Rochester, N.Y. - Since the introduction of KODAK TRILLIAN SP Thermal Plates earlier this year, customers have seen long unbaked run lengths, impressive on-press chemical resistance, crisper images, and reductions in environmental impact-all while lowering their production costs and improving their efficiency.

TRILLIAN SP Plates are designed to offer commercial printers, publishers and offset package printers outstanding levels of productivity, efficiency, total-cost effectiveness and a reduction in chemistry. At Graph Expo, Kodak will showcase a complete solution consisting of TRILLIAN SP Plates, KODAK MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter with automatic pallet loader (APL), and the new KODAK Intelligent Prepress Manager Software.

"The biggest things about these plates are the extended run length with a lot less chemistry," said Ajay Lamb, Vice President of Technology for American Printing Company in Madison, Wis. "We used to run a thousand plates per chemistry cycle, but with TRILLIAN SP Plates, we're going to 3,000 plates per chemistry cycle. It's a very good chemistry, and it saves us the time it takes to stop, change the chemistry and clean the processor."

American Printing has seen a marked difference in on-press performance with KODAK TRILLIAN SP Plates as well. "This plate is very fast in processing, uses low energy and is superior in how it images," said Lamb. "It's much more consistent and higher resolution than other plates. We're a high quality sheet-fed shop, printing everything from one or two colors all the way to eight colors with UV coatings. Consistency is important, especially with our corporate clients. With TRILLIAN SP Plates, we've gotten enough run length for everything that we do here.

At Monroe Litho in Rochester, N.Y., TRILLIAN SP Thermal Plates were the perfect fit with the company's commitment to sustainable commercial printing. Certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Council, Monroe is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership. "We attract a lot of clients that are green-conscious," said John Humrich, Monroe Litho Vice President of Operations, "and TRILLIAN SP Plates help us keep our commitment to reduce our environmental impact. We've cut our chemistry usage by 50 percent, and we have doubled the number of plates we can process before we have to clean the processor."

TRILLIAN SP Plates provide Monroe Litho with longer run times as well, Humrich said.  "We have had some good-sized runs of 150,000 to 200,000 sheets, and the plates did not wear out. Plus, the plates have a much crisper image. We were able to print a much finer pattern for stochastic printing."

TRILLIAN SP Plates also lower the total cost of ownership and provide environmental benefits by using significantly less chemistry and eliminating the use of preheat and potentially postbake ovens for long runs or challenging print conditions such as UV-cure ink printing. In addition, the new KODAK TRILLIAN SP Neutral Plate Solution used for developing and replenishing, offers a single solution with a neutral pH of 6.8. The new plates, widely compatible with existing CTP and Kodak processing equipment, enable easier processor cleaning and less maintenance, and provide high-quality, consistent performance on press.

The TRILLIAN SP Plate is a non-ablative, negative working, thermal digital plate with wide operating latitude for long runs and offers excellent resistance to aggressive press chemistry such as UV inks and blanket washes. The plate operates in the 800-850 nm range and supports resolutions up to 300 lpi using KODAK SQUAREspot Imaging Technology. It is rated for up to 500,000 impressions unbaked.