Kodak has confirmed that it stopped making Nexfinity and Ascend digital presses at the end of last year. 

One NexPress customer told Printweek that the company received notification last week regarding their NexPress contracts that effectively gave them 60 days’ notice that their contracts were being terminated and that they would be required to sign a new agreement “at far higher prices”.

The user said their monthly maintenance charge was set to more than double while they expected their click charges to “effectively double”, but felt that the short notice period from Kodak was the most concerning aspect of the change.

“In the scheme of large investments [it] isn’t long at all and doesn’t give any of us time to make sensible decisions,” they added.

The user said the price cap/click charge is being removed and they will have to pay for all consumables – at prices that are now “considerably higher”, which leaves the cost of a click open-ended, making estimating problematic.

The user suggested that a phased increase would have been preferable, to allow printers to slowly adjust their pricing, and referred to the short notice period as “deplorable”.

“Kodak have not entered into any dialogue with us, and it is this lack of consultation and negotiation which is of the most concern.

“We are almost being held to ransom as we can’t go elsewhere for the consumables, and they know we can’t quickly, easily, and cheaply move to a new supplier.”

They said they would look at investing in an alternative press “as the figures are so high, the machine is not viable” and would need to outsource specific jobs that the NexPress can do but that the intended replacement machine cannot.

Another NexPress user told Printweek they were “very disappointed to say the least” with the changes, and that their business had a long-term relationship with Kodak, which it has treated “as more of a partner than a supplier”.

“To be given 60 days’ notice of [a] huge price increase is unacceptable. I understand that prices change and that it may well be the case that NexPress is now not commercially viable, but this must have been known 12 months ago and changes could have been made with much more notice being given.”

They said the increases mean that the press “is no longer viable” and would need to be replaced with alternative technology.

It was unclear at the time of writing whether NexPress users around the world were affected by the same changes.

In response, A Kodak spokesperson said: “Kodak treats all information between the company and its customers as private and confidential, both contractually and fundamentally. As such, we have no comment.”

Paul Stead, commercial and industrial print area sales manager at independent reseller and managed services specialist ASL Group, said: “It’s a worrying development for sure. We have received a number of calls from very unhappy NexPress users looking for ‘appropriate alternatives’.

"Having had a reasonable level of success in replacing these devices, I’m happy to help and answer questions where I can. This is not a great place for the NexPress customers to find themselves in.”

Kodak’s digital focus now appears to be largely on inkjet – it showed its Prosper Ultra 520 inkjet web for the first time in Europe at Hunkeler Innovationdays earlier this year, while this week it revealed its acquisition of key supplier Graphic Systems Services (GSS), which makes transport systems for inkjet web presses and provides a range of bespoke services.

UK installations of its electrophotographic digital presses have been thin on the ground of late, and in the company’s 2022 year-end report the business said it had ceased manufacturing its Nexfinity and Ascend printers, effective as of December 2022. Ascend had only been announced just over a year earlier.

“Kodak will continue to offer ink and other consumables as well as provide service to its installed base of printers,” it stated at the time.