BIRMINGHAM, U.K., April 4—At a high technology manufacturing facility about 160 kilometers from IPEX, a major milestone in the history of thermal computer to plate (CTP) has been achieved. Kodak’s plate manufacturing center in Leeds, England, recently produced its 100th million square meter of the KODAK ELECTRA Excel plate, the largest selling thermal printing plate ever. At IPEX, the ELECTRA Excel plate can be seen with the industry’s largest portfolio of CTP solutions, including KODAK plates, equipment, chemistry, software and proofing for conventional, violet, thermal and flexographic printing. The ELECTRA Excel plate, a no preheat thermal plate that delivers superior versatility and quality to a wide range of printers, was developed and first produced in Leeds. It was commercialized in 2000 and is now used by customers in the United States, Europe, China, Asia, Japan and Latin America. The ELECTRA Excel plate received the prestigious Queen’s Award for innovation from Queen Elizabeth II in 2003. Kodak plate manufacturing sites in the United States and Germany also manufacture the ELECTRA Excel plate. “The ELECTRA Excel plate exemplifies Kodak’s leadership in plates, but it is only a part of the story. Customers count on Kodak to provide plate solutions for virtually every application, whether it is digital, flexographic or processless,” said James Langley, President, Graphic Communications Group (GCG), and Senior Vice President, Kodak. “Kodak is continuing to advance its plate portfolio by investing in plate manufacturing capability and delivering the innovation that printers need as technology changes.” Kodak’s plate portfolio includes solutions for newspaper, packaging, flexographic, commercial and web offset printing. Since inventing thermal plates in 1995 with the introduction of the Direct Image Thermal Plate, Kodak has led the way in innovative CTP solutions, including the ELECTRA plate, the first no preheat thermal plate; the KODAK SWORD plate, the first no preheat/no postbake write the background thermal plate with negative processing; the KODAK THERMALNEWS plate, the first thermal newspaper plate; and the KODAK THERMAL DIRECT plate, the first truly non process plate. Beyond thermal plates, Kodak’s broad portfolio of digital plates offers best in class options for visible light technologies, including the KODAK VIOLET PRINT plate for commercial printing and KODAK VIOLETNEWS plates for newspaper publishing. In addition to superior research and development, Kodak’s reputation for the highest quality plates is upheld by a continuous program of upgrades and improvements to its eight plate manufacturing sites. Kodak has plate manufacturing capabilities on four continents, ensuring customers have access to plate products that are tailored to meet the unique needs of local markets. Construction is now underway on a state of the art plate manufacturing facility in Xiamen, China. Kodak’s plates are part of a full solution portfolio, including a broad range of proofing choices and platesetters, as well as the widely accepted KODAK PRINERGY workflow software. In proofing, Kodak offers digital halftone, inkjet, virtual and analog proofing. In platesetting, customers can select equipment that leads the industry, including KODAK TRENDSETTER and MAGNUS CTP platesetters. “Because of Kodak’s broad portfolio of graphic communications solutions, customers can easily introduce CTP or upgrade their digital workflow with Kodak,” said Doug Edwards, General Manager and Vice President, Prepress Consumables, GCG. “Kodak is an open systems partner with customers, so our products can enhance almost any workflow. We continue to be a trusted partner as customers transition to, or expand, digital production capabilities.” Kodak is able to offer customers optimized solutions such as the All in One Bundle CTP system, which brings together market leading products to create one easy to implement and operate solution. The All in One Bundle includes the MAGNUS 400 platesetter, PRINERGY Evo workflow system, MATCHPRINT inkjet proofing solution and a choice of market leading KODAK thermal plates.