Kodak’s Graphic Communications Magazine August 2011

16Optimizeprint quality

Drivecompetitive advantage 12

Maximize design efficiency 208

Acceleratespeed to market

Kodak’s Packaging Solutions

contentsKodak’s Graphic Communications Magazine August 2011

August 2011 Kodak 3 2 Kodak August 2011 www.kodak.com/go/packagingwww.kodak.com/go/packaging

Driving impact and efficiency from concept to consumer

© Kodak, 2011. Kodak, Approval,

Design2Launch, DigiCap, Flexcel, InSite,

Magnus, Matchprint, Miraclon, NexPress,

Prinergy, Prinergy Powerpack, Prosper,

Quantum, squarespot, Traceless and Trillian

are trademarks of Kodak.

From Concept to Consumer . . . 3Mohan Garde, General Manager of Kodak’s packaging

business, introduces Kodak’s unique approach to the

packaging market.

Winds of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Industry analyst Ben Miyares discusses six key forces of

change that are driving innovation in packaging.

Tame the Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Accelerate speed-to-market, optimize shelf impact,

and protect your brand.

Conquer Complexity . . . . . . . . . 12Maximize design process efficiency with innovative

workflow, project management and proofing tools.

Stand Out from the Crowd . . . 16With prepress solutions that can win new business and

create a competitive edge.

A Better Mousetrap . . . . . . . . 20Plates that reduce total cost of use while driving

shelf impact and production efficiency.

What If You Could . . . . . . . . . . .24A look at the future of digital printing for packaging.

August 2011

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16

Retail packaging on shelf is where all the intangibles finally touch the customer. Branding, advertising, promotion—it’s all wrapped up in that package on the shelf, which in a few critical seconds must engage, communicate, stimulate and motivate a purchase. It’s the acid test—for the brand owner, the designer, trade shop and printer/converter—that measures how well these partners captured the attention of discerning consumers.

For brand owners and print services providers alike, only one company can help with all that, from one point of contact, under one trusted name—Kodak. We offer a holistic approach to the printed packaging market, with a uniquely broad portfolio of brand management and prepress solutions that drive shelf impact and efficiency from the earliest design stages all the way through print production:

• Digital workflow, asset management and creative development tools that manage brand assets and streamline concepting and design

• Security solutions that help protect brands against counterfeit packaging

• Production workflow software and proofing solutions that assure quality while driving time and cost out of the process

• Prepress technologies that improve operational efficiency, reduce total cost and use and boost shelf appeal

• Digital printing systems that expand options and cost efficiencies

Within these pages, you’ll find the story of Kodak’s solutions for printed packaging. It’s a story of accelerated speed to market and an improved brand experience for consumers, of cost savings and production efficiencies, of improving print quality while simplifying and streamlining and automating complex processes.

Ultimately, it’s the story of innovative technologies that maximize business value every step of the way, from concept to consumer.

Mohan Garde

General Manager, Packaging and Vice President, Prepress Solutions,

Eastman Kodak Company20

August 2011 Kodak 5

Winds of ChangeBen Miyares, Packaging Management Institute

Global DemographicsFrom a global standpoint, there is growing demand for packaging. In developed markets, populations are generally aging, which has accelerated demand for medical devices, pharmaceutical products and health care items. In these countries, which include Japan, the United States and much of Europe, CPGs and pharmaceutical companies are working to produce retail packages whose functionality, size, copy and graphics appeal to older consumers by being tailored to meet their consumption needs. There is a movement toward labels that are easier to read, closure and package formats that are easier to open and reclose, adhesives that hold just tenaciously enough to allow appropriate removal and tabs that are larger and easier to grip. In the packaged food market, smaller portion sizes are increasingly available and there’s a shift underway from packaged meal components, such as cans or pouches of vegetables, to packaged prepared meals that increasingly have a protein component.

In emerging markets such as Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa, different forces are at work. First, the migration from rural to urban areas has been—and continues to be—significant. As populations become more urbanized, the demand for packaged goods, particularly packaged foods, increases dramatically. This is a natural consequence of the population’s “flight from the farm” where labor was concentrated on growing food for one’s family.

Packaging has always existed with a multi-pronged purpose— to protect, identify, market, transport and dispense product. In societies being transformed by globalization and technology, this fundamental purpose remains unchanged. In fact, it is more critical than ever. But how packaging is developed and manufactured—and why and where—is evolving as the result of several industry trends.

As populations become more urbanized, incomes grow and demand for packaged goods increases. From the manufacturer’s perspective, urbanization raises labor costs. This rise in the cost of labor in markets such as Mexico and China is shifting manufacturing to lower labor cost markets, such as Vietnam and Bulgaria. In some cases, manufacturing operations that were “offshored” are being returned to developed countries, in a movement known as “reshoring” that calculates economic savings from shorter supply chains with lower transportation costs.

