‘OFFERED SOLUTIONS NEED TO BE PRACTICAL AND AFFORDABLE AT ALL TIMES’ – NICK DADLANI, DIRECTOR – NEET GROUP (NEET / NTTS NIGERIA LIMITED)
The state of the Industry needs improving. Gone are the days when a printer or a Print Shop becomes an importer of his/her printing needs. The core business must never be confused with saving a few dollars and cents on direct importation of any printing needs. As a Print Shop / Printer, you would have your own timelines to deal with whilst Equipment Distributors, Installers and Solution Providers should be responsible for their timelines, maintenance levels and stock levels to enable Print Shops/Printers grow their business. I think there is a level of suspicion that emanates from the old days where Equipment Distributors enjoyed huge profit margins on every individual machine/ peripheral supply.
In today’s business world, information is readily available on the internet and with such search engines like GOOGLE, you would be hard fought to NOT be able to know the approximate value of a machine or device you would want to procure. Equipment Distributors need to be more careful with this in order to bring some normally to the Print Industry. We at Neet Nigeria Limited have seen how the market has evolved and with the recession fresh in every Nigerian’s memory, it cannot be possible to make those high margins in such a competitive market.
We believe that supporting the Printer / Print Shop should be our utmost responsibility and instead of enjoying grossly high margins, we should spend more time on ensuring Consumable inks and crucial spare parts are to be available at any given time. Even if it entails losing money on these supplies – running a printer is a lifeblood for the Print Shops and if they cannot keep their machines running, they would be losing unbelievable amounts of money. How can Equipment Suppliers take such a risk with their own “cash cows”?
This brings us to our next topic of discussion, which is, the Solutions offered to our clients, the Print Shops and Printers. Offered Solutions need to be practical and affordable at all times otherwise it will not be referred to as a Solution, simply a bane on your livelihood – they are not supposed to be cumbersome and unattainable for the low revenue Print Shop as much as for the high revenue Print Shop. They are meant to be tailor-made to ones own budget.
We refer to such solutions as Workflow and Job Management, Batch Builders, Variable Data Printing & Fiery Colour Production and Job Management. These solutions are meant to ease workflow of a mixture of short and long runs as per typical customer requirements.
– Receive & Submit: Web to print, Host system connectivity, Office to Print Room redirection, Job ticketing
– Preparation: Data or document transformation, Document make ready, Document composition
– Print Management: Variable Data Printing, Print Queue Management, Colour Management
– Output Management: Campaign Management, Multi channel communications, Automated Workflow, Accounting
– Workflow Automation Connection: MIS, System Connectivity, Professional Finishing
‘PROCESS FREE PLATES: MORE THAN GREEN’ – KODAK
By now, most people in the printing industry have heard of process free plates, and a significant number of printers have started using them. In fact, for Kodak, growth of SONORA Process Free Plates is in the double digits, and there are now over 3,200 printers worldwide using SONORA Plates. So what’s all the excitement about?
Process free plates are thermal plates that go straight from the imager to the press, with no need for a processing step. The plates are imaged in prepress just like any other offset plate, and once they’re placed on press, a physical interaction between the ink and the coating causes the unimaged coating to be removed by the first few makeready sheets. In prepress, there is no processing step, no chemistry, and no processing equipment. SONORA Plates are especially popular because, unlike some process free plates, SONORA Plates deliver capabilities similar to mainstream processed plates.
Environmental benefits
Printers often consider process free plates as a way to reduce their environmental footprint, and the environmental benefits of removing the processing step are clear. Printers eliminate all processing chemistry and waste, they reduce water and electricity usage, they eliminate the package waste associated with processing chemistry, and there is no processing equipment to continually clean, maintain, and ultimately dispose of.
A closer look at process free plates reveals that there are many benefits in addition to the environmental benefits. Process free plates are more than just green.
Economic benefits
The economic benefits of process free plates to a business can be significant. When choosing a plate, printers often put most of their focus on just the square-meter price, while the real impact to the bottom line really happens in prepress and in the pressroom.
