One of the more straightforward changes a litho printing company can make to become more sustainable is a switch to a process- or chemistry-free plate. And thousands of printers worldwide have done so, with very few ill effects.
The process-free, develop on press plate, is also the only area where suppliers anticipate growth and measurable margins. It is reckoned that just 10% of the world’s litho plates are process-free, while the latest generation of plate is reckoned to be able to address all but the longest heatset and coldset web offset press runs. This leaves a huge chunk of the market for suppliers to chase. Consequently, this is a sector where development continues. Each subsequent generation is a step forward towards a universally acceptable and usable plate.
Currently, as well as web printers, UV cartonboard printers can feel excluded, certainly for longer print runs. Otherwise there is no sector of the market that cannot be addressed by process-free plates. Printers should consider the options, for there is a benefit beyond the obvious gain in sustainability.
Jim Continenza, Kodak CEO, says that process-free plates can reach every printer and every application. “My goal is to deliver solutions that are not only superior to other alternatives, but also backed by an unwavering company wide commitment to preserving our environment. It is clear our customers and the public are becoming more aware of the imperative, and I believe it’s simply the right thing to do,” he says.
The first generation of development on press plates, including Thermal Direct from Kodak, forced users to make compromises. The run lengths were restricted; the surface was soft and susceptible to marking and scratches; the latent image could be indistinct and apt to fade away if not immediately loaded on press. These plates did not gain traction except among a little group of printers either with a strong environmental ethos or that worked for sustainability charities.
These objections have been stripped away, along with complaints that the plates are slow to image. Instead there is no chemistry to dispose of, no cleaning of the processor, a reduced energy bill as a result and a cleaner, repeatable plate. In a world of shorter runs and frequent reprints, the process-free plate provides the confidence to know that the image laid down this morning is exactly the same as that applied six or more months ago. Press settings can be stored, but these assume that the plate is consistent, which with process-free plates, it is.
Agfa’s approach with the ThermoFuse technology has been about chemistry-free, where after imaging, the plate is processed in a water wash unit and protected with a gumming layer. It eliminates the developer and fixer as the chemicals which need careful disposal in favour of water and gum which do not. This became the leading approach for printers that wanted to shed the developer, the chemistry and the need to clean out the processor. Agfa continues to offer this technology with Adamas as the most mature iteration of this technology.
But having delivered the message that chemistry-free means a stronger, more resilient image than those developed on press plates, Agfa is backing both horses with its latest developments.
Agfa recognises that the develop on press plate has caught up and that there is no penalty for using a DOP plate. At the end of 2019 Agfa announced Eclipse, aiming to showcase this at Drupa the following year. That did not happen. Instead pilot installations and controlled sales have continued and now Agfa is rolling out Eclipse as its definitive process-free plate. There is a presentation in which Agfa compares Eclipse to Kodak’s Sonora and Fujifilm’s Superia plate, in which Eclipse shows greater image latency, sharper imaging, faster and cleaner roll up and greater durability. The comparison is not, however, with the latest generation of plates from Kodak and Fujifilm, which would otherwise perform better. But it shows how far the technology has come.
Product manager Iris Bugnovic likens the process-free plate to the electric car: “It’s a new technology that we as users need to be ready to accept. About 10% of printers worldwide have moved to process-free technology and more are getting curious about the technology.”
This might be because of their own sustainability journey, because customers are driving change, or because the company is at the point in its investment cycle to make a purchase. They find that removing the variability that can be introduced at processing is welcome. A plate exposed today will be identical to a plate exposed six months earlier. Tricky brand colours become easier to reproduce.
As a result very few of the printers that have moved to process-free will return to a processed plate. One that did this explained that the process-free plate chosen could not achieve the 10 micron spot sizes that his work required. According to Bugnovic, the Eclipse can deliver this spot size, using the plate in combination with other Agfa technologies for screening and ink optimisation to increase the environmental benefit of going process-free and increase costs savings from the press room.
“We have addressed all the issues that held back the technology,” she says. These include light fastness, image contrast and durability. And user experience suggests that there is no back contamination of fount solutions or ink rollers as all the unwanted surface debris is carried away on the first dozen sheets through the press.
