If you can make your production faster, if you can make the quality of the plate higher, if you can reduce costs. Imagine which printing company would reject this? In the past two years, more and more flush-free and chemical-free plates have emerged in the market. The printing companies that use these plates will undoubtedly gain something in these areas. As market competition is always in a state of fierceness, printing companies will naturally have higher requirements in terms of productivity and profitability. They have found that flush-free/chemical-free processing of plates can help them increase production efficiency and reduce plate-making costs. , To improve the printing quality, so the use of such a plate can naturally help printers save money and simplify the prepress plate process.

Golden Circle Graphics is a printing company in Jackson, Tennessee, USA, with assets of 2 million and employees of 20 people. The company is the first company in North America to use Agfa's Green Star (:Azura) chemical-free processing media.
Since adopting the Green Star version, it has brought three significant effects to Golden Circle: saving money (without buying any other chemicals), saving time (without chemical treatment) and achieving high quality at the same time.

“The reason that prompted us to decide to use this kind of media is the cost of the plate-making chemicals. The price is actually a bit high,” said Joel Maners, one of Goldwind's shareholders, who is also the manager of the company. “We spent $400 a week on plate-making chemicals, and we had to stock up on whatever we used. Finally we decided to get rid of these chemicals and reduce our costs. With the Green Star version, we did It's all here."

He also said, “We did a non-linear test of plate making, put forward our own working curve, and we were well prepared. We used a traditional 175 lpi screening technology and got very good on the Green Star version. Plate making effect: This type of plate is very stable on the printing press, and the balance between ink and ink is kept very good.Now, we only need 6 minutes from plate making to printing on the machine, while using the previous plate requires 40 minutes. For an hour, we had an oven for pre-plate heating and plated baking, because we couldn't afford two ovens.. For a previous plate, it took only about 30 minutes to warm up and bake. It's too long. In this way, it took about an hour to make a copy of the previous version. Using the Green Star version, we only need 1/10 of the time. Now we do not need to worry about the printing plate."

Target Information Management is a printing company engaged in direct mail products, bill forms, order printing and general commercial printing. In February 2006, the company became the sixth user in the United States and Michigan's first Fuji Brillia HD PRO-T free-flow thermal plate. The company is located in Oakmoth, near Lansing, Michigan, and the company’s nine-employee company has already switched to computer-to-plate making and hopes to use further flush-free plates.

“In the past, we had spent too much money on imposition films in order to win orders,” recalls John Harris, vice president of the company. “At Print 05, we studied the existing computer-to-plate system, and we think that rinse-free plates will be the most popular. For a small company like us, we do not want to buy chemicals again. I spend a lot of money, I do not want to store these things, I don't want to increase the processing, I don't want to have any troubles like preheating. After comparing the various media on the market, we decided to choose Fuji. Brillia HD PRO-T Free-Ride Thermal Plate for our Komori Lithrone 26 four-color sheetfed presses and two Dide rotary form printers.”

"In the past six months, we have been using this type of plate. We are very satisfied with the performance of this plate," said Harris. “The printing capacity of this type of plate has reached over 100,000 impressions, and we have found that the plates used now have further improvements than the prototypes exhibited at the exhibition. Because we have saved production time, we have received a lot of business that we couldn't get before."

In June 2006, Lee Printing Company, a private printing company in Clinton, Mich., became the first printing company in the United States to use Heidelberg's Saphira chemical-free thermal solution. Li Printing Company was established in 1889. This family-owned company with only 9 employees is mainly engaged in business printing business, including business cards, letterheads, envelopes, advertising flyers, plans, brochures, posters, labels, etc. At the same time, Li Printing also provides design, printing, cutting, die cutting, gluing, and direct mail services.

“When we purchased Speedmaster SM 52, the first Heidelberg four-color printer in April 2005, we were attracted by the combination of the Heidelberg Suprasetter system and the Saphira Chemfree chemical-free process plate,” said Lee Printing CEO. Keith Lesperance said. “Suprasetter can significantly increase our platemaking speed and productivity. We have 2 prepress workers. In the past, it took 3 days for a business to make a plate, but now it only takes 4 hours to complete. And the chemical-free processing of plates does not require any Maintenance saves money and saves time.”

Saphira Chemfree chemical-free processing plates use a traditional roughened aluminum-based plate while using a new coating technology called "microspheres." This latex microsphere coating layer is non-ablative and does not require reprocessing after exposure as a conventional thermal plate. The 830nm thermal laser generator patented by Suprasetter's platemaking machine fuses the microsphere coating layer with the platen during exposure to achieve the purpose of exposing and producing printed graphics. Saphira Chemfree eliminates the need for further processing for chemically processed plates, eliminating the need for water flushing and other processing. This technology saves the cost of chemicals, saves a lot of water, and eliminates the post-processing of traditional thermal plates. This technology is an environmentally friendly technology.

Another printing company is also looking for environmentally-friendly solutions. This is the Graphic Arts Group, a commercial printing company in San Antonio, USA.

“We have been evaluating the system for more than a year now. Our basic principle is to maximize the benefits of direct computer-to-platemaking while minimizing the impact on the environment,” said Dan Kara, the company's president. Wei said. "Using Kodak's MAGNUS 400 platemaking system and Kodak's Kodak THERMAL DIRECT process-free plate, we achieved our goals in both of these areas. (Using this combination,) the use of chemicals has fallen far short of our It is expected that, with a significant increase in production efficiency, we can now produce more plates per hour, and the quality is better than ever. Due to the shortened plate-making process, we can produce more jobs per shift and therefore increase the Productivity."

Kodak's Kodak THERMAL DIRECT processless plates are also produced using conventional roughened and oxidized aluminum substrates. Due to the adoption of the fourth-generation thermal technology, the plate does not require rinsing after exposure and does not require adjustment by an imaging device or a printing press.

Nova Offset, a New York-based company, is a 46-year-old commercial printing company. In 2002, the company shifted from traditional platemaking to computer-making. They chose Presstek's Anthem chemical-free processing media. In the past three months, the company has started to use Presstek's next-generation product, the Anthem Pro chemical-free plate, in conjunction with Presstek's Dimension450 Excel computer-to-plate system. The new Heidelberger presses use 1,000 to 1,500 plates per month.

"Of course we have experienced faster productivity, lower chemical costs, and higher quality," said Ryan Pones, vice president of Nova. “In the past it took an hour's work. Now we only need 20 minutes to get it. We save 300 to 400 US dollars of chemical per month, save 1 hour of weekly cleaning time, and each After two and a half hours of washing machine cleaning time, we examined all chemical-free and rinse-free plates on the market, and we chose Presstek's plate because it is the only plate that can be operated under sunlight. In Manhattan, it's really costly. With Anthem Pro, we don't need darkrooms. We can make this place even more useful."

Bones said that the new Anthem Pro media is a better plate than the original Anthem printing press. Bones also said that after he switched to computer-based platemaking, he realized that the use of Dimension450Excel has greatly improved the quality of platemaking, with faster production and better outlets.

The above content is the experience of some printing companies in the United States regarding the use of chemical-free processing and process-free printing plates.

Reprinted from: Jing Sheng Printing