Kodak has reached an agreement for the first placement of its smart digital printer to enable printing of personalised newspapers in the EMEA region with Dubai Media Inc (DMI), the largest media group in the Middle East.

DMI plans to use the Prosper 6000C Press at the heart of its innovative Smart Printing Services initiative in the UAE, which will see the introduction of reader-customised newspapers and other advanced printing services.

Faisal Bin Haider, executive director of Printing & Distribution Sector said: “It [Kodak Prosper 6000C Press] offers the best solution of digital printing with an unmatched combination of outstanding quality, day-to-day productivity, and compelling economics.”

The press enables DMI’s printing division, Masar Printing and Publishing Company, to offer readers the opportunity to select the topics they are most interested in and have a personalised newspaper delivered to their door.

Masar has a longstanding relationship with Kodak, dating back to 2007 and currently uses a raft of Kodak products.

This latest innovation will result in more efficient page inventory management, less waste, smoother production processes and a better reader experience, a statement said.

Additionally, the Prosper 6000C Press will enable Masar to print production quality books on-demand and satisfy new demands of direct mail products.

"We are excited about the implementation of the Prosper 6000C Press with DMI to address the Smart Printing Services initiative for the UAE government,” said Philip Cullimore, managing director, EAMER (Europe, Africa and Middle East Region), Kodak.

“DMI will be the first printing partner in EAMER to implement the Prosper 6000 Press technology to address the needs for efficient news and publishing production,” he continued.   “The exceptional quality requirements for this initiative can be achieved by a printing press that aspires to be the best solution in regards to quality and productivity to meet the demanding needs established by the Smart Printing Initiative.”

Kodak Prosper 6000 Presses make it feasible and economical to print up to 200-lpi quality books at production run lengths of up to 3,000 copies. In addition it can produce millions of offset-like pages month after month and reduce costs associated with obsolescence and warehousing.

The Prosper 6000 Presses are powered by an advanced Intelligent Print System (IPS) that continuously monitors, evaluates and adjusts operations to ensure exceptional quality output.

With the improved IPS, the Prosper 6000 Presses can monitor and instantly correct colour registration, delivering enhanced registration performance. The Prosper 6000 Press’s writing system runs on Kodak’s newly formulated nanotechnology inks, offering a greater colour gamut and delivering print quality that rivals offset output on a wide range of uncoated, coated, and glossy papers, the statement said.

The Prosper 6000 Presses print at speeds of up to 1,000 feet, or 300 meters, per minute on matted and uncoated papers with a duty cycle of 90 million A4 top quality pages per month, according to the statement. – TradeArabia News Service