Kodak has a long history of making printing plates in the U.S. out of our Columbus, Georgia, manufacturing plant. It's all part of our strategy of having local manufacturing to provide the best possible service to our customers. Local manufacturing means that we can provide what our customers need, when they need it.
We've been making plates in Columbus since 1991, originally as a Polychrome Graphics site. Since then the Columbus site has undergone several improvements to increase production quality and capacity, and it currently has state-of-the art equipment, advanced technology, and over 200 experienced and talented employees.
In the last 10 years, Kodak has invested over $30 million in the Columbus plant:
- In 2009, we completed a $15 million expansion that added 26,000 square feet to the existing facility and added a third plate production line.
- In 2015, we completed a $16 million expansion that added 48,000 square feet and added a manufacturing line dedicated to the production of SONORA Process Free Plates.
- In 2017, we installed new auto-wrapper equipment to optimize efficiency and process control.
We source our major plate products out of multiple plants, so customers in the U.S. and Canada can get the plates they need from the Columbus plant, European customers can get the plates they need from our Osterode plant, etc. In Columbus, we manufacture SONORA XP and SONORA NEWS Process Free Plates in addition to ELECTRA XD, TRILLIAN SP, and THERMALNEWS SP Plates.
By the end of the year we'll be making SONORA X and SONORA X-N Plates out of Columbus!
Kodak is committed to developing new solutions, such as SONORA X Plates, that increase the profitability and sustainability of our offset print customers as the print industry evolves. We believe in the American print industry, and we are proud to support our customers through investments in our Columbus plant.
For more, watch our Columbus video.