市場 動 向 解 説

Lithosheet : View of Market Trends from Bridgnorth Aluminium

Simon MacVicker

Abstract： The investment by FSA to purchase 25% of the equity of Bridgnorth Aluminium wascompleted in late March 2009. This article aims to inform the reader about the trends in litho
sheet.
Bridgnorth Aluminium is strongly focused on lithosheet, with approximately 80% of its sales volumes dedicated to this market. The graphic arts market is changing constantly as innovation indigital technology allows Bridgnorth Aluminium’s customers to constantly improve their productsand processes, all with the ambition to give all of us as consumers, in what we read, ever higher
quality, lower cost, and a good environmental performance. Bridgnorth Aluminium’s strategy is tobe the world leader for quality, and the company is supporting its customers in the way it manages, develops and invests in its business.

1. BACKGROUND
Offset lithography is the dominant printing technology andaccounts for around 45% of all printing worldwide. The image
is transferred to the press by means of the pre-sensitisedof fset plate, or PS plate. PS plates are manufactured byBAL’s customers, the imaging companies, from litho gradealuminium.
Bridgnor th Aluminium has been making litho grade
aluminium since the early 1980’s when the first coil lines in
Europe were built by the PS customers. By the late 1980’s it
was clear that the technology demands of this sector would be

Bridgnorth Aluminium Ltd.

critical, and the company’s then owners, Alusuisse, invested
in the “Litho Centre”, which comprised of an Achenbach cold

aluminium, and when Alcan and Alusuisse merged in 2000, therolling mill, a BWG tension levelling line with degreasing

European Union competition authorities made the divestment

section supplied by Eisenmann, together with annealingof Bridgnorth’s litho facilities including the hot rolling mill andfurnaces, and an automated WIP storage and coil handling

casthouse a condition of acceptance of the merger.

system supplied by DURR. The design capacity was 25 kt, andthe litho centre was commissioned in 1990.
During the 1990’s litho sheet sales increased rapidly toThis led to Elval purchasing the business from Alusuisse inJuly 2001 (Alusuisse by this date was fully merged into Alcan),and establishing the company as Bridgnorth Aluminium Ltd.

around 30 kt per year, but were constrained in terms ofElval was keen to make an immediate impact to thevolume, product range, and product quality because of the oldbusiness, and within three months agreed a major investment

hot rolling assets.

programme in the hot rolling mill, and casthouse, withIn the meantime, Alusuisse was seeking partners in

the objectives of enabling world best quality and product3

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Lithosheet : View of Market Trends from Bridgnorth Aluminium

range capabilities. A new Achenbach hot reversing mill wasplates, and constant evolution and some revolution of productpurchased along with a new pre-heating pusher furnace. Aand process improvements at the plate makers which in turn

scalper was transferred from Greece, fully modified, and thedemands product and process improvements in the aluminium

tandem cold rolling mill was fully modified.

supply chain. All this can be summed up into 2 main trends:

The hot rolling investment project was completed in Junethe digitisation of printing plates and the whole pre-press

2003, and since then BAL’s litho sales have witnessed a newworkflow, and secondly industry concentration in graphic arts.

strong growth cur ve, achieving sales of just under 55 kt inThe digital revolution has led to important opportunities
for printing and in turn for the lithosheet market. The current

2008.
To come fully up to date, the JV was agreed with FSA andconcluded in March 2009.

trends in print: more colour, “distribute then print”, higher
quality, shorter run lengths, lower cost, shorter leadtimes,
lower environmental impact have all been enabled bytechnology at different stages of the supply chain. Thanks tothis technology, the barriers to entry in publishing have comedown, which in turn has led to new market opportunities forthe whole supply chain.
The reduced cost has allowed more colour to be offeredto publishers, and once this is incorporated into a company’s
brand positioning, it tends to stay. The newspaper industry inEurope has seen very strong investment in the last few years,
mainly to upgrade the facilities for digital workflow, and fullcolour printing. This is a great opportunity for the lithosheet/PS plate supply chain: monochrome printing only requires
one PS plate, colour requires a minimum of 4, and for higher

