In our recent series, “Follow the Plates,” we suggested that with traditional product sales declining, it was questionable that the more profitable digital plates could be sustained and give all the major plate suppliers the funding necessary to move into new digital imaging products and markets.

This scenario has profound consequences for the whole industry since the "Big Three" plate suppliers – AGFA, Fuji and Kodak – have risen to positions of greater importance, superseding Heidelberg as industry icons of innovation and expansion. Much of the latest technology for the printing trade will be marketed and delivered –if not always produced – by these three companies. To carry this banner, these companies will rely heavily on plate revenues for funding digital ventures beyond offset supplies.

We were therefore very interested in the purchase of American Litho, Inc. by Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging U.S.A. that was announced in early August. This commitment by Konica Minolta to the plate business exacerbates problems for the Big Three. Another strong player entering the plate business adds pricing pressure and extends over-capacity factors. It is a reversal of fortunes after being gladdened by Kodak's "taking out" Creo, seen by all as the wild card in plate marketing and pricing.