Many companies are pushing for sustainability in the printing industry. How are you as a company that provides printing products and solutions ready to make sure you contribute to the cause?
A big part of Kodak’s mission is focused on helping more printers to be profitable and sustainable than any other company in the world. We’re helping printers become more sustainable with process free and low chemistry plate alternatives, new equipment that consumes less energy, services that save money and drive efficiency and workflow software that reduces waste and set-up time.
Can you point out a couple of products and solutions from your portfolio that focus on sustainability?
Kodak leads in process free plates with our SONORA Process Free plate portfolio. Since launch, the market has consumed over 50M sqm Sonora and we now have over 3200 active accounts using SONORA across the world.
The total amount of water and energy saved in one year based on our estimated volume of Sonora Plates sold in one year is as follows:
- •Water savings of up to 299 million liters per year, enough to produce food for 250 people for a year
- •Energy savings of up to 115 million kWh per year. Enough to run over 10 million microwaves for a year.
With over 20 years of experience designing and manufacturing thermal CTP devices in its own facilities, Kodak has continued to innovate in order to optimize performance while reducing environmental impact. Our latest models enable significant power savings—over both our previous CTP devices and the competition—without compromising on productivity or uptime.
Available later this year, a new W-speed option will make the TRENDSETTER Platesetter the world’s fastest process-free CTP, with throughputs up to 68 plates per hour (eight-up) and 75 plates per hour (four-up) imaging KODAK SONORA Plates, and a new Multi Cassette Unit (MCU) option will enable greater automation using less space and up to 80% less power than comparable MCU’s available today.
How according to you can printers reshape their businesses by aligning commercial and environmental goals?
Printers that align business and environmental goals are seeing long term benefits to the health of their business and the communities in which they operate. Offset printing, which has been the dominant printing technology for decades, is becoming more sustainable. Printers are moving towards vegetable-based inks, alcohol-free solvents, and paper that is recycled or sustainably harvested.
New press advances such as low-energy UV technology, are helping printers reduce energy and waste during the printing process. Printing plates are made of aluminum and are fully recyclable, and more and more printers are switching to plates that don’t require any chemical processing, which not only reduces chemical usage, but saves water and energy as well. While these investments are certainly reducing the printer’s impact on the environment, they also increase the profitability and productivity of printers.
Do you believe use of renewable resources can pave way for sustainability? If yes, what initiatives has your company taken to make sure your products and solutions offer ecological benefits?
Yes. From our process free plate technology to our CTP devices, our products are designed to help printers cut costs, eliminate waste, while improving the level of service they can offer. For example, the next generation of Kodak process free plate technology –SONORA UV – is designed to deliver all the environmental benefits while meeting the rigorous demands of UV print applications increasingly used by today’s packaging and commercial printers.
