Over the past year, the cost of manufacturing flexographic printing plates has risen dramatically due to rising energy and raw material costs. In an effort to protect customers from these increases, Kodak has implemented a number of manufacturing efficiencies and, up to this point, has absorbed these additional costs. However, with costs continuing to climb, Kodak announced today that it will implement a global price increase of up to 7% on all flexographic plates as of July 15, 2011 in all regions of the world. The exact amount of the increase seen by each customer and implemented in each region will be based on local market conditions.
"It's never easy to pass these kinds of price increases along to our customers, and we are committed to working with them to ensure that their plate needs and business requirements are met as effectively as possible," said Mohan Garde, Vice President and General Manager, Packaging Business, Prepress Solutions, Kodak. "The value that our plates bring to the market-high quality, efficiency, repeatability, and more-continues to make them a sound investment for flexo printers who desire the best possible results. As always, we'll continue to pursue manufacturing efficiencies that will minimize any future pricing impacts for our customer base."
Details of the new pricing structure will be communicated over the next month to all customers and dealers. All current contractual commitments will be honored.
