Kodak is already a major player in the packaging market with a range of hardware and software solutions. Its Prinergy PowerPack software has a good level of acceptance in this market. Recently it has extended this situation with a major push into labels and tags that is predominantly a flexo market. This whole area of packaging is where one supplier EskoArtwork has a substantial position in the market with both software and hardware solutions and strong distribution channels. This can be seen with the number of partnership agreements it has. These include HP Indigo, Xerox and Agfa, as well as a long-term partnership agreement in the flexo plate and platemaking market with DuPont. DuPont is the market leader in the flexo plate market with its Cyrel plates and it co-markets the EskoArtworks CDI flexo CtP systems.

The major new development from Kodak is targeting this strong position of DuPont with its Cyrel plates as well as the position of EskoArtwork as the market leader in flexo CtP solutions. The key element in this is the new approach to imaging flexo plates that is being offered by Kodak. Kodak has a range of flexo plates for both analog and digital operations. These are the MUST, RAVE and EPIC digital flexo plates from MacDermid the Kodak Flexcel SRM, SRH and SRC analog plates, and now the Flexcel NX 830 Thermal Imaging Layer and Flexcel NXH and NXM plates for digital flexo imaging. It is this latter approach that Kodak regards as a breakthrough in the technology for digital imaging of flexo plates.

Up to now the digital flexo plates from all suppliers for the packaging markets are ones that have a carbon based imaging layer over what is essentially an analog plate. The CtP imagers used ablate away this carbon layer where the plate is to be exposed. The ablated residue is extracted by a vacuum pump system during this imaging process. The resultant plate then has the carbon area as a mask for subsequent UV exposure. Flexo CtP imagers are available from EskoArtwork, Kodak, Screen and Hell. The imaged plate is then taken from the CtP imager and is exposed to UV exposure in a contact frame and then is processed in a processor to wash away the unexposed areas of the plate and the remaining carbon mask material. EskoArtwork has already previewed a CDI device that combines both the ablation of the mask and the imaging of the plate with a UV light source in a single operation within the device, but as yet has not announced plans to release this to the market.