SustainabilityCost reduction is also a driving force behind the trend toward sustainable packaging. Brand owners are looking for alternatives —ways they can reduce costs without sacrificing packaging’s functionality and customer appeal. Some brand owners are actively pursuing a move from oil-based plastics to bio-based plastics, which, while they don’t offer an immediate cost savings, at least have the potential to minimize the effects of price volatility in the petrochemical market. In one high-visibility example of this trend, Coca-Cola and HJ Heinz are collaborating on the consumer market introduction of clear plastic bottles made partially (30%) of bio-derived plastics. The bottles are functional and chemical equivalents of the petro-chemical bottles they are beginning to replace. Coke and Heinz are supporting the development of technologies that will permit them to market Coke, water and ketchup in 100% bio-plastic bottles in the next year or two.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

6 Kodak August 2011 August 2011 Kodak 7

Winds of Change-cont.Winds of Change-cont.

In France, Danone is now packing its Volvec water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles with 20% bio-polymer and, earlier this year, PepsiCo announced that it will begin pilot production of a clear plastic bottle made entirely from bio-derived feedstocks in 2012. If their pilot run is successful and can be ramped up to full scale production, Pepsi plans to follow the pilot run with a commercial debut of its bio-PET bottle. In Germany and the U.S., Danone is marketing yogurt in cups made from polylactic acid (PLA), a biopolymer alternative that it claims will improve the product’s packaging carbon footprint by 25% and use 43% less fossil resources compared to the previous packaging.

It’s a complicated issue, however. Changes undertaken with sustainability in mind can have unintended consequences. Because of this, biopolymer packaging developers of the current generation of bio-plastics for packaging are focusing on “drop in” alternatives— those that can be handled and processed from the point of conception to the “end of life” without changing procedures or operational efficiencies from those attainable with petro-chemical plastic packaging. And, in the final analysis, consumer acceptance will determine if bio-plastic packages can be sustained in the marketplace. The shift to biopolymers and other “sustainable” packaging formats, as well as the institution of practices that reduce resource consumption, is driven primarily by economic considerations. In a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, author Edward Humes notes that Wal-Mart is saving “hundreds of millions of dollars with more planet-friendly practices that lower carbon emissions, conserve energy, save forests and radically reduce landfill waste. Soon this sustainability payback will be in the billions.”1

The Rise of the RetailerThere was a time when consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies were the exclusive packaging decision makers. They presented their packaging creations to retailers as a fait accompli. Today, retailers can, and do, dictate package formats, materials and sizes. Pressure from retailers looking for shelf space has resulted in the elimination of “shadow boxes” holding deodorant containers and a proliferation of concentrated liquid detergents in compact bottles. And, to facilitate the stocking of neat, orderly shelves, retailers in North America are following their European

colleagues in pushing for more Retail Ready Packaging (RRP)— display packs that let stock clerks load the retail shelves faster and easier, converting mountains of discarded empty “brown paper” corrugated boxes into multi-color, product-selling billboards.

In addition, retailers are now effectively competing against CPGs with “private label” store brands that bring them higher margins than the national brands they sell. Private label now accounts for 45 – 50% of the sale of supermarket goods in Europe, and 19-20% in the United States, and has become a rich source of revenue for large retailers worldwide. Many retailers are replacing branded goods on their shelves with their own lines, offering not merely a “low cost alternative” to a branded product, but a cornucopia of options to meet premium, ethnic and regional consumer preferences.

Mass CustomizationMass customization, which uses data to segment and target consumers, is a long-term and continuing trend. Products we think of as national brands may actually present subtle differences in various regions. A particular brand of canned soup sold in San Antonio, Texas, may actually be slightly spicier than the same brand sold in Boston, Massachusetts. In fact, data drives not just product formulation decisions, but also package manufacturing and distribution processes. There is a shift underway from rigid containers, such as the classic metal can and glass jar, to semi- rigid or flexible packages. Inherent in the shift from “turn-them- on-and-run-them-forever” packaging lines is the need to have more agile manufacturing processes. As products become available in more sizes and the popularity of flavors ebbs and flows, brand owners need to be able to cost-effectively produce shorter runs of more types of packages on a more timely, market-driven basis. On the distribution end, sophisticated palletizing technology has revolutionized warehouse operations, using data to automate picking, pallet-building and shipping processes.

From a marketing standpoint, data-driven, flexible manufacturing and distribution processes open a world of opportunity to use packaging as a communication vehicle that speaks more directly to specific sub-segments of the consumer population than ever before.

chicken noodle soups, you want to make half a million, and you need them in eight versions and four container sizes. The market is evolving so that we are very close to becoming a personalized package universe. Digital print offers a much higher degree of personalization and customization. Flexo, offset and gravure printing processes will each retain a large percentage of the packaging market, but digital is on the rise. As the technology matures, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be integrated onto the packaging line. Envision, if you will, a bundling line running unprinted film that prints the desired and necessary copy and graphics on the film just moments before being wrapped around the product. The advantage of such a process—perhaps no more than a decade from reality—could be reduced film costs and added flexibility for markets to respond on the packaging line as impulsively as the consumer does in the supermarket.

