Traditional plate processing uses chemistry, water, and energy to develop the printing plate and get it ready for press. Process free plates eliminate all the cost and waste of plate processing, and thousands of printers worldwide have taken their prepress departments green by switching to process free plates.
However, some printers are nervous about switching, and for them, there is a halfway option. These printers can use a low-chemistry (also called "chemistry-free") plate instead of a traditional processed plate and a clean-out unit instead of a traditional processor. They are reducing chemistry by using a simple gum instead of traditional developer, they are saving water, and the equipment is smaller and easier to maintain and use.
However, why take this halfway step to green? Why not eliminate the environmental impact of processing, along with all its costs and variability, by going completely process free?
We have listened to customer concerns about process free plates and our R&D team has developed a robust new technology that makes it more appealing for printers to take the full step to process free. There's no need to go just halfway.
The new KODAK SONORA X Process Free Plate can replace unbaked processed plates in most applications, and up to 80% of printers can switch to process free plates.
- Do you need long run lengths? SONORA X Plates can achieve long run lengths of up to 400,000 impressions on web presses and 200,00 impressions on sheetfed presses. Run lengths depend on many factors, and many of our customers have achieved much longer run lengths than these specifications.
- Are you using a UV or low-energy UV press? SONORA X Plates are ideal for UV and low-energy UV applications, achieving run lengths of up to 75,000 impressions.
- Are you worried about plate scratching? SONORA X Plates can be handled just like a processed plate, with improved scratch resistance compared to other process free plates.
- Do you have a fast platesetter and want to maximize productivity in prepress? Required laser energy for SONORA X Plates is 120 mJ/cm2, so they allow all but the very fastest platesetters to achieve maximum productivity. Plus, by eliminating the processing step and variability, you can get to press even faster.
- Do your customers demand excellent print quality? With SONORA X Plates, up to 450 lpi and 20-micron FM is possible, depending on the capability of the imaging device. Also, eliminating the variability of processing enables you to manage quality and color consistency more easily.
Why hold back...go 100% with SONORA X Plates. They don't do things by half!
SONORA X Plates are now commercially available in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia/New Zealand, and they will be available later this year in North and South America. To learn more, contact your Kodak representative or visit www.kodak.com/go/sonora.
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