A prominent German digital printing company has selected Kodak's Ultra 520 inkjet press to enhance the efficiency of producing personalized print materials.
The inaugural Kodak Prosper Ultra 520 inkjet press in Europe will be delivered to Weidenberg in Bavaria later this year.
The Kodak Prosper Ultra 520 inkjet press was a standout feature at the Kodak booth during Drupa, where Kodak revealed that it had secured five solid letters of intent for the press from a single customer. It has now been confirmed that the first European customer is SDV Medien+Service, a company specializing in direct mail printing, marketing services, and omnichannel communications. SDV Medien+Service is known for its expertise in personalized mailings, having produced over 250 million mailings for various clients, including Sky, in the past year.
The company operates from two locations, with one in Weidenberg hosting its inkjet presses, and another plant in Dresden where sheetfed offset machines are housed. Additionally, the agency and data business are run from the city of Saxony, with a total of 250 employees. In 2019, the company installed its initial high-speed inkjet web press, followed by another machine in 2021. The company's first digital press was purchased back in 1998.
The Ultra 520 is a continuous inkjet press that operates at a speed of 152 meters per minute at full resolution, making it the fastest digital press in its lineup once installed later this year. It is compatible with all paper types and is equipped with Kodachrome water-based pigment inks.
CEO Sven Schmöle states, "The Ultra 520, with its exceptional output quality and high productivity, is the ideal solution for a significant portion of our projects."
The inkjet press will manage personalized direct mail pieces, short-run versioned projects, and will also handle short-run litho jobs where the inkjet press's performance surpasses that of offset litho. The customer base includes industries such as automotive, retail, finance, insurance, and telecommunications.
Jochen Schreib, Head of Central Services, further comments, "Our new Kodak digital press will enhance our ability to expedite client projects with greater efficiency, improve paper utilization, and promote a more sustainable digital production process."