In prepress, the cost savings of process free plates include not just the tangible costs related to cutting out chemistry and using less water and energy, but also all the costs related to maintaining the processing equipment and disposing of chemistry. Kodak estimates that a printer using 20,000 square meters of SONORA Plates annually could save US$3,445 per month on chemistry, chemistry disposal, water, electricity and processing equipment costs. Process free plates also eliminate the need for additional people to run and maintain the processor. Plate making can virtually be handled by only one person, thus eliminating the cost of additional manpower.
In addition, one of the biggest potential savings comes from eliminating the variability caused by processing, which can lead to poor quality, plate remakes, additional waste on press, and more. Printers can streamline plate production in prepress and save both time and money on press with stable, consistent, high-quality plates.
Mainstream Capabilities
While there are several true process free plates in the market, they have certain limitations, such as short run length capabilities, slow imaging speeds and very weak latent image visibility after exposure. KODAK SONORA Plates combine the benefits of process free with the productivity and print capabilities of mainstream plates. In addition, they have a stronger latent image than previous process free plates, making it easier for operators that need to put the plates on press.
The fast imaging speeds, long run lengths, and strong print capabilities make SONORA Plates suitable for a wide range of printers, both large and small, using sheetfed or web presses. Offset packaging printers will be pleased to know that SONORA XP Plates can be used for UV ink applications, are available in VLF sizes and 0.40 mm gauge, and are also receiving customer praise for reproducing colors more accurately and more vividly than other plates. The new SONORA UV Plate was designed to offer even longer run lengths for UV print applications, up to 30,000 impressions.
SONORA Plates offer fast imaging speeds with laser energy required of 150 mJ/cm2 on platesetters with KODAK SQUARESPOT Imaging Technology, so printers can take advantage of the maximum throughput capability of their platesetter in most cases. SONORA XP Plates are capable of run lengths up to 200,000 impressions on heatset and commercial coldest web presses, 100,000 impressions on sheetfed presses, and 50,000 impressions for non-UV offset packaging applications. The plates also offer high-quality 20-micron FM screening capability on platesetters with SQUARESPOT Technology and AM screening of 1-99% at 200 lpi.
These specifications are similar to those found with mainstream processed plates, allowing printers to meet their customers’ needs while enjoying the environmental and economic benefits of a process free plate.
The Shift to Process Free
With the ability to satisfy up to two-thirds of the world’s offset printing requirements, including the needs of sheetfed, heatset web, commercial coldset web, offset packaging, newspaper and short-run UV printers, the SONORA Plate is the first plate that has the potential to shift the industry to process free plate making.
Making the shift to process free is easy. SONORA Plates are qualified on all of Kodak’s thermal CTP devices and many other popular thermal platesetters. In most cases, a simple optimization of the platesetter for SONORA Plates is all that’s required to start using the plate.
© Kodak, 2017 (Kodak, SquareSpot and Sonora are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.)
‘WE OFFER 100% QUALITY GUARANTEE’ – DANIEL ODERINU, MD – DAMOND PRINT NIGERIA LIMITED
Quality guarantee
One thing about our DOIE CTCP machine is that we guarantee it 100% for its quality prepress technology, after–sale service and consumables back–up.
Speed and durability
It is on record that our DOIE CTCP machine is 1 plate per minute. It’s fast and rugged. Our machines are specifically made for the Nigerian climate. It’s precise guiderail chassis is very rugged, while its continues feeding plate system automatically loads plates within seconds. Its independent vacuum structure effectively absorbs various plates for fast, turn–around times, thereby ensuring that our customers wait while we output their jobs.
Economy for cost–saving, and more profit
We can rightly say that DOIE CTCP technology is the best machine to invest especially now that we are in recession. This is because our energy–saving mode is second to none. We have a reliable circuit control system that helps saves energy usage thereby saving you money on electricity. With this, your machine do not have to break down but works 24/7 to give you high returns on your investment. That is why we are known as the ultimate peak solutions providers in print business. Call us for more information on 0814 595 1825 or 0810 471 7280 or email us: info@damondprint.com, damondprint@yahoo.com
