Pity the poor printing plate.

You have to be tough to stand up to the constant physical wear and tear of slapping ink on paper or some other surface. And that's after starting your life in a caustic chemical bath that strips away part of your skin in order to create the image on the plate's surface.

Now Eastman Kodak Co. — whose recent history has been marked by downsizings, cost cutting, spinoffs, and shrinking — is building up its printing plate line that skips that chemical processing step.

The Rochester-based printing technology company is in the midst of building out its printing plate manufacturing line in Columbus, Ga., about 90 minutes outside Atlanta, installing equipment for producing Kodak's Sonora line of process-free plates. Richard B. Rindo, Kodak's general manager of worldwide graphics marketing and sales development, said the plant should be fully up and running in 2015.

Read more