The FINANCIAL — In the next major milestone for KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology, the company announced on July 20 that Webcrafters, Inc., a nationally recognized book printer headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, signed a letter of intent to purchase a KODAK PROSPER Press.
The first announced PROSPER Press Market Leader, Webcrafters will use the PROSPER Press in its manufacturing of book products ranging from educational and college to trade books, catalogs, and atlases. Webcrafters’ clients include publishers The McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson plc, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt among many others.
“Webcrafters continues as a major force in the book industry by adopting new technologies to bring new capabilities and services to our customers,” explained Jac Garner, President and CEO of Webcrafters. “We have used KODAK Solutions for many years, and are confident in Kodak innovation, reliability, and customer service. We look forward to installing Stream Inkjet Technology in our production facility. The PROSPER Press fits perfectly with our strategy to leverage leading print technologies to provide our publishing clients with a full array of manufacturing options, from offset to toner-based and soon inkjet.”
The company offers prepress, printing, binding, fulfillment, and delivery services, and will use the PROSPER Press to improve the management of low- to mid-quantity book titles. The flexible capabilities of the PROSPER Press will also enable easier management of inventory needs and the book lifecycle—particularly at the beginning and end—especially important in the educational environment.
Based on Kodak’s innovative Stream Inkjet Technology, the PROSPER Press produces offset class output in terms of speed, quality, and cost. It combines the benefits of offset printing with the flexibility of digital printing for books, newspapers, and other printed materials on a range of substrates, including glossy media. For the publishing market, the PROSPER Press significantly increases the quantity of books which can be produced digitally at a lower cost than offset.
“For book printers and others aiming to expand their capabilities and bring more value to clients, KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology is the answer,” said Kevin Joyce, Worldwide Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Digital Printing Solutions, Kodak. “The PROSPER Press Platform delivers offset class digital output at unmatched speed and a low total cost of ownership, enabling today’s print and marketing service providers to maximize production efficiencies and return on marketing investment.”
Webcrafters currently operates two KODAK NEXPRESS S3000 Digital Production Color Presses, two KODAK MAGNUS VLF Platesetters—one with the Automatic Pallet Loader (APL) option, KODAK THERMAL GOLD Plates, and KODAK WINNER Conventional Plates.
Webcrafters is family-owned, employs 640 people, and posted $100 million in revenue in 2008. The company was founded more than 100 years ago, and installed its first web offset press in 1959.
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