The Russian equivalent of the notorious abbreviation "CIA" has been chosen as the name for a newly formed Kiev-based firm, which is set to become the first Ukrainian plateshop. The company will specialise in exposing printing plates (in fact, its name in Russian means "Repro Services Centre"). Its manufacturing facilities include two Screen PlateRite 4300 thermal CTP systems. 

The purchase agreement was signed at Ipex with the Ukrainian supplier Printing Systems. RSC's management aims to arrange a complex digital workflow that will allow clients to place and confirm orders without ever having to leave their offices.

In this way, RSC intends to help small printers save costs and produce high-quality products using the most advanced technologies. The company lists its potential clients as owners or chief executives of Ukrainian printers that wish to obtain access to progressive technologies to raise the effectiveness of its manufacturing process without additional expenditures.

This event actually marks the next stage in the evolution of our domestic repro houses. Many of them are on the edge of profitability and gradually losing clients, which either buy used imagesetters, which are in plentiful supply in the market and are sold at ridiculously low prices, or invest in new or used platesetters, which have become much cheaper in the last year or two. 

In order to survive in the market, Ukrainian repro houses have to introduce additional services, which can help them keep clients from leaving. For instance, they can expand into the wide-format and short-run sectors. Some experts believe that imagesetters will vanish from the face of the earth over the next few years. And it is quite possible that the appearance of RSC will push this process forward.

I have to admit that even before RSC came onto the scene, some printers, which bought platesetters for their internal use, started exposing printing plates for the trade, which their owners report was a very successful move. But RSC is the very first example of a specialised plateshop without its own printing facilities, which, undoubtedly, makes it more flexible and therefore attractive to customers.

For the time being, the company will operate out of Kiev, but it plans to open a range of subsidiary firms in every large Ukrainian city, which RSC estimates will take around a year to put into effect. It is also planning to introduce some additional services and promised to expand on this further down the track.

Maxim Merezhko
Editor in chief, PrintWeek Ukraine
www.printweek.com.ua