The Dish on Plates

While some suppliers continue to pursue digital platemaking, others remain focused on conventional exposure and processing.

by Kate Tomlinson, Assistant Editor

THE WORLD IS digital. Digital phones, digital cable, and DVDs (digital video discs) are today's reality—will digital plates make way into every pressroom next? More and more suppliers are working to make digital plates commonplace. But how long will it be before every printer has adopted this approach?

The future of digital plates

"Without a doubt, once digital platemaking systems come full circle, they will be able to offer printers something they can always use more of—time," says Paul Zeinert, manager of technical services at Anderson & Vreeland.

While some suppliers continue making strides toward the "ultimate" in digital equipment, Zeinert says A&V has spent the last several years focusing on getting water-wash plate processing systems up to par with solvent-based systems. He reports A&V has come a long way, but still has some drawbacks to contend with. "Throwing a water-based plate system into the grind has several advantages, mostly concerning the environmental issues that go along with using solvents. We are trying to deal with ways to avoid rusting, as most equipment is not stainless steel. Finding additional artificial light sources [to eventually replace UV] is also coming into play," he concludes.

While Zeinert believes digital platemaking is close to achieving widespread adoption, Jim Kadlec, president of Advanced Prepress Graphics, disagrees. Kadlec believes digital plates will dominate in the future, but not for at least another 10 years. "Twenty years ago IBM laughed at Bill Gates when he mentioned every home and office with its own computer. Look at them now—he was right. I think it is going to be the same with digital plates." Kadlec maintains the amount of time digital platemaking saves must justify the effort before usage can hit majority levels.

Other industry insiders see a need for both conventional and digital technology, emphasizing printers must decide what is important and necessary for their own situation. "I do believe digital technology is here to stay and [it] will become the standard for platemaking in the future," says Mike Butler, account integration manager at Southern Graphic Systems. "For the time being, printers and prepress shops will continue using both technologies where they make the most sense."

Pamela Arnold, product manager at NAPP Systems, believes digital plate usage will come around based on several key industry motivators: "There are several elements driving the movement toward digital: environmental—the need to reduce silver in a plant; existing electronic technology—more customers are able to produce their own art and are not capable of transferring it to film; and globalization—the desire for international corporations to streamline the workflow with single-location graphics production," she comments. "At this time, however, the cost of the equipment still exceeds the payback for most printers and the real future is in direct-to-plate rather than computer-to-plate."

Currently, much digital platemaking machinery costs between $300,000-$400,000, a hefty price for electronic equipment that can have a shorter productive life than presses and converting equipment. However, Ray Bodwell, sales and marketing manager for Digital Cyrel® at DuPont Cyrel, says the payback can be fairly quick. "Moving to a digital workflow means you can eliminate the two sets of film and analog proofs associated with the conventional process, which can result in major cost savings. Additionally, digital plates have advantages in quicker press makeready, faster color match, and more consistent press runs."

Ian Hole, business development manager, N.A., at BARCO Graphics explains since the release of the lower-priced Cyrel Digital Imager (CDI) Spark, the company has seen an expanding interest in the technology. "A few years ago, this equipment was priced at $500,000-$600,000 per machine. Today, you can get the Spark Basic (RIP included) for just over $155,000. Every quarter the interest gets greater. Right now we have about 35 installations across North America—a number that has multiplied since the introduction of the Spark."

What's new in flexo

Joining the suppliers racing to fine-tune the latest digital products, MacDermid Graphic Arts is developing and beta-testing its Flex-Light® Digital EPIC™. The Digital EPIC delivers tone reduction with very little dot gain and halftone dot curves that are nearly a 1:1 reproduction. It features an ultra-wide image latitude, is fully compatible with thermal flexo platesetters, and is capable of holding 200 line-per-inch screens at .5 percent to 99 percent. The line will be commercial by the end of the year.

Anderson & Vreeland now offers the Cosmolight NEL. This water-wash flexo plate is designed for water-based inks. Its benefits include low dot gain and sharp reverses, strong ink transfer, and easy inspection and registration. The Shore A plate is available in standard sizes and two gauges.

BASF Printing Systems has introduced the nyloflex® ACE and digiflex™ ACE DII flexographic printing plates. A new photopolymer material delivers tighter plate tolerances in gauge and allows a reduced washout time due to optimized solubility of the raw materials. A specially pre-treated carrier sheet provides the foundation for stable back exposure time. Both are fully processed and dried within 80 minutes.

What's new in offset

Citiplate's AQUA LHP high-performance offset plates image with as little as five millijoules/cm2 of UV energy. These negative-working, silverless, photopolymer plates are targeted at all printers looking to optimize CTP and film-based quality. They sharpen dots and reduce mechanical dot-gain on press regardless of ink type, dampening system, or type of substrate used. The UV plates have been manufactured for use on all types of sheetfed or web presses.