How Do Process Free Plates Work?

Kodak's press ready technology enables SONORA Plates to eliminate processing and chemistry from plate making. Will you need to change anything? Probably not much.

In prepress , your biggest change will be eliminating the processing step.

No more buying chemistry, handling it, storing it, or disposing of it.
No more cleaning the processing equipment, replacing parts, or worrying what to do if it breaks down.
No more noise or smell from the processor, and no more dealing with a cramped prepress room.
And no more measuring plates to make sure nothing changed due to old chemistry or processing temperature variations-the plates will be exactly as expected.

Other than that, SONORA Plates are just like any other thermal plate.

SONORA Plates can be imaged on most popular thermal platesetters, including all KODAK Platesetters, and can be used with both manual and automated systems. Because of the fast imaging speeds of SONORA Plates, you can achieve your platesetter's maximum throughput capability with all but the very fastest platesetters.

In the pressroom , SONORA Plates work with your existing press setups and sequences. They are capable of running on sheetfed, heatset web, and commercial coldset presses. They can run applications such as commercial print, newspapers, offset packaging, and even short-run UV. They work with integrated and non-integrated, continuous and conventional dampening systems, and they use your current inks and founts (pH range of 3 - 8).

SONORA Plates mount on press like any other plate, and print like any other plate.

Also, because there is no variability from processing, the plates coming into the pressroom are consistent and predictable. That means fewer plates need to be sent back to prepress for remakes, which saves time and improves efficiency.

Note that SONORA Plates are true process free plates, not "chemistry free" plates. "Chemistry free" plates still require processing equipment (a clean out unit) and chemistry (gum or clean out solution), so they're not really much different from a traditional processed plate. If you want the benefits of a process free plate, you need to make sure you are using a true process free plate, that completely eliminates processing and chemistry.