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As the Market Changes, It’s Good to Have Partners in Growth

Over the years, Kodak has developed many groundbreaking products and, along the way, very strong bonds with their customers. Considering their long history supporting print service providers with consumables and digital process solutions, they have been able to enhance their clients’ business growth and create a great platform for Kodak’s business growth as well, it makes perfect sense.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Since 1888, Kodak has initiated many “firsts” in film and subsequently digital-based graphic arts technologies and consumables. These developments and the client relationships they have created have stood the test of time and are just getting stronger. 

A great example is Modern Litho. Modern Litho is an 84-year-old commercial printer with locations in St. Louis, Kansas City, and two in Jefferson City, Mo. Magazine publication and book production make up their largest service sector, although they provide sign and display services as well. Like most printers, they have been complementing and transitioning their analog offset work to digital. Although, in the case of Modern Litho, while the nature of much of their work still lends itself to offset, “automation is one of the biggest drivers of their success,” according to Jim Tomblinson, VP of Operations.

Jim has been with Modern for 40 years and during that time has led the focus on optimizing their operations. “What's probably different about us is that our company size allows us to quickly and easily adopt the latest and greatest solutions from our partners if we feel it could offer benefits to our operation. Unlike some companies, we don’t have to overanalyze what we want to test.” One of their strongest partners over the years has been Kodak. As a trusted partner, Modern has many different Kodak hardware solutions in their plants, including KODAK MAGNUS Q800 Platesetters for their offset work and a KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Press installed in their Jefferson City digital plant.


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About David Zwang

David Zwang travels around the globe helping companies increase their productivity, margins and market reach. He specializes in production optimization, strategic business planning, market analysis, and related services to companies in the vertical media communications market. Clients have included printers, manufacturers, retailers, publishers, premedia and US Government agencies. He can be reached at [email protected].

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