Toray Industries Inc. began construction on a new printing-plate factory in the Czech Republic to increase the production of its waterless CTP plates. The Japanese company expects the facility to be operational in early 2014.
Encompassing both coating and converting capabilities, the new Czech production facility is based on an investment of over $50 million, which is aimed at printers involved with newspaper and semi-commercial production in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
“The project to establish European manufacturing capacity for waterless plates is proceeding on schedule and the engineering phase is now substantially completed,” said Toshimitsu Matsumoto, General Manager of Graphics Division, Toray. “Site preparation in Prostejov is in the final stages and the erection of the building that will house the new production line for Toray waterless CTP plates will begin this summer.”
Field-testing of the products from the new plant is expected to begin in late 2013 and commercial sales to the local market will commence in January 2014. This capital investment follows the 2003 development of a modern coating facility in Toray’s industrial complex in Okazaki, Japan, where both letterpress and waterless offset plates are currently produced.
Print this page
