OSTERODE, GERMANY, April 4-Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) recently installed the world's first KODAK MAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetter at LEYKAM Let's Print in Neudörfl, not far from Vienna. LEYKAM Let's Print is Austria's number one web offset group and one of the leading web offset printers in Europe, with production facilities in Graz, Müllendorf and Hoce, near Maribor (Slovenia), in addition to its Neudörfl site. In May 2008, an 80 page MAN Roland web offset press will officially commence production at the Neudörfl plant, where it will add production capacity to another five web machines, which range in size from 16 to 72 pages.

This investment in the Alpine country's first web offset press with the capability to print 80 A4 pages per cylinder revolution will enable LEYKAM Let's Print to set a new format benchmark. The plates for the new web press are 1266 mm x 2260 mm in size. Changes in the prepress and computer to plate (CTP) department, previously the domain of two proven KODAK TRENDSETTER VLF Platesetters, were consequently unavoidable. Several years of positive experience with these robust, large format CTP systems eventually persuaded the company to purchase two KODAK MAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetters. According to Michael Steinwidder, CTO of LEYKAM Let's Print, the high processing power of the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Systems and Kodak's ability to supply the platesetter, workflow and plates as a complete package also had a crucial influence on the decision.

CTP quality and performance in extra large format

Kodak's newly developed KODAK MAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetter features semiautomatic loading of plate sizes up to 1296 mm x 2260 mm. This thermal CTP system thus meets the format requirements of all genuine 80-page web offset presses. The extremely high resolution of the KODAK SQUARESPOT Imaging Technology facilitates sharp, repeatable output of fine AM halftones and FM screens in extra large format. Depending on the plate type used, theMAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetter boasts productivity in excess of 16 full format plates an hour.

The first KODAK MAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetter was installed in mid February 2008, with a second scheduled to follow in April. "Both installation and commissioning were completely unproblematic and so far the imaging results on the extra large plates are excellent," says Helmut Sporer, overall Prepress Manager at LEYKAM Let's Print. An average of 240 plates a day, spanning the complete format range, is digitally imaged at the Neudörfl production facility. All of them are then post-baked for printing magazines and catalogs, mostly in long runs.

In addition to the new KODAK MAGNUS XLF 80 Platesetters, LEYKAM Let's Print's prepress investment package includes a major extension of the existing, cross-site KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System concept and theKODAK INSITE Prepress Portal System. CTP technology by Kodak is rapidly gaining a Group-wide foothold, withKODAK Platesetters now operating not only in Neudörfl and Müllendorf but also in Hoce.