Packaging is a sustainable journey, a constantly evolving science-art-technology. Packaging never wavers from its three fundamental charges: preventing hunger, preserving health and protecting products. The journey is an exciting one. As we face the prospect of a world population that will grow from 6+ billion to 9+ billion in the next 40 years, it will be a challenging journey, but one that will be completed by a continuum of efficient and cost-effective materials, machinery and processing strategies to contain, protect, identify, transport and dispense products.

1 Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-humes-walmart-20110531,0,5608647.story

Content is KingPackaging is the most effective medium for promoting product, at the lowest cost per thousand impressions, reaching consumers at the times and places when and where buying decisions are being made. If it can be used to communicate directly with targeted consumer audiences, the task of creating package content that reaches those audiences takes on added dimensions. A logical outgrowth of mass customization is the mounting challenge of designing, managing and printing text, artwork and graphics that are not only accurate and meet regulatory requirements, but legibly and intelligently present maximum shelf appeal and a consistent brand experience. High-quality, high-impact graphics are the key to reaching a consuming public with limited time and compromised sight acuity.

As a result, brand owners—who are now responsible for more products in more sizes, more formulations, more versions and more languages than ever before— need to drive cost and complexity out of the packaging supply chain. Data-driven and automated processes, already in use at fulfillment and distribution facilities, are moving upstream into imaging, design development and asset management, bringing new efficiencies to content creation and graphics execution. Advancements in printing technology are enabling cost-effective production of photorealistic, complex designs.

We’re in an age where packaging communication isn’t static anymore. Innovation in imaging and content management is helping brand owners to make packaging content more personal and more powerful, ultimately protecting and strengthening the brand with both consumers and retailers.

Emergence of Digital PrintWe’re going to see a great growth in digital print. Label producers and contract packagers are already adopting the technology. One of the criticisms of digital print has forever been that it’s limited to relatively short runs. That’s actually an advantage in today’s market if, instead of making five million

www.kodak.com/go/packagingwww.kodak.com/go/packaging

A 2008 inductee into the Packaging Hall of Fame, Ben Miyares is an Honorary Lifetime Member and Fellow of the Institute of Packaging Professionals. He is a member of the International Packaging Press Organisation and helped create and continues to serve as market developments and trends adviser for the Packaging Management Council, an association of senior directors of packaging of FMCG companies. In 2010, Miyares formed the Packaging Management Institute (PMI), a research organization and information exchange working in alliance with organizations and individuals throughout the packaging value chain. He can be reached at bmiyares@packmgmt.org.

August 2011 Kodak 9

1CNN, FDA Gold Sheet

Package development and execution is staggeringly complex. For brand owners, coordinating the myriad entities and processes required to shepherd a packaged product from concept to consumer is just the beginning. Factor in an exploding number of SKUs,

versioning, localization, targeted marketing, customer relationship management and enthusiastic government regulators, and the process becomes exponentially more complicated. For brand owners engaged in the fierce battle for share of mind and shelf, removing time, cost and risk from package development and execution have become strategic imperatives.

Automating and integrating independent and manual processes within the enterprise is the first step to taming the beast of inefficiency. Kodak Design2Launch Solutions deliver powerful tools specifically designed to tame packaging development through process automation and standardization.

Design2Launch Solutions centralize and manage assets across brands, departments, regions and suppliers, eliminating redundancy and driving consistent global brand identity. Creation of packaging artwork is managed through a digital workflow that automatically creates an audit trail for each project, helping maintain regulatory compliance. Online tools enable 24/7 real-time collaboration between geographically-dispersed stakeholders, streamlining routing and approvals and minimizing the costs and environmental impact associated with hard copy proofs. A dashboard view of all projects improves visibility and exposes bottlenecks.

Mistakes in package labeling can be catastrophic. Industry experts estimate that 68% of recalls are due to incorrect or mislabeled packaging rather than the product itself.1 One of Design2Launch Solutions’ most powerful features is Content Certification, which transforms approved copy elements into assets that can automatically flow into layouts, be tracked and repurposed. For global brand owners who need to manage complex localizations, this functionality is a powerful tool to combat copy errors that can delay launches or cause product recalls.

Even more compelling, Design2Launch Solutions function in alignment with marketing communications, enabling a fully integrated enterprise platform for delivering effective multi-channel communications. This capability is more critical than ever for brand owners who need to be able to respond to competitive market forces at warp speeds, with communication vehicles—including packaging—that more effectively appeal to consumers.

A global brand owner reports the following efficiency improvements after adopting Design2Launch Solutions:

• Reduction in review cycles from 56 to 6 days

• 45% reduction in status meetings per project

• 38% reduction in the amount of rework

• 65% reduction in the time spent chasing projects and files

• Over $1M saved in hard proofing costs, Year 1

Accelerate speed-to-market, optimize shelf impact and protect your brand

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

Tame the Beast

10 Kodak August 2011

Tame the Beast-cont.

