Computer-to-Plate — Digital Plate Developments

There is some difference of opinion about whether the current generation of “processless” plate technology truly merits that designation. Naysayers contend that these products simply move the processing step to on-press, and don’t really eliminate it.

Alonzo Printing, in Hayward, CA, has been running the Kodak Thermal Direct variation of this technology since May. “We already had been running a plate that only needed a rinse and gum, but I was looking for a plate that didn’t require any type of chemistry or plate processing,” says owner Jim Duffy. “We treated it (the rinse water) as hazardous waste because the pH was too high to put it down the drain.”