Paul Sharkey began his career in flexographic printing in 1976 when he joined Harper Corporation of America as VP Sales. For the next 19 years he was at the forefront of many of the technical advancements to flexo, including the development of laser engraved anilox and high line count printing plates – key elements that today allow flexo to compete with other print methods based on print quality and price. In these years he had the opportunity to work with major printing and packaging companies to help them to improve their process. In 1994 Mr. Sharkey discovered a different type of doctor blade material available in Europe that was not yet available to printers in North America. This blade was less wearing and damaging to an anilox roll – and wore more evenly along its edge allowing for better ink metering. In 1995, Mr. Sharkey contacted the blade’s manufacturer, SWEDEV AB in Sweden and secured the distribution rights for the SWEDCUT® brand in North America resulting in the formation of FLXON Inc.

Today, FLXON Inc. is a partner to many leading flexographic and rotogravure pressrooms in Canada, the US, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean basin. Under Mr. Sharkey’s leadership, the company has been able to build a team of talented technically knowledgeable professionals who assist pressrooms to gain their competitive advantage by driving waste out of their process.

FLXON’S approach is consultative; beginning by identifying waste reducing opportunities and assisting with operator sustainability training.