Creo moves into offset plate manufacturing

Creo has announced that it will manufacture, sell and support its own thermal printing plate. The Creo Positive Thermal Plate ("PTP") uses the company's own plate technology and is now commercially available in North America and Europe.

‘The introduction of the Creo plate represents the culmination of a long-term effort to develop our own plate and developer technology as well as characterize imaging behaviour and optimise on-press performance of the plate. We now have a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio, underpinning a mature and well-tested product,’ stated Amos Michelson, chief executive officer of Creo.

Creo has also announced its intention to acquire its own manufacturing capacity for lithographic printing plates to augment contracted capacity from third-party manufacturers. On September 11, 2003, the Creo board of directors approved an agreement to acquire a plate production facility based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, from First Graphics (Pty) Limited, for an aggregate purchase price of US$11.25 million.

The Creo plates will be produced through a combination of wholly-owned and outsourced manufacturing. The Pietermaritzburg facility has a modern, recently installed plate manufacturing line that is now producing the Creo PTP plate. The total capacity from these arrangements is sufficient to meet anticipated demand for Creo plates for some time.