Kodak has installed its first Magnus Q4800 CTP, at the Westend Druckereibetriebe printing plant in Essen, Germany, owned by the WKS Group. Featuring an XPL pallet loading system with four pallet stations for four different formats, this Q4800 Magnus CTP is nearly 19 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. This makes it the largest CTP system ever installed in the world, according to the American manufacturer.
Extra large format offset plates with the Magnus Q4800 CTP
This CTP, which went into operation last December, supports very large format (XLF) offset plates for 96-page presses up to 1.6 x 2.9 m.
With six locations in Germany, WKS Gruppe with 800 employees is one of the leading providers of printing and media services in the German-speaking countries of Europe. The WKS Group is equipped with web offset and sheet-fed printing as well as digital printing and finishing. It also offers cross media services.
Unusual logistical challenges in installing a PTC
WKS had this massive CTP installed at its dedicated offset printing facility in Esseneuros on the 4th floor. The Kodak team acknowledges that they had to overcome some significant logistical challenges for a CTP project.
The CTP first traveled by truck in 15 large shipping crates from Kodak's CTP production center in Vancouver, Canada to Chicago. Then the prepress equipment was flown to Frankfurt, Germany, where it was transferred to the installation site by four semi-trailers. Finally, a crane hoisted the equipment to the fourth floor, a height of 16 meters.
4,800 plates produced without reloading
With its automatic loading, the Kodak Magnus Q4800 CTP supports up to 4,800 plates, which allows it to process more than 10,000 m 2 of plates without having to reload.
"The Magnus Q4800 plate inserter will open new dimensions for the WKS Group in terms of XLF plate imaging quality, automation and productivity." said Giuliano Bianchet, vice president of EAMER sales at Kodak.
A new technology base for the WKS Group
"The investment in such a CTP equipment configuration makes sense, as it perfectly meets the current and future requirements of our high-volume production facility in Essen in terms of plate sizes, throughput and fully automated operation." says Frank Döding, Business Manager/Operations Manager of the Essen site of the WKS Group.
He adds: "The Magnus Q4800 CTP brings the plate imaging capability of our web offset presses to a new technological foundation. It allows us to move from UV to thermal plate imaging, and gives us much higher platemaking capacity, which we need."
