Their fundamental concern was the same as every printer that has considered removing the processor from their pre-press department and is such a well-trodden path for the plate manufacturers that it is the subject of a Kodak white paper, the title of which highlights the printer’s biggest fear: ‘Why would I want to use my expensive press as a plate processor?’
For all the environmental and financial benefits of processless plates, such as the removal of chemistry, reductions in waste, and eliminating the need for a processor with its attendant cleaning, maintenance and disposal costs, the core concern about contamination of the fount solution or the possibility of material build-up on the rollers has remained unchanged.
“We did have reservations. We thought that we were going to have to be much more aware of the fount on the presses, the tanks and cleaning the press down more often and that surprisingly has not been anywhere near as onerous as we though it was going to be,” says Varnham.
“Normally we would drain the fount solution, drain the tanks and flush them through once every three months and we haven’t really had to increase that at all. We just stayed on the standard maintenance schedule that we had before.”
Kodak confidently claims a makeready of 10 sheets for its Sonora plates, in which time any un-imaged coating is physically removed from the plate and transferred to the blanket and start-up sheets by the tack and shear of the ink. “Sometimes it’s even fewer than 10 sheets,” agrees Varnham. “It’s certainly no more than that.”
With that particular (or particulate) elephant shooed from the press room, Imega has been free to focus on the benefits of going processless, which came about as the result of an informal merger between Tosh’s company Imega and Varnham’s business Argent Litho in October 2013.
“Another company I used to work for used to place work with Lynn, so we had an association going back a number of years,” says Varnham.
“Argent were in Wembley and we were in Harrow,” adds Tosh. “To start off with it was a way of both companies staving off the problems with the market and it was a case of moving into one building and saving costs. That’s the way it is at the moment but the long-term plan is for a formal merger.”
Argent sold off all its kit and moved into Imega’s 1,000m2 factory, which houses two B1 Heidelberg Speedmaster CD presses, a two-colour GTO and an HP Indigo digital press, together with an array of finishing equipment including specialist folders for folding pharmaceutical leaflets. Clients include pharmaceutical companies, B2B publishers and trade customers, who make up about 40% of the firm’s business.
Reassessment
As part of the merger, the two companies looked at every area of the business to identify potential savings and ways of improving efficiency. It was clear from the outset that Imega’s existing pre-press setup – a Screen 8000 platesetter running Kodak thermal plates – lacked the capacity to handle the combined plate requirement of both businesses. Once the need to upgrade was identified, it was only ever going to be to a processless plate.
“It was always our intention to go processless,” says Varnham. “The cost saving element was a factor, along with the obvious environmental benefits of not using chemistry. Other advantages are that by removing the need to process the plate, you are also removing a variable from the process and giving yourself more consistency. Also there is a time element to consider with the regular maintenance that the processor requires.”
The device Imega settled on was a Kodak-refurbished Lotem platesetter, capable of outputting 24 B1 plates an hour with consistent image and dot quality, together with the manufacturer’s Sonora processless plate. For the workflow the two companies opted for Argent’s existing Fuji XMF over Imega’s Screen Trueflow. “It’s much more flexible; it’s a much quicker system,” says Varnham.
Although it didn’t trial any other plates in-house, Imega did look at a number of alternatives before settling on Kodak Sonora. “We looked at the possibility of Agfa with the Azura plate, which was a very popular and widely used plate but [at the time] still needed a gumming unit to it and to be honest you’re either processless or you’re not,” says Tosh.
Varnham adds: “Argent was originally a Fuji user, so we looked at Fuji but Kodak came up with a package in terms of the platesetter, the installation, the training and the plate itself, that was just far more attractive to us.
“I wouldn’t say there was a massive difference between Sonora and Pro-T albeit I think the visible image was slightly better on the Kodak plate and Sonora certainly develops really quickly on the press. To be honest it boils down to the finance: they just came up with a better deal and they were far more flexible in their approach to putting that in.”
With the deal agreed, the installation was a doddle, with the new platesetter arriving shortly before the two companies moved in together. “The installation went very smoothly indeed. It was September 2013; the Screen went out one day and on the third morning we were producing plates on the Lotem, so we only actually had two days where a few of my clients I do trade work for were doing our plates,” says Tosh. “The third day Kodak stayed all day and checked it all out and they came back on the fifth day just to go through the whole machine again.”
