Plant Expansion

The Graphic Systems division of Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., Hanover Park, Ill., has begun a $100 million expansion of its printing plate factory in Greenwood, S.C. to include production of the Fujifilm Brillia line of computer-to-plate (CTP) plates. Completion is scheduled before the end of 2004.

"Use of digital CTP plates in the U.S. and Canada has grown tenfold in the past four years and now accounts for more than 50% of the market," says Harry Watanabe, president of Fuji Photo Film, Inc., which operates the plants in South Carolina.

As planned, the 100,000-square-foot expansion will manufacture both thermal and photopolymer plates, plus a variety of conventional presensitized plates. Fuji says Brillia plates require application of a complex grain structure to an aluminum base.