In the early stages of structural design and prototyping, powerful software is increasingly being employed to automate complex processes and reduce environmental impact. Kodak has teamed with Arden Software to market Arden’s Impact Design Solutions, which offer some of the industry’s most highly automated and powerful features. Impact Solutions’ structural design applications integrate with Kodak’s production workflow software, enabling a seamless workflow solution from product design through print production.

Executing new and redesigned graphics is resource-intensive, with a high risk of errors. Automated workflow tools help reduce the potential for error, and so do proofing technologies that accurately predict printed results. Kodak’s award-winning proofing solutions save time and reduce cost by aligning expectations early.

Kodak Matchprint Virtual Technology delivers color-accurate soft proofs to calibrated monitors anywhere in the world, enabling geographically-dispersed teams to approve color without a hard copy proof. The Kodak Matchprint Inkjet Proofing System enables cost-effective, highly accurate production proofs that are optimized for packaging applications. The industry’s gold standard, the Kodak Approval NX Digital Color Imaging System, accurately proofs special colors and metallics on actual production stocks, and is ideal for prototyping shelf sets and creating pre-production promotional photography.

Further downstream, innovative technologies are bringing new capabilities and efficiencies to bear in the materials selection process. Cutting-edge prepress technologies enable vibrant and consistent color across packaging substrates, printing processes and production locations, helping ensure a consistent brand experience across multiple consumer touchpoints. Kodak’s plate making solutions for offset and flexo printing, including Kodak Trillian SP Thermal Plates and the Kodak Flexcel NX System, drive execution of eye-catching and complex designs in super-efficient processes that significantly reduce waste in the pressroom.

Kodak’s packaging solutions provide brand owners with powerful tools to remove time, cost and risk from packaging development and execution. Accelerating speed to market, streamlining package production, maximizing shelf impact, protecting the brand ... Kodak makes it all possible, with solutions that transform the beast of inefficiency, inconsistency and spiralling costs into the engine of improved brand profitability.

Is your brand secure?Counterfeit packaging, tampering, and product diversion represent a significant threat to both brand integrity and profitability. In today’s global marketplace, where product supply chains are highly complex, brand owners face multiple threats to their brand’s security. It is estimated that as much as $63B per year in revenue in the US is lost to gray market diversion alone.2

As a brand protection provider and thought leader, Kodak offers a range of security solutions that help companies protect against attacks to brand equity and revenue. Consulting services help companies develop and implement a comprehensive brand protection strategy, which may include both offensive and defensive measures.

Kodak Traceless Solutions offer virtually infallible product authentication, without impacting product design or the package production process. They easily integrate into packaging, labels, documents, and even fabrics, plastics, and metals. Click here for more information about Kodak Traceless Solutions.

Innovative digital print technologies offer another line of defense against counterfeiting and fraud. Kodak NexPress Digital Production Color Presses are capable of printing a variety of special inks onto a wide range of standard and specialized substrates, making the final printed piece exceptionally difficult to duplicate. Click here for more information about security features available with Kodak’s digital printing solutions.

Kodak’s brand protection solutions provide the means to protect and secure an organization’s most valuable asset ... its reputation.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

August 2011 Kodak 13

Conquer ComplexityMaximize design process efficiency with innovative workflow,

project management and proofing tools

Packaging designers face a daunting task. They are charged with developing a “look” that can capture consumer attention in today’s crowded retail aisles and be leveraged globally across multiple packaging platforms, while meeting brand owner expectations

for faster turnaround times and lower costs.

That’s a tall order.

Kodak’s packaging solutions can help, starting with powerful software that brings automation and process control to the package development process.

Kodak has teamed with Arden Software to market Arden’s Impact Design Solutions, which offer some of the industry’s most highly automated and powerful features for streamlining structural design and prototyping. This database-driven application delivers maximum performance in virtually any network environment. An interactive drawing toolset, drag-and-drop design components and advanced 3D modelling tools reduce design time and add realism to virtual samples. Arden Software’s structural design applications integrate with Kodak’s production workflow software, enabling a seamless, unified workflow solution from product design through print production.

Intelligent automated workflow and asset management solutions improve visibility and efficiency in package design and development. Kodak offers two types of workflow solutions that deliver these capabilities: Kodak Design2Launch Solutions, a brand management solution, and Kodak InSite Solutions, a suite of products designed for print service providers.

These powerful tools centralize and organize assets, and establish a digital workflow that automates and standardizes packaging design. Web-based collaboration tools make it more efficient to communicate and collaborate with clients, reducing cycle time and improving speed to market. Centralized asset management makes it more efficient to manage production art, driving asset utilization and minimizing redundancy. Project management tools provide up-to-the-minute status, automatically documented project history, and improved visibility with a dashboard view of all work-in-progress.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

14 Kodak August 2011

Conquer Complexity-cont.

