Pioneer and Prosper: Kodak looks for colour Stream sites

Kodak is looking for ‘pioneers’ and ‘leaders’ to take on its Stream inkjet technology, now branded Kodak Prosper, in full colour applications. The company says a full colour continuous inkjet machine will be available for installations early next year, and it has “engaged with more than 50 customers worldwide” in a planned transition to the process. After showings around the world – including at China Print – Stream went on sale last month in the form of the monochrome S10 Imprinting System. The companyt has two programmes for the introduction of its technology: Prosper ‘press market pioneers’ who will be the first users of a Prosper press – with installation targeted between the first and third quarters of 2010 – and ‘press market leaders’, who are expected to go online starting in the third quarter of 2010. Kodak says both programmes will help its customers successfully capitalise on the capabilities and market opportunities enabled by the Stream technology. At PacPrint in May, Kodak worldwide digital printing solutions sales and marketing vice president Kevin Joyce told GXpress that providing a helping hand to adopters was an essential part of marketing the new technology: “You have to do this to accelerate the adoption of digital. "Selling the product is not even half the job - the bulk is is helping them,” he says. Announcement of an Australian site is expected following the whistle-stop visit of Kodak chief marketing officer Jeff Hayzlett to Sydney’s PMA show. Kodak has its S10 system in use in the UK, Germany and the USA and has a Chinese customer in the wings. The monochrome S10 is pitched for a variety of applications including adding variable data to magazines and newspapers, installed inline on a web press. It has a print width of 105.6 mm and uses fade-resistant pigment-based inks. Speed is up to 305 metres/minute at 600 dpi resolution.