中文DuPont Cyrel Flexographic Solutions has picked up a Star Award from the Indian Flexible Packaging & Folding Carton Manufacturers Association (IFCA) for innovation in flexographic printing, in a joint entry developed with Shree Plast Industries. The recognition goes to an integrated approach that pairs DuPont Cyrel Easy ESXR plates with the Esko Quartz ecosystem to make gravure-to-flexo conversion more practical for short-run flexible packaging.
The winning category was “Innovations in Converting Machinery, Packaging Machinery, Cylinders, FFS Machines and Printing Machines”. What the judges saw was a complete production chain: repro and plates from Numex, using DuPont Cyrel ESXR imaged on Esko Quartz at 150 lpi, separated for a fixed palette of CMYK plus white, and printed on a SOMA central-impression flexo press with solvent-based inks. The point is not any single component but how they lock together into repeatable, high-quality flexo output.
Gururaj Kirsur, DuPont Cyrel sales manager for South Asia, framed the award as proof of what happens when technologies and expertise combine. “Winning this IFCA Award is a tremendous recognition of the innovation taking place across the flexographic industry, and of the value that can be achieved when technologies and expertise come together,” he said. He stressed that this year’s award matters because it shows the ESXR plates working with the Esko Quartz ecosystem in a real production environment, helping converters explore gravure-to-flexo conversion while hitting the quality, consistency and efficiency the flexible-packaging market now demands.
A key technical win was white ink laydown. Quartz screening supports smoother, more controlled white coverage, which helps reduce pinholes while keeping opacity and visual appeal. That, in turn, opens ink-savings opportunities and supports the fast changeovers, consistency and repeatability that short-run and fixed-palette work requires. “By combining optimized plate performance with advanced screening and a fixed-palette workflow, the solution provides a scalable approach for converters seeking greater production flexibility without adding unnecessary complexity,” Kirsur added.
Santosh Vaidya, director at Shree Plast Industries, said the company was delighted to be recognised for technology that addresses a genuine challenge for today’s flexible-packaging converters. “The combination of DuPont Cyrel Easy ESXR plates and Esko Quartz technology has helped us achieve excellent print quality and more consistent white coverage, while supporting the efficiency required for short-run production,” he noted. He also pointed out that delivering high-quality flexo results for jobs traditionally done by gravure gives modern converters another practical option as market requirements keep evolving.
The award builds on DuPont Cyrel’s 2025 IFCA success, when Cyrel Easy ESXR plates won in the Structural Innovation & Graphic Design category. Back-to-back recognition underlines the continued development of the ESXR platform and how it performs alongside complementary technologies. It also reinforces a theme the flexo value chain keeps returning to: collaboration. DuPont, Shree Plast Industries, Numex Blocks and Esko each brought a piece, and the integrated solution only works because all four lined up.
For converters weighing a move away from gravure, the appeal is concrete. Gravure still delivers stunning quality, but its cylinders are costly and slow to change, which hurts on short runs. Flexo with fixed-palette workflows and modern plates shortens that cycle and cuts waste, while closing much of the quality gap. Awards like this one matter because they shine a light on proven, production-proven examples rather than lab demos.
Kirsur closed on the strategic point: “This award demonstrates that the combination of advanced plate technology, screening and an optimized printing workflow can help make flexo a compelling proposition for an even broader range of packaging applications.” For an industry under pressure to cut cost and inventory while raising quality, that broadening of flexo’s reach is exactly the story worth telling.
Source: Labels & Labeling – “DuPont Cyrel wins IFCA award for flexo” (30 September 2026).
As brand owners push for shorter runs and lower inventory, the economics of gravure look harder to defend, and awards that showcase proven flexo alternatives help the whole supply chain move with confidence rather than hesitation. Gravure still delivers stunning quality, but its cylinders are costly to make and slow to change, which punishes converters on anything but very long runs. Fixed-palette flexo with modern plates and screening shrinks that cycle and cuts waste while closing much of the quality gap, which is why the ESXR-plus-Quartz combination resonates beyond India. The back-to-back IFCA recognition also matters because it shows a platform maturing across two years rather than a one-off demo, giving converters a track record to point to when they pitch a gravure-to-flexo switch to cautious brand owners. Expect more joint entries like this one, where plate makers, screen suppliers and converters present a single integrated solution, because the industry has learned that the winning story is the workflow, not the single component.
The white-ink improvement alone is a meaningful selling point, since pinholes and uneven opacity are exactly the defects that undermine premium flexible-packaging jobs and erode converter confidence in a flexo switch.