Upstream and downstream integration strengthens relationships with both brand owners and trade service providers, removing time, cost, complexity and the chance for error. Brand owner pressures to accelerate speed and manage costs will only continue to mount. Kodak’s workflow solutions give designers the tools to meet these challenges with confidence.

Aligning expectations early in the design process is another effective way to streamline package development. Advanced proofing technologies remove cost and time by revealing potential problems early in the process, when it’s less costly to make design changes.

For geographically-dispersed teams, Kodak Matchprint Virtual Technology enables web-based collaboration and review of color-accurate CMYK color images in real time. This award-winning technology streams files over the Internet, enabling calibrated monitors anywhere in the world to display an accurate rendition of color as it will print. Not only does Matchprint Virtual Technology reduce the cost and time associated with producing and shipping hard copy proofs, it reduces materials consumption. This system is integrated within Design2Launch Solutions and is an option with InSite Solutions.

The sophisticated Kodak Matchprint Inkjet Proofing System produces cost-effective inkjet proofs that are optimized for packaging. Accurate wide color gamut simulation, white ink support and process color handling are just a few of the features that make this system capable of generating contract-quality inkjet proofs for packaging applications.

For prototypes so accurate that they virtually predict the product’s appearance on shelf, the Kodak Approval NX System is unsurpassed. Not only does the system generate proofs on actual production substrates, it shows actual spot colors as their own true color separations, with screening and dot characteristics just as they will appear on press. The ability to proof white, metallics, and an expanded gamut of millions of colors make this system ideal for creating accurate prototypes for client sign-off, focus groups and store display studies.

Simplify. Automate. Streamline. Reduce errors and increase speed to market. Kodak’s solutions make the package design process more efficient and much less complex, with technologies that deliver better information and creative control in a more efficient, productive process.

Design freedomRevolutionary new flexo plate technology removes imaging constraints imposed by traditional flexo printing, and broadening packaging design options. The Kodak Flexcel NX System employs groundbreaking advances in flexo plate imaging and materials to enable expanded color gamut, small reverses, clean highlights and smooth vignettes. What used to be the exclusive domain of offset and gravure processes—vibrant colors, high-contrast, clean, photorealistc print—is now achievable with the versatility and cost-effectiveness of flexography. The Flexcel NX System makes it possible.

For small-format folding cartons, labels and point-of-purchase material, the Kodak NexPress Digital Production Color Platform offers a range of unique capabilities. This award-winning system enables unique, high-impact effects, including dimensional print for a 3-D raised feel, flood or spot glossing, watermarking and fluorescing ink. Over 600 substrates are qualified to run on the NexPress Press, including uncoated, film, cling, and board. Factor in variable data print, one of the core capabilities of a digital press technology, and the possibilities for creating high-impact designs that appeal to a highly targeted audience become endless.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

Kodak's packaging solutions preserve brand equity and security, enhance shelf appeal, and drive efficiency from design through print production, with a unique portfolio that provides sustainable brand management and prepress solutions for global businesses:

• Flexo, offset and letterpress plate systems• Proofing systems• Digital asset management• Creative and production workflow• Brand protection• Digital printing• Technical, professional and consulting services

To learn more, visit www.kodak.com/go/packaging

DELIVER THE BRAND WITH IMPACT

EFFICIENCY

© Kodak, 2011. Kodak is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.

16 Kodak July 2011 August 2011 Kodak 17

Stand Out from the CrowdWith prepress solutions that can win new business

and create a competitive edge

A few months after automating its workflow with

Kodak’s solutions, throughput has doubled at Trisoft

Graphics, a high-end California-based trade shop.

Click here to see how Trisoft Graphics is using

Kodak’s suite of workflow and portal products to

streamline operations and grow its business.

Trade service providers to the packaging industry face intense pressure. As brand owner requirements to accelerate speed to market and boost shelf appeal ripple downstream, trade shops are investing in technologies that enable them to deliver on these

imperatives and create a competitive advantage.

Labor-intensive manual processes are being automated with powerful wide-area workflow solutions that boost process control, efficiency and overall capacity. Kodak offers a range of modular and integrated workflow solutions designed to work seamlessly, from file input to finished output, across traditional and hybrid systems and devices using industry standards such as JDF, PDF and ICC.

Kodak Prinergy Powerpack Workflow automates labor-intensive functions, including file and plate production, proofing and archiving, saving time and reducing opportunity for error. Job status is available on a 24/7 basis. Processes, quality, costs and resources are controlled from a central interface. A powerful new option, Packaging Layout Automation (PLA), uses Kodak Prinergy Rules-Based Automation Software and an advanced imposition engine to speed and streamline complex packaging jobs. Currently

the industry’s only automated packaging layout software, PLA eliminates thousands of layout templates previously required to manage complex packaging production workflows.

