The Onlineprinters Group

As one of Europe's biggest online print shops, the Onlineprinters Group operates on a huge scale, so optimizing efficiency and minimizing environmental impact are critical. By migrating nearly their entire multinational operation to a fully automated and process-free platemaking solution from Kodak, they have boosted both productivity and their sustainability profile.

Headquartered in Germany with production facilities in five countries, the Onlineprinters Group serves more than a million customers across 30 European countries with a full range of offset print offerings. A business of their scale demands high speed and productivity: their average offset run length is roughly 2,400 sheets, so it's vital that their CTP equipment can sustain a steady and rapid supply of plates. At the same time, their customers are increasingly demanding more eco-friendly practices—of course, without a decline in speed or quality—so reduced impact and resource efficiency are top priorities. Onlineprinters turned to Kodak for a high-performance approach to evolving their business model.

For Kodak, the answer was clear: CTP automation plus process-free platemaking would boost both production speed and environmental sustainability. In 2019 Onlineprinters partnered with Kodak to begin trialing the KODAK MAGNUS Q800 Platesetter with its top T-speed setting and automatic plate loading, as well as the first generation of KODAK SONORA Process Free Plates. The MAGNUS Q800 Platesetter exceeded speed and productivity expectations, reliably outputting a plate every 45 seconds from its 1,500-plate-capacity Single Pallet Loader to four separate four- and eight-color presses. Its performance soon convinced Onlineprinters to migrate their entire imaging system to Kodak CTPs. They were also quickly sold on the value of the SONORA Plates. Contrary to initial worries that the plates' develop-on-press method might contaminate the fountain solution, they instead found that the plates run very clean as well as very fast—and eliminating plate processing dramatically reduced both expenses and environmental impact.

The savings of going process free have been enormous for Onlineprinters: they estimate they eliminated 50,000 euros per year in energy, water, and chemical costs at their Germany sites alone. In 2020 they transitioned to the newest KODAK SONORA XTRA Plates, which deliver enhanced image contrast, faster imaging, and more robust handling, further speeding up prepress. Not having plate processors to clean and maintain has brought even more efficiency. Their high-speed, fully automated CTP operation now connects platemaking directly to the pressroom, so the entire process is hands-off aside from the occasional plate change. The benefits of their Kodak solution have been so pronounced for the Onlineprinters Group that they have committed to implementing it long-term across all their facilities. They run MAGNUS Q800 Platesetters at all production sites and are already using SONORA Plates in 100% of their operations group-wide.