Kodak to Add Plate Manufacturing Line
- Published: June 04, 2014
ROCHESTER, NY | Kodak will be adding a new plate manufacturing line at its Columbus, GA, facility dedicated to producing SONORA Process Free Plates. Company says the expansion is driven by growing customer demand for the plates, and this move aligns with plans to drive local sourcing while continuously improving manufacturing quality, production efficiencies, and customer service across its entire digital plate portfolio.
“To meet the demand generated by the tremendous growth of SONORA Plates in the Americas, we need to build a brand new world-class plate manufacturing line in our Columbus plant,” says Brad Kruchten, president of Kodak’s Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films group. “This is a clear statement of our commitment to enable sustainable printing in the Americas.”
Reportedly, the plates remove the plate processing step completely, without sacrificing the quality or productivity of traditional mainstream processed plates, allowing more printers to enjoy the environmental and economic benefits of a process-free plate.
The investment in a new high-speed manufacturing line in the Columbus facility complements the recently announced investment in SONORA Plate capacity at Kodak’s Xiamen, China plant. These investments will complete Kodak’s globalization of SONORA Plate manufacturing and ensure the capabilities and capacity to meet the unprecedented growth of SONORA Plates, as well as support production of Kodak’s full digital plate portfolio.
“We see the shift toward SONORA Plates growing to a very significant volume,” says Robert Price, general manager of Kodak’s Worldwide Plate Operations. “We need to manufacture SONORA Plates in each region in order to deliver enough capacity to meet the demand. Also, it’s important to have manufacturing in each region in order to provide the ultimate customer service—delivering what customers need, when they need it.”
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