Kodak recently announced improvements to its family of preheat thermal digital plates with the introduction of the Kodak Thermal Platinum Digital Plate. This new plate technology offers enhancements to image quality and consistency while gaining production efficiencies through improved imaging latitude, faster processing speeds, longer chemical cycles, and increased durability that reduces the need for post baking in many applications.

The new Kodak Thermal Platinum Digital Plate allows print professionals to improve the efficiency of their imaging devices, and confidently delivers consistent quality and durability. Customers will experience potential improvements in the cost of ownership with this plate through reduced chemistry and energy consumption. The Kodak Thermal Platinum Digital Plate will be available in the United States and Canada only, and will deliver high volume plate users unprecedented resolution, consistency and durability for either sheetfed or web printing applications.

The Kodak Thermal Platinum Digital Plate is rated for 500,000 impressions unbaked and more than one million impressions baked along with FM screening capabilities of 10 micron stochastic and processing speeds up to 6.5 feet per minute. It also extends Kodak’s leadership to thermal plates.

Kodak Nexpress Digital Production Color Presses are designed to revitalize and elevate the services offered by print providers and drive additional volume for new revenue opportunities and enhanced profit potential, and enable an almost limitless range of applications that include marketing collateral, direct mail, statements, photo products, and packaging.

With this Digital Production Color Press, the print provider keeps high value work in-house instead of outsourcing it, which not only drives page volume with new applications, but also yields an improved bottom line. A significant advantage offered by the Nexpress Digital Production Color Presses is the Kodak Nexpress Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions. It has powerful in-line capability that helps extend the application reach and flexibility of print providers by allowing them to offer new colors, finishes and printing effects. This is more and more important as print clients look for ways to distinguish their offerings in very competitive environments.

Kodak Dimensional Printing offers a raised or tactile printing effect that provides images with a dimensional feel that mimics the surface of the items in a photograph. This unique capability is only available on Kodak Nexpress Digital Production Color Presses and helps providers stand out from their competition with innovative solutions. The addition of the Nexpress Dimensional Clear Dry Ink places raised text of graphics on any project.

At the 2008 Graph Expo, Kodak demonstrated new features and enhancements for several of its powerful and versatile inkjet solutions, giving visitors an opportunity to see first hand the advantages of inkjet technology. The company’s broad portfolio of continuous inkjet and drop on demand (DOD) technology enables print service providers to choose the system that is ideal for their own requirements.

The Kodak Versamark VL2000 Printing System utilizes DOD print technology for commercial, transaction and publishing applications and was shown to the public for the first time in North America at Graph Expo. It is designed for the growing color roll fed market and prints up to 1,072 two-up duplex letter size images per minute in full color.

The new Kodak Versamark 700 Print Manager drives the Kodak Versamark VL2000 Printing System and includes an advanced digital front end and press controller. The Print Manager accepts and processes a variety of data streams including PDF, PostScript, PPML-GA, PPML-VDX, VPS, and AFP/IPDS. The Versamark 700 Print Manager supports Kodak’s Unified Workflow Solutions to simplify job submission and reporting, color management and workflow connectivity.

Wolverine Printing has evolved from a solely a print service provider to a print and marketing service provider by creating Wolverine Business Solutions in November 2007. At its core are a Kodak Nexpress 2100 Plus Digital Production Color Press and the Kodak Marketmover Business Development Services. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the printing business recognized the need to expand to help customers get the most out of their marketing investments.

Wolverine’s successful campaigns are as a result of the Nexpress 2100 Plus Press and the Marketmover Business Development Services. The Kodak Nexpress 2100 Plus Digital Production Color Press meets production needs in a variety of user environments up to and including those with very high volumes. Customers can upgrade presses as they grow their businesses with options to add paper capacity or increase processing capability.

Wolverine Business Solutions found success in its use of Kodak Marketmover Business Development Services by delivering a wide range or innovative tools, resources, and support to enable customers to maximize their return on investment in new technologies and achieve exciting business growth. Wolverine Printing started more than 40 years ago and has moved its focus to one to one marketing.

Eastman Kodak’s Adaptive Picture Exchange is a powerful modular, thermal dry lab system that has become the most widely adopted new dry lab system in Europe according to Future Source Consulting. Kodak achieved this position in less than four months since the first APEX shipment in June 2008.

This behind-the-counter solution mirrors Kodak’s leadership position in front-of-the-counter kiosk solution, with more than 90,000 units installed worldwide. The Kodak Adaptive Picture Exchange combines unique technology innovations with Kodak’s award-winning applications and retail systems expertise and embodies Kodak’s commitment to retailers to deliver unprecedented adaptability, ease-of-use, high quality imaging products, and dramatically reducing retailer costs and complexity.

Retailers have responded strongly to the benefits the system provides, including reduced setup and training time, increased employee productivity, and increased efficiencies and profit from the combination of new simple user interface design, substantially reduced number of media types, the connectable and modular small footprint core design, and low capital cost. New components within the Kodak Adaptive Picture Exchange include the Kodak 7000 Photo Printer, Kodak Xtralife II Paper, Kodak DL2100 Duplex Printer, and new APEX Workstation with advanced high-speed processing capability.