Hangin' (with) Eco-friendly Printing Plates

Two months into the new year, let us reflect back at the 2015 holiday season. For obvious reasons the holidays are a boon for printing and print packaging firms. Packaging is a major revenue driver for brands as it attracts consumers on the prowl for that perfect gift. But what repercussions do all of our shopping and gift opening have on the environment and, specifically, in landfills?

Consider that Americans throw away 25 percent more trash from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day than any other time of the year, according to EPA statistics cited by Stanford University. In fact, the holidays are responsible for extra waste that amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week. Annually in the U.S., trash from gift wrap and shopping bags alone totals 4 million tons (source: Use Less Stuff). Then, think about the resources used to produce all that ink on paper or other substrates.

Package printers can provide high-quality print with minimal environmental impact. Companies such as Kodak are finding ways to help branded manufacturers balance the business benefits of new packaging with the ecological protections that need to be top of mind. Beyond simply using less packaging, innovations abound in the printing industry that are geared toward year-round, sustainable programs that become more critical during high-volume sales times. One such way is by using process-free plates that can save millions of gallons of water annually.

Kodak introduced its now award-winning Sonora process-free plates three years ago. The manufacturer claims that, to date, its customers have saved …

• nearly 441.5 million liters of water
• more than 170.5 million kWh of energy
• over 3 million liters of chemicals

… and counting. Those, indeed, are some impressive and sustainable numbers. (Numbers are updated frequently.)

Terry Taber, chief technology officer at Kodak, put the first number in more humanistic terms: “Our Sonora plates save enough water to grow food for 1,000 people per year,” he said factually. Plus, no processing means it takes less electricity in the print shop to run the plates, explained Taber.

Yet the question persists among printers: Can you be sustainable and make money? Taber encourages those asking to consider the total cost of ownership when doing the math for process-free Sonora plates: less electricity used + less water used + no chemicals purchased. “It was a significant investment for Kodak to bring forward and justify a premium-priced product,” he explained, adding that the savings to end users is real. “They can see and realize the money saved.”

In the not-so-distant future, brand owners will be able to reuse materials or reprogram packages using “intelligent” sensors, believes Taber. Think of it as recycling beyond paper, he urged. “There needs to be a reusable, value-added element to packaging,” said Taber, a research scientist and 36-year Kodak veteran who holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, MA, and a PhD from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. (Read more of my interview with the nine-year Kodak CTO, including Taber's vision for printed electronics, in our upcoming packaging trends coverage in the March issue of Printing News.)

Fuji Going Sans Processing, Too?

Expect Fujifilm’s Graphic Systems Division to make some comments regarding plate technologies next week at the pre-drupa International Media Conference in Dusseldorf. These developments are primarily in processless plates, teased marketing VP Terry Mitchell, not wanting to steal too much thunder from the March 1 press conference.

Jim Crawford, Fuji’s consumable sales director, confirmed: “There is ongoing interest by Fujifilm to develop new processless plate options for the market,” Crawford said. “Although processless plates are still a young part of the portfolio, it is an area that is gaining more interest and acceptance by printers every day. So, we are committed to keep developing ideas and solutions to meet customer needs.”

Mitchell added, “We have recently introduced a new brand strategy for selected plates, processors, and pressroom chemistry that enables printers to achieve savings in material, water, energy, labor, and emissions.” Branded Superia, the system presently is being rolled out worldwide.

“Fujifilm is excited to keep building on the worldwide brand for Superia and the message it delivers for enhancing performance by working with printers to identify resource savings to make customers more efficient,” noted Crawford. “The most tangible resource savings are labor and material. While the environmental impact savings for water, energy, and emissions can provide some savings to the printer, they are equally important as an industry within the global community.”

Thermal CTP

Late last year in Quebec, Canada, digital and offset print firm Impression Paragraph was looking for a more productive and robust CTP device to support its six sheetfed presses. With a capacity of up to 60 plates per hour, Agfa's Avalon N8-80 thermal (B1 size) platesetter was chosen. Combined with the Energy Elite Pro plate, which is durable beyond 100,000 copies, Paragraph made significant productivity gains and cut costs in the process, according to Agfa. The Energy Elite Pro is an ideal printing plate for more demanding, longer-run markets such as consumer magazine and catalog printers.

Energy Elite Pro is Agfa’s next-generation no-bake thermal plate. It offers consistent printing quality, high productivity and lower chemistry consumption. And it combines all that with run lengths up to 400,000 copies -- in aggressive environments (e.g. UV and metallic inks) up to 150,000 copies. For even longer runs, Energy Elite Pro can be baked.

Its chemical resistance makes the use of fountain solutions for alcohol-free and reduced-alcohol printing easy, even without baking. Its unique developer and replenisher, specifically designed for Energy Elite Pro, additionally ensure longer bath life and easy cleaning, allowing users to raise productivity while reducing their ecological footprint.

