Fairfax is switching to Kodak Sonora news process free plates, libra digital plates and platesetters, a move to more sustainable plate making.
Kodak says its plate and CTP technology will be integrated into Fairfax’s daily operations.
Fairfax says it will change 70 per cent of its plate volume to Kodak Sonora News plates, which is designed specifically for newspapers, allowing the company to cut down on costs, time and environmental impacts.
[Related: Kodak raising plate prices 9 per cent]
Bob Lockley, group director of print & distribution Australasia at Fairfax Media says, “The introduction of Kodak Technology is an important part of our business strategy to meet our current and future requirements to run a high quality, efficient and sustainable production. With the combination of Sonora news plates and Kodak’s thermal imaging technology, Fairfax Media will be able to lower costs from the elimination of chemical processing, save energy from lower power consumption, while also opening up opportunities to provide new levels of service for our customers.”
The transition to Sonora News plates will remove the costs of 16 processors from various sites while eliminating 60,000 litres of chemistry per year.
The company will adapt the remaining 30 per cent of plate volume to Kodak Libra VP plates. It says this will simplify processing by replacing the traditional developer and replenisher with a single clean-out finisher. Additionally, the process will include a low chemistry set up to eliminate plate wash steps.
Brad Kruchten, president print systems Division, SVP at Eastman Kodak Company says, “We are delighted to partner with Fairfax Media to help them meet its goals to bring even greater efficiencies to its operations, expand their business into more high-resolution, high quality commercial work, while also improving their sustainability.”
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