Web-based project management tools are an additional value-added service that can strengthen relationships with both brand owners and printer/converters. The Kodak InSite Prepress Portal System enables customers to submit jobs over the Internet, entering parameters that then populate and automate the job throughout the system, including integration of information with the MIS or ERP system.

Intelligent Kodak Unified Workflow Solutions free up operators to focus on higher-margin prepress processes such as creative design, dimensional elements and color retouching. They also provide the process control required for a highly efficient production model: centralized file preparation, with remote output at locations around the world.

Proofing is another area where advanced technologies can streamline packaging production. Kodak offers a range of proofing solutions optimized for package printing, accurately predicting press results, preventing expensive mistakes and removing cost and waste.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

August 2011 Kodak 19 18 Kodak August 2011

Stand Out from the Crowd-cont.

When it comes to plate making, innovative offset and flexo CTP solutions are helping improve both efficiency and visual impact, with higher quality imaging, more consistent quality, and the ability to match critical brand colors across substrates. Kodak’s CTP devices for offset and flexo employ Kodak squarespot Imaging Technology. This award-winning thermal imaging technology produces precise and robust halftone dots that are less susceptible

to variations in plate, processor, and environmental conditions than other thermal or violet imaging technologies.

For offset plate making, Kodak’s solutions deliver the resolution and stability required to handle increasingly complex package designs, while boosting operational efficiency. The Kodak Magnus VLF Quantum Platesetter is one of the fastest fully-automated VLF platesetters on the market, enabling long periods of unattended operation. Kodak Trillian SP Thermal Plates deliver extraordinarily sharp detail

and stability for short- and long-run AM and FM applications, without baking. These groundbreaking plates exhibit exceptional chemical resistance, but do not require preheating or post-baking, and use up to 70% less chemistry than previous plate systems. Turnaround times are improved. Costs associated with chemistry and energy consumption are reduced. Print quality and consistency are optimized.

For flexo printing, the Kodak Flexcel NX System delivers unparalleled print quality and consistency that rivals gravure, driving new opportunities for mid-, narrow- and wide-web flexo. The system enables true 1:1 image reproduction from file to plate. It creates plates with a stable, flat-top dot structure that delivers consistent quality and repeatability on press, with excellent ink transfer and impression latitude with full tonal range.

Kodak Matchprint Virtual Technology is an award-winning soft display technology that is ideal for geographically-dispersed teams. It streams files over the Internet, enabling calibrated monitors anywhere in the world to display an accurate rendition of color as it will print on press. Web-based collaboration tools enable all stakeholders to review, annotate and approve images in real time. Time is saved, and the cost of generating and shipping multiple rounds of hard copy proofs is reduced.

Contract-quality inkjet proofs are a reality with the sophisticated Kodak Matchprint Inkjet System. Accurate wide color gamut simulation, white ink support and process color handling are just a few of the features that make this system ideal for packaging applications.

For contract-quality digital halftone proofs and prototypes so accurate that they virtually predict a product’s appearance on shelf, the Kodak Approval NX System is unsurpassed. The system proofs on actual production substrates, and shows actual spot colors as true color separations, with screening and dot characteristics just as they will appear on press. The ability to proof white, metallics, and an expanded gamut make this system ideal for creating accurate prototypes for client sign-off, focus groups and store display studies, as well as rock-solid final proofs.

“The Flexcel NX System is allowing us and our customers to produce work that we couldn’t produce before using flexo. (It’s) a technology that helps our customers do a better job. That makes them listen to what we have to offer.”

Ben Abray, President, Autumn Graphics, LLC

Click here to find out how the Flexcel NX System is driving competitive advantage for trade service providers around the world.

Available with polyester film, steel or aluminum backing, these versatile plates can be imaged using analog, digital or direct laser engraving workflows, and are processed and rinsed with tap water. Excellent image reproduction makes Miraclon Plates ideal for short-run, label, security, business form, UV flexo and dry offset applications requiring fast turnaround times.

Workflow and portal solutions. Proofing. CTP equipment. Plates. Kodak is the only prepress market leader that supplies it all. Dealing with one vendor saves time and money, and enables tight integration from start to finish. Not only that, Kodak services what it sells, with a world-class service and support team that delivers training, implementation and business development support.

Do more, do it better, and earn more with Kodak.

Stand Out from the Crowd-cont.

Do more, do it better, and earn more with Kodak.

www.kodak.com/go/packagingwww.kodak.com/go/packaging

In prepress, imaging stability and predictability are improved. On press, plates come up to color faster and last longer, reducing makeready times and overall plate usage. The Flexcel NX System’s newest feature, Kodak DigiCap NX Screening Solutions, provides smoother ink coverage and higher densities throughout the full tonal range with reduced ink laydown.

For trade service providers looking to stand out from the crowd, the Flexcel NX System offers a compelling value proposition: optimized shelf appeal, produced in a cost-effective, predictable flexo process that boosts operational efficiency in the pressroom. The Flexcel NX System is a win-win for trade service providers, printer/converters and brand owners alike.

