Rising solvent prices are squeezing flexo plate production margins
Ongoing geopolitical instability is driving volatility in energy, raw chemical materials, and global logistics. For flexo plate production, this is translating directly into rapidly increasing solvent costs, with little predictability on where prices will land next.
While solvent pricing is outside your control, how much solvent and plate material you consume is not. The fastest way to protect margins isn’t to “wait it out”, it’s to use less solvent and reduce plate waste per job.
Offset rising costs by reducing solvent and plate consumption
In many plate production environments, up to 20% of solvent and plate material is wasted due to unused plate areas and manual layout processes. Entire plates are washed, even when large areas carry no image, driving unnecessary solvent use and higher operating costs.
By optimizing plate layout and processing, flexo operations can:
- Reduce solvent consumption per m²
- Lower overall plate usage volume
- Maintain quality and throughput while costs rise
This is where automation delivers immediate financial impact.
Reduce solvent usage by design
Esko Solvent Saver is a software capability that reduces solvent consumption during plate processing by preventing unnecessary washout in non imaged areas of the plate.
Included as part of Flexo Front End+, Solvent Saver helps plate rooms:
- Reduce solvent waste by 10% on average
- Save up to 7,500 liters of solvent per year (example based on 5,000 m² of thick plates, approx. 15 litres m²)
- Save up to 5,000 liters of solvent per year (example based on 5,000 m² of thin plates, approx. 10 litres m²)
- Reduce solvent deliveries, distillation energy, and processor maintenance
- Improve plate consistency with fewer solvent related surface marks
As solvent prices rise, Solvent Saver directly protects margins by lowering consumption at the source.
Optimize every inch or centimeter of your plates
Flexo Front End is the software foundation of the Esko Flexo Ecosystem, connecting screening, ripping, calibration, and plate production into one controlled workflow.
Flexo Front End+ extends this with automation designed to eliminate waste.
A key capability is Auto Merger, which automatically optimizes plate layouts to:
- Reduce average plate waste (often up to 20% in manual workflows)
- Achieve fill rates of up to 85%
- Minimize manual steps, errors, and remakes
Auto Merger helps you get more jobs out of every plate, optimizing every inch or centimeter, so you consume less plate material and less solvent without compromising quality or productivity.
