Nord’Imprim (France) – “We only had to do processor maintenance twice in nine months”
Nord’Imprim is a printing company that puts ecology at the heart of its business strategy. The company has been able to greatly reduce its environmental impact and simplify its production with Arkana, Agfa’s smart processor, which it has been using for about nine months now.
With 48 employees and a turnover of €9.5m, the Nord’Imprim printing company, located in Steenvoorde in the north of France, was the beta test site of the Arkana processor for six months. In March 2017, Arkana officially joined the range of equipment used at this printing company, which is part of the Techniphoto group.
No more rinse water
Agfa first presented this revolutionary smart processing system at drupa 2016. According to Philippe Moreaux, prepress and PSO manager at Nord’Imprim, ‘revolutionary’ is absolutely the right word to use, especially in environmental terms, since Arkana does not rinse water.
Sustainable development is very important at Nord’Imprim. The company also has several labels to show its commitment: Imprim’Vert, FSC, PEFC, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. “We are an eco-printing company; we recycle all our products and do not throw anything down the drain,” says Philippe Moreaux, prepress and PSO manager Nord’Imprim.
Used with an Avalon N8 platesetter, the Arkana replaces a machine that wasted huge amounts of water to process the plates each day. “The Arkana works in a closed circuit, and no longer consumes water. Before, we stored water in a 2,000-litre tank, which a truck would pick up and take away for recycling. Now, I will use a maximum of one or two such tanks per year for the total waste,” according to a proud Moreaux.
Cleaning is much quicker than with a traditional processor. We used to spend around three hours on cleaning every two weeks, and now we spend around an hour and a half just three times a year.
From 26 bath changes per year to only three
The savings are significant. “Last year we processed 45,000 m2 of plates, which meant a large consumption of water and many lorries to empty the barrels,” says Moreaux.
The printing company plans to install a second Agfa Arkana processor in its prepress department alongside the Avalon platesetter.
Moreaux continues: “The long bath life is yet another great advantage. I can develop 15,000 m² of plates with a single bath. This means no more than three changes of developer bath per year, as opposed to one every two weeks before. During the beta test period, we only had to do maintenance twice in nine months!”
Durable printing plates
The company uses Energy Elite Eco plates, which achieve their greatest benefits in combination with the Arkana smart processor. Equipped with three Komori HUV presses, the printing company is very satisfied with the performance of the plates. “I don’t have any trouble with HUV. Before, we were limited to around 8,000 or 9,000 copies in UV. Now we can do up to 150,000 to 200,000 revolutions without a problem! It’s a big change.”
Rapid and infrequent processor cleaning
“Cleaning is also much quicker than with a traditional processor. We used to spend around three hours on cleaning every two weeks, and now we spend around one-and-a-half-hour just three times a year.”
Delighted with its new equipment, Nord’Imprim has already ordered a second Arkana machine to work alongside the second Avalon platesetter.
Edited version of an article that appeared in the French trade magazine Graphiline.
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