For letterpress plate making, Kodak Miraclon Letterpress Plates are high-quality, UV-sensitive photopolymer plates that can be imaged, processed and dried in less than 30 minutes.

Sustainable solutions

Kodak also offers programs and services to help trade service providers meet their sustainability initiatives.

VIRTUAL PROOFING

State-of-the-art Matchprint Virtual Technology reduces the number of hard copy proofs required throughout prepress production, reducing materials consumption and the footprint associated with shipping multiple rounds of proofs.

OFFSET PLATES

Kodak Trillian SP Thermal Plates

• Use up to 70% less chemistry than previous plate systems

• Use a neutral pH plate processing solution, minimizing its environmental impact

• Eliminate preheat baking—and often post-baking, too—maintaining excellent resolution, consistency and durability in harsh chemical environments, reducing energy consumption and space requirements

FLEXO PLATES

Kodak Flexcel NX Plates

• Reduce makeready times by up to 15%, cutting down on ink and substrate waste

• Extend plate life by 2-5 times, reducing overall plate usage

• Deliver the print quality brand owners require, with 4 colors vs. 7 or 8, reducing overall plate usage per jobLETTERPRESS PLATES

Kodak Miraclon Letterpress Plates are processed and/or rinsed with plain tap water that can go directly down the drain in most municipalities, reducing the chemical footprint of plate making operations.

August 2011 Kodak 21

A Better MousetrapPlates that reduce total cost of use

while driving shelf impact and production efficiency

Turnaround times are decreasing. Energy and commodity costs are increasing. Shorter run lengths of increasingly complex, versioned designs are becoming standard procedure. In this environment, packaging printer/

converters need all the help they can get to meet customer expectations and optimize profitability.

Enter the humble printing plate. Innovations in plate technology are driving greater predictability, efficiency, sustainability and quality in the pressroom, ultimately helping packaging printers meet the challenges they face in today’s competitive market.

For offset operations, Kodak Trillian SP Thermal Plates use a new, proprietary, negative-working coating that offers imaging, performance and environmental advantages. This state-of-the-art plate does not require baking to maintain excellent resolution, consistency and durability in harsh chemical environments, thus reducing costs, energy consumption and space requirements. Fast imaging and processing speeds accelerate plate making cycles, maximizing total throughput. Trillian SP Plates use neutral pH developer and replenisher, and a lot less of it—up to 70% less—minimizing environmental impact of the plate processing line. In the pressroom, plates come up to color quickly, helping reduce makeready time and waste.

Advanced offset CTP technologies continue to expand capabilities and profit potential. Kodak Magnus Platesetters deliver industry-leading levels of throughput and automation, along with Kodak squarespot Imaging Technology for maximum stability, accuracy and repeatability in imaging. Capable of resolutions of up to 450 lpi for AM screening, and 20- or 10-micron FM screening, Magnus Platesetters enable efficient production of complex and detailed photorealistic packaging designs. This modular and upgradeable system is available in a number of sizes, including VLF, with a variety of automation and upgrade options.

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

22 Kodak August 2011

A Better Mousetrap-cont.

For flexo printer/converters, advancements in digital flexo imaging and plates are raising the bar for both print quality and production efficiency. The Kodak Flexcel NX System delivers print quality and consistency that rivals gravure, making cost-effective flexography more attractive for more applications. This award-winning system uses proprietary Kodak squarespot Imaging Technology to create a pixel-for-pixel reproduction of the image from file to plate, using a unique flat-top dot structure that delivers a number of benefits, including full tonal range. The capability to deliver smaller, predictable, consistent and repeatable minimum dots opens the door to higher line screens, finer detail and expanded tonal range. All of a sudden, flexography becomes a viable, lower-cost alternative for the types of packaging designs that used to be gravure’s exclusive domain.

Flat top dots also improve print latitude. All plate elements are the same height, and resist changes in impression or variations on press. The result is a wide operating window that boosts consistency, repeatability and press efficiency.

One of the system’s most powerful features, Kodak DigiCap NX Screening Solutions, provides smoother ink coverage and higher densities throughout the full tonal range, with reduced ink laydown. This revolutionary screening technology creates a micro-surface texturization pattern on all image areas, dramatically improving ink transfer efficiency.

In fact, the density, gamut and print stability improvements enabled by the Flexcel NX System with DigiCap NX Screening Solutions lead to significant efficiencies in the pressroom. Plates come up to color much more quickly, reducing ink and substrate waste during makeready. Presses can run faster with fewer cleaning stoppages, enabling more jobs on press every shift. The need to create separate black plates for linework and tones is eliminated and plates last longer on press, reducing overall plate usage. Even more compelling, the system enables exceptional print quality using only 4 or 5 colors instead of 7 or 8, freeing up press stations for other uses, including value-added decoration. The potential to co-print designs across the same web even becomes viable.

