System and method for tracking production workflow information of digital photopolymer printing plates

A system for making a flexographic printing plate, the system comprising:

• a plurality of processing machines, each processing machine configured to perform one or more process steps in a workflow, the workflow including at least an imaging step, a curing step, and a non-cured-polymer-removal step, each processing machine having a controller and at least one variable operating parameter controlled by the controller;
• means for providing a smart plate tracking (SPT) code on the flexographic printing plate, wherein the SPT code is a reusable code having a maximum number of unique code values that is fewer than a total number of printing plates to be manufactured by a processing facility in a designated time period, wherein the means are configured to provide a first instance of a first unique code value as the SPT code a first time for a first printing plate and to provide a second instance of the first unique code value as the SPT code a second time for a second printing plate after the designated time period elapses;
• a computer memory readable by a computer processor, the computer memory programmed with information including instructions corresponding to the at least one variable operating parameter for each of the processing machines in association with the SPT code, the computer processor configured to receive the SPT code as an input and to return as an output instructions corresponding to the at least one operating parameter;
• and
• a user interface, or a machine interface corresponding to one of the processing machines, the user interface or machine interface corresponding to one of the processing machines connected to the computer processor and configured to provide the SPT code as the input to the computer processor and to receive the output from the computer processor.

Non-transitory, machine-readable media embodied with machine-readable instructions readable by a computer processor for causing the processor to execute steps of a method for manufacturing a flexographic printing plate using a plurality of processing machines, each processing machine configured to perform one or more process steps in a workflow, the workflow including at least an imaging step, a curing step, and a non-cured-polymer-removal step, each processing machine having a controller and at least one variable operating parameter controlled by the controller, the method comprising the steps of:

• causing a smart plate tracking (SPT) code to be provided on the flexographic printing plate, wherein the SPT code is a reusable code having a maximum number of unique code values that is fewer than a total number of printing plates to be manufactured by a processing facility in a designated time period, including causing a first instance of a first unique code value to be provided as the SPT code a first time for a first printing plate and a second instance of the first unique code value to be provided as the SPT code a second time for a second printing plate after the designated time period elapses;
• storing in a computer memory readable by the computer processor information including instructions corresponding to the at least one variable operating parameter for each of the processing machines in association with at least the SPT code;
• and
• in response to the computer processor receiving the SPT code as an input from a user interface or a machine interface corresponding to one of the processing machines, returning the instructions to the user interface or the machine interface corresponding to one of the processing machines.