Kodak has announced that KP Services, a joint venture between Kodak and Guiton Group, has secured printing contracts for UK national newspapers until May 2024.
KP Services, based in Saint Saviour, Jersey, will continue to print the newspapers of publishers News UK, The Daily Mail Group, Reach Plc as well as the Jersey Evening Post titles, for distribution in Jersey and Guernsey with their portfolio running to more than 20 separate titles.
Founded in 2015, KP Services began digital printing of the many newspaper titles for readers in the Channel Islands in May 2016. This meant that copies of national titles no longer had to be flown to the islands, often delayed and cancelled due to bad weather. In addition, printing of the local Jersey Evening Post, then published by Guiton Group, could be shifted from a newspaper press, which was around 40 years old, to digital printing technology and from traditional black and white and partial colour printing to full colour throughout.
KP Services prints the newspapers on two Kodak Prosper 6000P presses, which use Kodak Stream inkjet technology. The Prosper 6000P inkjet web press was designed specifically for publishing applications such as newspapers and books. It prints CMYK at speeds of up to 300m per minute on standard newsprint paper. The press is more suited for sites that have to print a large number of low-volume titles.
According to Bill Paterson, managing director of KP Services Ltd, the new presses have reliably printed the UK National newspaper titles as well as the Jersey Evening Post for the six years they have been in operation.
Mr Paterson said, ‘Day after day, our operation is proving that Kodak’s high-speed continuous inkjet technology is a perfect solution for flexible, short-run printing of newspapers and other publishing products.’
