Kodak has completed the installation of the first KODAK MAGNUS Q4800 Platesetter at the WKS Group in Essen, Germany. The MAGNUS Q4800 Platesetter offers market-leading speed and productivity for extra-large format (XLF) plate making. It supports plate sizes up to 2.86 m wide and uses KODAK SQUARESPOT Imaging Technology, providing unparalleled stability, accuracy, and reliability for maximum efficiency and superior print quality. The MAGNUS Q4800 configuration installed at WKS Group provides fully automatic XLF plate loading from four pallets with up to 4,800 plates online, which enables over 10,000 m2 of plates to run before reloading. Equipped with an XPL Pallet Loading System with four pallet stations for four different plate formats, the overall configuration of the MAGNUS Q4800 is almost 19 meters (62 feet) long and 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) wide. That makes it the biggest CTP system ever to be installed anywhere in the world.
The fully automatic MAGNUS Q4800 Platesetter went into operation as planned at the WKS Group’s web offset site in December 2021. Kodak team had to overcome daunting logistical challenges for a CTP project. Fifteen large shipping crates had to be taken by truck from Kodak’s CTP development and production center in Vancouver, Canada, to Chicago. The journey then continued by air to Frankfurt, Germany, where they were subsequently transferred to the WKS Group’s Essen facility on four semitrailers. On arrival, the crates had to be lifted up to the fourth floor by crane – a full 16 meters – for installation.
WKS Group is one of the leading print and media service providers in Europe’s German-speaking countries. The Group comprises nine companies at six sites across Germany.
