Imprimerie Moderne de l'Est (IME) (Commercial Printer)

Strong, Confident, and Green

After switching their presses to alcohol-free damping, the company also aimed at achieving zero alcohol for the large format 120 x 160. For that purpose, IME switched to :Amigo thermal plates working in conjunction with two :Avalon VLF CtP systems equipped with high-precision HD writing heads.

VLF Printer in France Reaches All Its Ecological and Quality Goals

As soon as customers enter Imprimerie Moderne de l'Est (IME), a large-format printer in eastern France, they see just how strongly the company feels about its environmental responsibility. There are recycling stations throughout the plant for ink containers, CtP films and developer, as well as for cardboard, rags, batteries, aerosols and more. It is no wonder that IME has held the noted Imprim'Vert ("Green Printer") certificate since 2003 and recently won a Gold "Environment" Trophy at Intergraphic 2005, an important graphic industry trade show.

Eye on Ecology

Clean production processes are as important to IME as all other corporate objectives. "Trying to achieve a drastic reduction in waste, or to eliminate it altogether, is an essential part of our policy," says technical manager Hervé Gironcourt. "It is also part of our action plan for ISO 14001 certification, and the result of ten years of work."

Meeting environmental regulations is an ongoing challenge for most printing companies. Those that exceed government requirements while improving quality and productivity are among the exceptional ones, giving them a clear competitive advantage. IME is one of those companies.

IME was founded in 1959 by Guy-Victor Labat, who still heads the company. Initially located in Besancon, which is also in eastern France, IME moved to a larger site in Baume-les-Dames in 1966, which is about the time they began to specialise in large format printing (originally 107x150cm). Today, 40 years after first going into large format, IME can provide its customers with prints as large as 120x160cm.

Always a technical pioneer, IME introduced photo-setting in 1970, digital imposition a few years later, then printing on artificial substrates (such as non-tear materials), followed by CtP and, beginning in 2001, an advanced in-house mailing program. And IME still looks at new markets, processes and technologies year in and year out.

Roadmap to Success

One of the new markets they have developed into a powerhouse niche is the printing of roadmaps, which effectively positioned IME as one of the leading suppliers to the Michelin motor sport company. In 2000 the company diversified even further into magazines, travel guides and retail catalogues, and began counting government departments among its customers. One of its main activities, however, has continued to be the production of school textbooks, in which they are involved from manuscript preparation all the way through to distribution.

IME currently has 220 employees and is one of the top 40 printers in all of France. "Since 2001 we've invested 3.5 million euros per year in our operation," says prepress manager Henry Labat, Guy-Victor's son. "The presses are completely renewed every four years, and the finishing equipment every five to six."

The Family Vision

"We're in it for the long haul," says Labat. "That's the basis of our business philosophy, and that's why we constantly invest in new technology. If you take a walk around our facilities you will find only three machines dating back from before 2001."

In one of the latest developments, all the presses at IME have switched to alcohol-free damping, eliminating a major source of pollution. That signalled one of IME's strongest moves forward into total environmental responsibility, and one that required some new ideas as well as some good old-fashioned collaboration. In addition to hiring new people trained in such areas as environmental protection, IME also turned to Agfa for additional support.

"There have been alcohol-free substitutes available for quite a few years for some formats, but we wanted to achieve zero alcohol for the large 120 x 160 cm format, as well," Gironcourt says. He and his colleagues realised that the success of the project depended on the relationship between the damper and the plate. "We already had a fairly low average alcohol content of around 8 percent, but we weren't satisfied with that," he continues. "Agfa had already agreed to supply us with :Thermostar plates, and so they agreed to collaborate with us to adapt the plates to our latest requirements."

Brainstorming

One challenge IME faced was that certain components of the alcohol-free damping agent tended to mix with splashes of cleaning solvent and attach themselves to the unbaked plates. Depending on the run length, that tended to weaken the printing areas. "It took us a great deal of time and effort to get to the bottom of this chemical phenomenon," Gironcourt recalls, "but we did it."

The solution offered by Agfa was :Amigo thermal plates working in conjunction with two :Avalon VLF CtP systems equipped with high-precision HD writing heads. This enabled IME to stabilise the entire system, and after four months with the :Amigo plates, the operators felt secure with run lengths as high as 100,000. The company are also very satisfied with the quality of their screening, and report no dot loss whatsoever. Only one problem had subsequently been identified: blinding of the plate which, because of the speed of the presses, can sometimes present a significant issue. According to Gironcourt, the coating adheres well to the aluminium base and is completely unaffected by cleaning substances and the alcohol-free damper. "We just had to use slightly more damper," he reports. "We've carried out tests with different formats and all sorts of inks, including vegetable-based inks, without any problems."

Open and Closed Case

With that challenge successfully resolved, IME looks back on others expertly solved through a combination of in-house skills and vendor input, which makes them realize there will be no problem in the future that cannot be handled quickly. He points to a situation four years ago in which he had concern about the amount of water it took to wash a plate. "I worked out the numbers and saw that in 2002 it took 28 litres of water to wash a 2-meter-square plate," he explains. "That was a major problem given that we produce more than 300 plates a day, 12 months per year. "

Agfa responded by fitting a closed-circuit system on its developers, which brought consumption down to 15 litres. Previously, to maintain the conductivity of the developer we needed regeneration of 150 to 200 ml/m2, together with 100 ml of antioxidant per hour. With the new plates, conductivity doesn't matter any more, so all we have to do is top up the level of aqueous solution in the processor. After four months we have set the developer regeneration at 50 cm3, a sixth of the previous amount."

Now, with Agfa :Avalon and :Amigo plates IME is down to three litres of water per plate and use six times less developer. That translates to six times less waste and six times less recycling costs. Plus, the tolerance of the plates is much better: they change the washing bath every 2,500 plates, compared with every 1,000 in the previous configuration. Less water and waste reduces consumption and costs, while at the same time benefiting productivity.

Looking Ahead

"Agfa and IME have many shared interests," Henry Labat concludes. "The people there are always willing to listen to our needs, ideas and suggestions."

So what do all these advancements and positive developments mean for IME in the future? "It means that we'll have very few new challenges to keep us occupied," Labat jokes. "We'll have nothing to do!" That's not likely. With so many high-visibility customers demanding the best quality available, and will environmental responsibility a year-round initiative, IME will always have plenty to do.