New hybrid printing system combines traditional full-color MULLER MARTINI Concepta web offset press with variable imaging KODAK VERSAMARK inkjet printheads

ROCHESTER, N.Y., September 11 –  Kodak and Muller Martini today announced the signing of a reseller agreement at the Print 05 exhibition, McCormick Place in Chicago.  Under terms of the agreement, Kodak Versamark will provide its D-series continuous inkjet printing systems, the DS9100 or DS6240, to Muller Martini to mount on its MULLER MARTINI Concepta web offset press to create a hybrid printing system that is fully integrated into the workflow of the Concepta press.  The new hybrid printing system combines the cost and quality advantages of a traditional offset printer with the ability to create personalized printed documents with digital high-speed variable printing at speeds of up to 1,000 feet per minute at an incredibly low cost per page.

This hybrid printing system will be sold to current and future MULLER MARTINI print press customers worldwide.

“Offset offers reliability, familiarity, and low cost-per-impression.  By combining the cost and quality advantages of traditional full-color offset with our continuous inkjet printers into a hybrid printing system, content owners, designers and mailers will have a new level of freedom to design and budget for mass mailings, while targeting an audience of ONE with relevant offers and messaging, increasing response rates and lowering total cost per response,” said Ron Gilboa, vice president of marketing, Kodak Versamark.  “Hybrid printing is another way for Kodak to provide integrated solutions for our customers that offer cost effective, streamlined solutions, and that help improve operational efficiency.”

Hybrid printing is ideal for applications such as direct mail, flyers and circulars, which can be versioned for language, pricing, geography, and demographic. For instance, direct mail messages and offers can be completely customized. Newsletters can be made more relevant by varying content placement according to data on file. Fund-raising can be more effective by using dynamic elements that appeal to each prospective donor's profile and history, and circulars can have their pricing and offers micro-zoned.

“By coupling our offset printing technology with Kodak’s expertise in high-speed, high-volume, cost-effective inkjet printing technology, we can help volume printers offer highly personalized, highly relevant content at costs up to 20 percent lower than is possible with today's laser-based technologies,” said Dr. Juergen Dillmann, MD Muller Martini Druckmaschinen GmbH.  “The ability to meld volume efficiencies with the higher value of more relevant content offers endless possibilities for marketers and sellers to gain added attention, achieve higher responses, and ultimately reach more of ‘the right person at the right time with the right offer.’”

Muller Martini and Kodak Versamark have been working together for two years on the development of the hybrid press, having initially demonstrated it at Drupa 2004.  The hybrid press being demonstrated at Print 05 in the Kodak booth uses a 2-up format that equates to more than 2,000 pages per minute (4,000 with 2-up duplex printing) at a cost-per-page that can be less than 1 cent over the cost of offset alone – and lower than the cost of comparable "off-line" applications where an offset pre-printed shell is fed into a variable digital printer for overprinting.

About Muller Martini

Muller Martini is the world’s largest producer of print finishing solutions for commercial printers, trade binderies and newspapers as well as short-run and digital book manufacturers.  The company is the foremost provider of innovative workflow solutions that can empower printers and binding specialists to enhance processing efficiencies, increase profitability and build new revenue streams.  Muller Martini is also one of the leading manufacturers of Web Offset Presses.  With U.S. headquarters in Hauppauge (Long Island), New York and nationwide sales and service support throughout the United States, Muller Martini Corp. serves as the country’s leading source for bindery and printing expertise, providing customer-specific training and responsive service to printers and binderies coast-to-coast.

For more information, visit www.mullermartini.com

About Eastman Kodak Company

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print, and view images – for memories, for information, for business, and for entertainment.  With sales of $13.5 billion in 2004, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on four businesses:  Digital & Film Imaging Systems – providing consumers, professionals, and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Health – supplying the medical and dental professions with traditional and digital imaging and information systems, IT solutions, and services; Graphic Communications – providing customers with a range of solutions for prepress, traditional and digital printing, document scanning, and multi-vendor IT services; and Display & Components – supplying original equipment manufacturers with imaging sensors as well as intellectual property and materials for the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and LCD display industries.  More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at www.kodak.com.

For more information, visit www.kodak.com.

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(KODAK and VERSAMARK are trademarks of Kodak.)

2005