Sydney, - SOS Print + Media Group is the first company in Australasia to purchase the new KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press, KODAK's high performance inkjet web press solution. The installation of the press is part of the company's continued expansion into digital print as Bob Gardner, Joint Managing Director, SOS Print + Media Group explained. "There is no doubt the digital side of our business is where growth is coming from. Globally, across all market segments, there is a move toward shorter run lengths, which brings with it quicker time frames, and tight market prices. The KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press delivers an extremely competitive technological advantage which will assist us in capturing existing markets more competitively and serving our markets faster."
      
SOS Print + Media Group produces a large volume of books for a number of leading trade and education publishing houses in Australia. Gardner said the KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press would enable SOS Print + Media Group to drastically reduce production timeframes for these jobs in particular.  "The KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press prints incredibly fast at 3600 pages per minute (A4). As an example, we printed a trade book on one of our existing digital monochrome devices that prints at a maximum speed of 250 pages per minute. This print run took 32 hours. By comparison, running the same job on the KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press will take less than two hours. Its speed alone will drive significant productivity savings without sacrificing quality."

He continued, "At present we have 20 million digitally printed pages a month ready to go and with new clients coming on board by the end of this financial year we anticipate producing 40-50 million digitally printed pages a month, so I am confident of where we are going and how digital fits in."

The KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press will be initially configured for monochrome printing. SOS Print + Media Group will review the option to upgrade to the KODAK PROSPER 5000XL Press when it is available in early 2011. "This will allow us to move into personalized catalogues, magazines, transactional documents for smaller entities like credit unions, and then direct marketing areas, which we will pursue through our partnership with U&I Direct, an established, highly sophisticated direct marketing operation," concluded Gardner.

Steve Ford, Business Development Manager, Digital Printing Solutions, Kodak Australasia said it was fantastic to see SOS Print + Media Group become the first company in the region to purchase the press. "SOS Print + Media Group have a history of early adoption and of making new technology work to its advantage. The directors undertook a thorough investigation into the different presses available on the market including extensive testing. Their decision is a significant mark of confidence in the technology behind the KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press."

"Until now there has always been some degree of compromise with digital print whether that's forsaking quality for speed or cost per page. The KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press is true digital without compromise, a convergence of quality, speed and price point per page. It is the fastest, most competitive, high quality press in its class," Ford concluded.