First plate comes off the new flexo manufacturing line

Wednesday, October 03, 2018 —

The Kodak manufacturing team marked an important milestone recently with the production of the first KODAK FLEXCEL NX Plate from the new line in Weatherford, OK. These first plates are destined for selected customer field testing before the line moves into full production, serving Kodak customers in the Americas in early 2019 as planned.

Just sixteen short months after the official groundbreaking, the project is on time and on budget – and internal testing to date confirms that the plates meet the high-performance levels expected of a KODAK FLEXCEL NX Plate. Members of the Kodak Flexo leadership team including Division President Chris Payne, Chief Technology Officer Zaki Ali, and Operations Director Boon Tien Pang joined the crew to get a full tour of the new facility.

The new flexo plate manufacturing line, a sister operation to Kodak’s existing plate manufacturing facility in Yamanashi, Japan, is designed to meet increasing industry demand for higher quality flexographic printed packaging with more cost effective and efficient production processes. The $15 million investment represents one of Kodak’s largest capital investments since 2000 and underscores the ongoing growth and adoption of KODAK FLEXCEL NX Plates. The teamwork and pride in the new operation is evident as you tour the sparkling new line.

A big thank you to Kodak customer Pacificolor in Utah who helped to image and cut small memento FLEXCEL NX plates for the entire Kodak manufacturing team to mark the occasion!