Creo Acquires Litho Plate Operation, Launches Positive Thermal Plate Line

Published: September 16, 2003, By PRESS RELEASE

VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA—Creo reports it will manufacture, sell, and support its own lithographic thermal printing plates. Late last week, the company's board of directors voted to "yes" to Creo's plan to acquire First Graphics Ltd., a plate manufacturing facility based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, "to augment contracted capacity from third-party manufacturers," says the mfr.

According to Creo, its Positive Thermal Plate (PTP) uses the company's own plate technology and is now commercially available in North America in Europe. It says the Creo PTP will be first exhibited at the Graph Expo and Converting Expo show, slated for September 28 through October 1, 2003, at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, USA.

Says Creo CEO Amos Michelson, "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 behavior and optimize on-press performance of the plate. We now have a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio, underpinning a mature and well-tested product."

Michelson reports Creo has been supplying its plate emulsion under license to several manufacturers that have commercially produced and sold plates under their own brand names over the last year-and-a-half. "Printers in Europe and North America have been using those plates in daily production. These same suppliers are contracted to supply portions of our future plate requirements in various regions." He adds the company also has leveraged its existing sales, distribution, and service organization in order to enable logistics and field support for the new plate.

Visit Creo at creo.com. Learn more about upcoming Graph Expo and Converting Expo show at graphexpo.com.