Big 3 Alternative

When most people think of commercial printing computer-to-plate (CTP) systems, they think of the industry’s Big 3 traditional plate manufacturers: Kodak, Fujifilm, and Agfa-Gevaert Group (Agfa Graphics/Pitman), which still plays in this consumables space.

Now a Chinese import is making some noise, so to speak. CRON Machinery & Electronics Co., Ltd., the largest computer-to-plate (CTP) manufacturer in China, entered the U.S. market 11 months ago via a joint venture with ECRM Imaging Systems. Based in Tewksbury, MA, near Boston, CRON-ECRM LLC serves as the master distributor in North America for CRON CTP systems and Blackwood, a new line of offset printing plates manufactured in China.

For the newspaper and cold-set web printing markets in North America, Southern Lithoplate, Inc. (SLP) is the exclusive distributor CRON-ECRM thermal CTP systems and accessories. SLP supplies quality digital and analog lithoplates to more than 1,000 newspaper and commercial printers across North America and around the world. “Our CRON ECRM and Liberty NXP no process [plates] are true innovations,” said SLP senior VP Steve Mattingly. Printers moving to processless technology can take advantage of SLP’s full CTP portfolio, including the emerging no-process plate and this CRON-ECRM CTP solution.

CRON-ECRM produces highly efficient thermal CTP technology for newspaper and commercial printing applications. Its thermal CTP systems provide reliable, high-quality platemaking at high imaging speeds, combined with an ultra-low long-term cost of ownership. Thermal imaging easily supports run lengths up to 200,000 impressions, ideal for typical newspaper and coldset web printing.

The market in North America now has a full turnkey alternative to the Big 3,” Mattingly proclaimed. “Unlike the majors, we are entrepreneurial, professional run, American owned and operated, and dedicated to print! This isn’t rhetoric. This is our passion and our purpose.”

Also Showing in Dusseldorf …

Presstek will be in Germany at drupa, exhibiting in Hall 15, Stand D59. It will showcase three eco-friendly, sustainable plates products, according to marketing manager Jonelle Rexenes:

• Presstek GemPlate: Rated for 100,000 impressions, the all new GemPlate is a true chemistry-free, develop-on-press thermal plate for the ultimate in streamlined plate production. Once imaged, simply mount on press and print.
• Presstek Zahara: Also rated for 100,000 impressions, Presstek’s Zahara thermal plate enables for a true chemistry-free CTP workflow for waterless press platforms. Along with environmental benefits, Zahara is extremely easy to use—once imaged in a standard 830 nm imager, just run through a water-based cleaning unit and mount on press.
• Presstek JT: The JT aluminum plate, rated for 20,000 impressions and designed for imaging on an all-in-one CTP system imaged on a standard Epson inkjet printer using standard inks, also will be demonstrated.

See Presstek’s video from the Graph Expo 2015 show floor, featuring the chem-free GemPlate, which is developed on press.

Xante, too, offers low-impression (up to 15,000) offset printing plates for about 99 cents each. Myriad 2 plates are specifically designed for its PlateMaker printers.

Flexing Flexo Muscles

On the flexo side, the industry is moving to water-processing flexographic plates, Kodak CTO Taber said. However, he added, this “demands aqueous-based inks that are not widely accepted.” Hence, Kodak is working with major ink suppliers.

Fujifilm has introduced new water-washable plates in the flexographic printing market under the brand Flenex. Enabling “up to 200 line screen for improved image quality,” Mitchell explained, “these plates eliminate solvents, and are produced significantly faster than solvent processing.”

“The flexo plate was launched just over a year ago and will be a major focus at drupa 2016,” added Jon Fultz, Fuji’s business development manager for packaging. “It is made possible by a new photo-polymer that is unlike photo-polymers used in traditional plastic-based flexo plates.”

Flenex has a very competitive total cost-in-use versus existing technologies due to significantly reduced cost of consumables and much less sophisticated equipment needed for water handling, Fujifilm said. It is the lowest environmental impact plate-making technology, eliminating manufacturing, transportation, and disposal of solvents and wicking cloth. Three of Flenex’s key advantages over existing flexography plate technologies, according to Fultz:

1. Highest available print image (the aforementioned 200 line screen) and 1 percent highlight dot capable.
2. Process with water and dishwashing soap instead of solvent or thermal wiping cloth. Eliminates the need to manufacture, transport, and dispose of solvents or thermal wiping cloth. Also eliminates the high cost of these as it requires only tap water and very inexpensive dishwashing soap.
3. Industry's fastest plate making time at 40 minutes per plate. This is compared to two hours or more for solvent or 50+ minutes for thermal technology.