For UV flexo, rotary label and dry offset printing operations, Kodak offers a full line of productive and versatile letterpress plates. Kodak Miraclon Letterpress Plates can be imaged, processed and dried in less than 30 minutes, and are ideal for short-run, fast-turn applications. They offer excellent image reproduction, are available with a variety of backings and can be imaged using analog, digital or direct laser engraving workflows. In addition, Miraclon Plates use plain tap water for processing and rinsing, making them an environmentally responsible choice.

As run lengths continue to drop, Kodak offers offset, flexo and letterpress plate solutions that help printers grow revenue and protect margins, while meeting brand owner requirements for optimized shelf impact and accelerated speed to market. By enabling maximum press uptime, exceptional quality and environmental responsibility, these innovative plates simultaneously drive top line growth and bottom line improvement.

“Kodak Flexcel NX Technology is ... a low-cost opportunity to print the highest quality. Since we implemented Flexcel NX Technology, we’ve seen a 35% increase in product shipments.”

Frank Clesse, President and COO, Packstar Flexible Packaging

Click here to find out how the Flexcel NX System is driving competitive advantage for printer/converters around the world.

Cost-effective, short-run digital printingThe award-winning Kodak NexPress Digital Production Color Platform enables cost-effective production of short-run and variable-data labels and tags, as well as small-format folding cartons and point-of-purchase material. This award-winning system offers advantages to the packaging market:

• Maximize application flexibility with over 600 qualified substrates, including uncoated stocks, foil, static cling and board

• Produce short runs on demand, minimizing inventory and obsolescence

• Boost package impact with unique effects, including 3-D raised print, spot and flood glossing

• Add security features including micro-type, MICR, and red fluorescing ink

Conventional thermal imaging dot Photomicrograph of the edge of a single halftone dot from

conventional thermal imaging. Note the irregular edge

definition which results from variations in the imaging

threshold, causing unpredictable tonal reproduction.

squarespot Technology dot Photomicrograph of the edge of a single halftone dot from a

Kodak squarespot Thermal Imaging Head. Note the uniform,

steep edge definition, providing consistent tonal reproduction

on plate, despite typical variation.

Even after processing, the edges of

dots imaged with conventional thermal

imaging technology can be weaker than

the center, resulting in quicker dot wear

on press, longer makereadies, differences

between plate readings and press results,

and more color variation through the

print run. Dots created with squarespot

Technology have harder edges, making

them more resistant to wear on press

than Gaussian or GLV dots. Stable,

durable dots improve color consistency

on press, reduce makeready time, and

increase the useful run length of

plates on press.

Accuracy, stability,and repeatability

SQUAREspotImaging Technology

www.kodak.com/go/packaging

W I D E R F O R M AT S

A look at the future of digital printing for packaging

The appeal of digital printing for packaging applications is self-evident. It offers marketing agility, with the ability to quickly adjust copy, images and designs to respond quickly to dynamic market forces and opportunities. Producing short runs of versioned packaging through the integration of variable data, one of the core benefits of digital print, can improve packaging’s effectiveness in reaching targeted demographics. Eliminating plates boosts supply chain efficiency and speed to market, and the capability to print short runs cost-effectively minimizes costs associated with inventory and obsolescence.

In fact, digital printing technologies are making inroads within well-defined packaging segments today. Electrophotographic presses open up new options for cost-effective short runs of static or variable labels, small-format folding cartons, prototypes and point-of-purchase material. Drop-on-demand inkjet presses are beginning to be used in the corrugated market, as a low-cost method to produce either static or variable color packaging. But the overall market remains relatively small. The global market for digital print was less than $500 million in 2010.

Digital print is gaining momentum, however, as inkjet technology advancements promise to expand its utility for packaging applications, including ...

• Faster speeds, wider formats and better resolution

• The ability to print on more substrates, enabling expansion beyond corrugated

• Costs that compete with long-run flexo and gravure, through the elimination of prepress consumables

• More efficient press utilization, with virtually no downtime between jobs

• “Greener” package printing, with the elimination of prepress, and waste reductions in the pressroom

• More robust use of variable data for not just versioning, but inventory management, security and more

The Kodak Prosper Press Platform and Kodak Prosper Imprinting Systems, built on groundbreaking continuous inkjet technology, are enabling commercial offset printers to transition to digital printing. As the technology matures, look for it to bring its capabilities of production speed, high quality and low production cost to many package printing applications.

Better resolutionMORE SUBSTRATES

EFFICIENT

No downtime

faster speedssustainable

August 2011 Kodak 25www.kodak.com/go/packaging

What if you could...

Eastman Kodak Company 343 State Street Rochester, NY 14650-0119

Ideal System Solutions Pty LtdUnit 50, 5 Gladstone Road, Castle Hill NSW 2154 AustraliaTel: (+61 2) 8405 8888 Fax: (+61 2) 8405 8899info@idealsolution.com.au www.idealsolution.com.au