Business Management - Sustainability

TO REDUCE the environmental impact of their operations, in-plants are reexamining the way they do things. As a result, soy-based inks, water-soluble solvents and recycled/FSC-certified paper are becoming commonplace. In-plants are switching to chemistry-free CTP, promoting duplexing and initiating recycling programs—all in the name of improving their image and doing the right thing for the environment.

Although inks make up a relatively small proportion of printed materials, working out their carbon footprints can be difficult because of the wide range of ink formulations and the numerous chemicals within them.

Central Michigan University Printing Services has installed a Fuji Javelin 8300 thermal CTP system running Fuji Brillia and Ecomaxx-T processless thermal plates.

AT PRINT 09, The Print Council released a new position paper that lists 10 strong reasons why print is a sustainable and environmentally responsible communications medium.

As I travel the country in my consulting business, most folks seem to believe in doing the right thing. The grand epiphany for this year is that action is required. Sustainability today has everything to do with being a good steward within your organization.

Like bowls of porridge, rocking chairs and ursine beds, various CTP systems may or may not fit the needs and suit the taste of a particular prospective user. Fortunately, Gordon Rivera found a platemaker that was just right for Allan Hancock College’s in-plant.

Doug Fenske’s decision to replace the CTP unit in his in-plant might be characterized as an “It’s not you, it’s me” break-up. Fenske, the director of printing and photocopy services for Minnesota State University, didn’t detest, dislike or even distrust the five-year-old ECRM Mako2 violet laser system.

CHEMISTRY DEFINITELY has its place: in science fairs, laboratories and love. However, more and more in-plants are displacing chemistry in favor of greener, cleaner workflows. Platemaking is one of the areas getting the enviro-overhaul. Here, five in-plants recount their transitions to chemistry-free computer-to-plate (CTP). And despite our best efforts to document the bad along with the good, these in-plants claim to have had very few reservations—and even fewer regrets.

Tapped to oversee an in-plant located in a college football stadium (really), Tom Tozier needed a new game plan. “When I came here [in January 2008], not only was the shop not CTP, we were farming out to a film setter. We actually bought our film from a print shop in town,” admits Tozier, director of Imaging Services at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

As the demand for four-color work increased at Madison Gas and Electric’s in-plant, so did the Wisconsin shop’s need to upgrade its platemaking process. “We had two-color Ryobis, but about 80 percent of our work was four color,” reports Graphics Services Supervisor Chris Hrubes. He targeted chemistry-free CTP as the ideal solution for the facility’s workload requirements and environmental standards.