FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO: Shigetaka Komori) is to start the operation of a new CTP plate production line incorporating cutting edge technology and energy saving facilities, in a move to address the growing demand of CTP plates for offset printing. The production line goes operational in early January 2012 at FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe B.V. (Netherlands), one of the company's four major production sites for printing materials.

With the digitization of plate-making processes, the printing market has seen a surge in demand for CTP plates, which allow digital text and image data to transfer directly to printing plates without having to use film. Amidst rising environmental awareness, the industry is strongly seeking environmentally-considerate products, such as processless CTP plates that do not require processing and therefore do not generate liquid waste, and low-chemical CTP plates that involve simplified processing to reduce the amount of liquid waste.

The new production line to go operational this January incorporates the Multigrain V technology, which is Fujifilm's proprietary surface processing technology that makes it possible to achieve stable production of CTP plates with excellent durability and ability to reproduce high-definition images. It also supports the production of processless CTP plates and low-chemical CTP plates, which require advanced production technology.

The new production line is also equipped with Fujifilm's Co-generative Thermal Oxidizer (CTO) system, which integrates the exhaust gas combustion device and the natural gas co-generation device, previously on standalone operations, into a single unit to further enhance the rate of waste heat use. Since waste heat from the exhaust gas combustion unit can be efficiently re-introduced to generate energy (electricity, steam, cold and hot water) required by the new production line, the system improves the rate of waste heat use by 11% and reduces the annual CO2 emission by approx. 5,500 tons compared to conventional production lines.

FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe B.V. has five wind turbines with the capacity of producing up to 2 megawatts of power. The electricity generated by the wind turbines currently accounts for around 20% of power used at the factory, in an active effort to reduce the facility's environmental load.

Fujifilm, as a leading company in printing materials and plate-making equipment for over many years, has carried out global development, production and marketing of a wide range of products including plate-making films for offset printing, CTP plates, PS plates, prepress software and film plate setters. It will continue to further expand and develop the Graphic System Business as one of its core business fields to contribute to the development of the world's printing industry.