On a standard press the plate is good for 200,000 impressions, with UV inks Eclipse is rated at 50,000 impressions, though many have gone beyond this.
The arrival of the new plate came too late for Agfa to hold on to the account at Onlineprinters which has switched to Kodak’s Sonora X plate and joined Bluetree as a high volume user adopting process-free technology. Onlineprinters will move to Sonora Xtra, the latest version, across this year. CEO Roland Keppler says: “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 platemaking by eliminating the traditional plate processing step and the new CTP imaging technology is also faster than standard procedures.”
In all Kodak has some 5,000 accounts worldwide using Sonora plates, including 1,000 in printers in China. Sonora Xtra is the latest generation of the plate, already in production at the European plant in Oesterrode and to be joined by the North American plant.
This is a jump from the 1,200 users of the previous generation Thermal Direct develop on press plate and an increase too in the volume of plates per account. What had been an average of 5,000m2 a year with Thermal Direct is now 20,000m2 a year with some, like Onlineprinters or Bluetree using 300,000m2 a year. Process-free plates are no longer simply for the space constrained small printer nor only for the environmentally committed.
Kodak’s worldwide R&D director for plates Chris McCullough says: “We expect this number will grow further and we will not stop until we can meet every printers’ needs with process-free,” he says. “Ninety percent of printers can switch right now. There are no restrictions around founts, inks or washes, he adds. The roll out of Sonora Xtra will be phased so that demand does not exceed supply as users move up to the newest version of the plate and as US capacity comes on stream.
North American printers have been the first to trial the latest version of Fujifilm’s Superia process-free plate, the Superia ZX. This is a big step forwards compared to the Super ZD. The plate is more robust, has a stronger image contrast, cleans up faster and has better scratch resistance. It is a drop in replacement for a conventional plate.
Its specifications say it is capable of a 200lpi screen and a 20 micron FM spot, is imaged in a 120mj/cm2 platesetter. Its pilot users are more effusive about performance, pointing out that the contrast means that fine details can be read, making a mix up inexcusable. Others have been using the plate on web offset presses and with UV inks with no ill effects.
Fujifilm points to four areas which have been the focus for improvement. A high colour generation layer includes the dye which is triggered by the later imaging and does not affect the surface of the plate, nor on the ink. “The visibility will not fade even if the plate is left out for a few days,” it says. A print control layer helps reduce makeready and promotes speed of inking up the plate. A process gumming layer helps ensure that any damage to the surface of the plate is hidden by the flow material to fill the blemish so that no damage is visible on the printed sheet.
“We are getting a lot of interest,” says Andy Kent, division manager at Fujifilm UK graphic systems. “And have just completed a first round of testing in the UK, with really good positive feedback. The final specification is to be locked down in the next weeks and we will begin controlled sales in the final quarter of this year.”
“We launched ProT as our first process-free plate in 2006 with the aim of getting the technology to the equivalent of a wet processed plate. Now we have reached the point where it is pretty close and more commercially viable for large printers using a lot of plates.”
The drive for printers to find ways to become more sustainable is also creating interest. “The Superia ZX is another step forward in this direction and is almost the same as a processed plate. The start up speed of the press is good, the run length with UV inks and plate cleaners is good, it has good scratch resistance in handling.
“When we introduced the PI-E plate and later the PL-E as plates that did not need baking, there was a big environmental benefit through energy saving. That was the start of the journey of getting rid of hardware and chemicals. With process-free, there is nothing that needs looking after, nothing that needs maintenance. We have taken all that away. That’s a big difference and helps the printer become more environmentally friendly.”
Sonora’s success is proof that process-free can reach beyond smaller printers into larger users. The improvements to robustness, coating resilience and UV inks is expanding the potential user base to more than 90% of litho printers. The challenge is about convincing dyed in the wool press operators that process-free plates can more than match the plates that they have been using all their working life. The presses have become digital through automation of set up and colour controls, through temperature controls to standardise the viscosity of ink. With process-free, plates too have become predictable, consistent, digital as well as being the more sustainable option.
