized carcinogens for humans or animals.
Simplified operations
Unlike conventional water-based offset printing systems, waterless offset printing systems have fewer variables, which provide added value by eliminating the ink-water balance, simplifying the printing process and thus providing greater stability and simplicity to control and gain a superior quality.
Economical production
Compared to other printing methods, the waterless offset printing system can significantly reduce the make-ready time required to produce plates in all printing applications and in particular for the packaging and labels market.
In terms of cost, the waterless system’s ability to handle small to medium lots makes it possible to produce a wide variety of products, even in small quantities, achieving economical production that fits the current trends.