Long-run performer
Tosh says that the plates perform exactly as advertised, inking up quickly on press and consistently achieving run lengths of more than 60,000 impressions. “I’m confident that this could be more but we do not get much work at those sort of run lengths. Kodak talk about 100,000 impressions upwards and we’d back that definitely.”
The plates have also delivered on the anticipated cost and environmental benefits, removing the need for any harmful chemistry and its costly disposal, while other less-obvious perks have contributed to the overall efficiency of the firm’s new processless operation. “There is obviously down time associated with cleaning and maintaining a plate processor, which we now do not have to suffer, and the whole process is exceptionally clean,” says Tosh. “At our current usage levels we estimate a saving on down time, water, chemistry and waste chemical disposal of approximately £15,000 per annum, which is significant.”
The few call-outs the firm has had have been minor and swiftly dealt with, according to Varnham, adding that none of them were related to imaging. “We’ve had no problems with the heads or imaging problems or image quality problems – it’s just been a few transport problems where the plate gets stuck on the way through from the cassette to the platesetter and in all the time we’ve had it I think that’s happened twice, maybe three times max. It’s a minor issue and it’s been dealt with very well.”
The company has a service contract with Kodak and Varnham says any problems are quickly diagnosed over the phone in order to establish whether any parts are needed, which will then be ordered to arrive together with an engineer the next day. Pressed on where Kodak could improve the Sonora plate in future iterations, Varnham says: “It would be nicer if the image was a little bit stronger on the plate albeit they have made improvements with that. When you take the plate out of the platesetter, you visually check it. You can see the image with the Sonora plate, enough to recognise what the job is but you can’t actually do a visible quality check of the plate – that only happens when you put it on the machine.”
Tosh adds that the plates tend to be susceptible to marking or scratching if they aren’t handled carefully, adding “that’s the same for all processless plates I’m led to believe”. But the biggest problem the pair can think of is that it can sometimes be difficult to get hold of the plates. While this could be potentially damaging, Varnham adds that whenever the firm has had a problem getting hold of supplies, Kodak has always managed to come up with a solution. “It’s so popular, that happens occasionally when you are ramping up a new product and converting sites. We do resolve it,” responds Kodak worldwide product manager and application specialist Adrian Shuttleworth.
For Varnham, the best thing about Sonora is “you don’t have to worry about it”.
He says: “The machine produces the plates, the plates go on press and they run. The consistent quality and speed of plate production helps to give more flexibility in production planning, which is essential.
“Having had the experience with processors and the amount of maintenance they require and the chemicals they use, if anybody asks me if I’d recommend going processless, I’d say: do it now, straight away.”
SPECIFICATIONS
Resolution 200lpi (1%-99%) and 20μm FM screening
Sensitivity 150-210mJ/cm2
Gauges 0.15mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm and 0.4mm
Max run length 100,000 sheetfed (non-UV ink)
Price Depends on volumes, typically a 15%-20% premium on wet processed CTP plates
Contact Kodak 0845 602 5991 www.kodak.com
Company profile
Imega Print Group was created via the merger of Imega and Argent Litho in 2013. By coincidence Imega and Argent were founded within three months of each other in 1981, in August and October respectively. The group has 18 staff and a combined turnover of £2.2m and runs Heidelberg litho and HP digital presses. Imega upgraded its platemaking to a refurbished Kodak Lotem platesetter running the Sonora XP processless plate in September 2013, one month before the merger.
Why it was bought...
Imega’s existing pre-press setup would not have been able to cope with the volume of plates needed by both companies. Having established the need to upgrade, the firm was keen to go processless to enable it to cut chemistry, reduce waste, and save time spent maintaining the plate processor.
How it has performed...
Imega has been very happy with its processless switch, which it estimates to be saving around £15,000 per year on downtime, water, chemistry and waste chemical disposal. The Sonora plates have performed as advertised on run lengths and image quality and any minor problems (relating to plate transport between the cassette and the platesetter) have been dealt with swiftly and painlessly.
