Prepress

Fast and environmentally friendly: clean imaging technology

Wednesday 05. May 2021 - The production of printing plates, which is an essential process step in offset printing, makes this printing technology not only expensive and time-consuming, the exposure of the printing plates in particular was also harmful to the environment for a long time.

Process-free plate technology does not require any chemicals and water
By switching to KODAK SONORA XTRA process-free plates, which are more energy-efficient and do not require any chemicals or precious water resources, ONLINEPRINTERS has further strengthened its commitment to protecting the environment.
Offset printing is one of the most important printing technologies at the production site in Neustadt an der Aisch and is mainly used for long print runs of products, such as catalogues, brochures or flyers. We use gang run printing which enables us to produce printing jobs in a particularly resource-saving manner. By efficiently combining multiple customer jobs of the same paper type and paper weight on the plates, we can make best use of the printing plates. “The process-free plates are more eco-friendly which is an important concern for many of our customers. At the same time, the new technology enables us to deliver our products more quickly. The process-free plate technology speeds up plate making by eliminating the traditional plate processing step and the new imaging technology is also faster than standard procedures,” explains Roland Keppler, the CEO of ONLINEPRINTERS. The plates are made of high-quality aluminium and are fully recycled after use.
Fastest platesetter in the world
The production experts of ONLINEPRINTERS were excited about the new platesetting technology from KODAK after an extensive practical test. The new computer-to-plate system is capable of producing a finished plate every 45 seconds, making it the fastest 8-page CTP system in the world for process-free plates. The KODAK MAGNUS Q800 platesetter uses built-in KODAK SQUARESPOT imaging technology for constant results plate after plate. This has a positive effect on the stability, accuracy and reliability of print production. The time-saving upstream KODAK single pallet loader loads the plates automatically from the pallet. After the successful conversion of the imaging technology at the German production site, ONLINEPRINTERS is now planning to equip the production facilities of its subsidiaries in the UK, Denmark, Poland and Spain with the new technology. Environmental sustainability in all production steps is a key concern of the online print company. Besides efficient combined run printing and a central ink supply system, which saves packaging, offset printing also uses special cradle-to-cradle certified, mineral oil free inks.