FSA capital participation to BAL.
From the left, Managing Director Lambros D. Varouchasof Elval, Former Vice President Isao Iwabuchi of
Furukawa-Sky Aluminum and Managing Director Simon
MacVicker of Bridgnorth（2009）.

quality publications 7 or even more. For every page changed
up to colour, there is a minimum 300% growth opportunity.
Digital technology allows “distribute then print”. Gone are
the days when, during a business trip abroad, we would buy
yesterday’s copy of the newspaper at the airpor t or hotel.
Now many newspapers are printed in many locations aroundSo, currently, BAL is a focused supplier of surface criticalthe world. The Financial Times is printed in 28 locations

soft alloys. Around 80% of sales volumes are dedicated to thearound the world, each print centre giving oppor tunities

lithosheet customers, with the remainder going to foil rollers

for regional editions and local advertising which appeals to

mainly in Europe. The company has an integrated supply

local readership. The paper is published from London, it ischain all on the same site, run by one management team, anddistributed to the regional print centres electronically, andthis allows the company to translate the market needs of thethen printed and distributed locally. This not only allows agraphic arts sector back into the company in order to makefresh, targeted edition to be available in time for the reader

the appropriate product and process developments in order toaround the world, but also cuts down on the distribution costs

support the downstream supply chain.

of the paper, and very importantly because the final physicaldistribution is more local, it cuts the CO2 emissions. So in

2. THE ROLE OF THE LITHOSHEET SUPPLIERS IS TOCONTINUALLY SUPPORT THE PRODUCT AND PROCESSNEEDS OF OUR GRAPHIC ARTS CUSTOMERS

just one nice example we see 28 sets of plates required now,
compared to one or two before.
The new quality levels which we all experience and demand
as consumers is transferred back up the printing supply chain

The lithosheet market is a fantastic example ofto the aluminium suppliers. As we strive for better quality

technological progress in action. In the last decade or so thescreens and image on our television, the human eye also wants

industry has witnessed concentration at the customer level,

to enjoy increasingly high quality of print. In terms of printing

the full adoption of digital technology, growth in demand forplates this has led to increased requirements in terms of a

4

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Lithosheet : View of Market Trends from Bridgnorth Aluminium

sharper defect free image. This means that the surface of theonly do the imaging companies want to achieve a reduced

lithosheet must be blemish free: the tolerance for any typeuse of chemicals, but also eliminate the use of solvents.

of inverse roll scratch or other physical defect has reduced

As this trend becomes more prevalent, there is a move tosignificantly, to the extent that even a 2.5 micron scratch may

aqueous coating technology, which in turn creates a new set

now become rejectable. In addition other surface effects areof requirements at the micro scale for the aluminium. For

now less tolerated. This surface quality trend places a newexample, the influence of micro-structural phase particles,

responsibility on the aluminium supplier, and BAL is dealing

which until now have not adversely affected the material’swith this new requirement by improving its roll grinding

performance, is now becoming much more important. BAL

practices in conjunction with FSA, by improving inspection

together with FSA are already active in further understanding

and sampling regimes, including the purchase in 2010 of a new

this subject. Of course the environmental profile of aluminium

surface inspection system supplied by Parsytec.

is excellent, with its ability to be recycled time after time, withAnother area of requirement for higher quality is tono loss of properties, and saving up to 95% of energy cost ofaddress both sharpness of image and to avoid any jamming

primary aluminium every time. All aluminium PS plates canin the various automatic plate handling devices on the plate

be recycled. Aside from recyclability, BAL has made, and will

setter and the printing press itself, and this manifests itself as

continue to make energy savings and invest further in energy

flatness for the lithosheet producer. As the PS plates are now

saving projects. The UK Government was fast to implement

imaged by laser on drum scanners, any deviation of flatness

the agreements made in the Kyoto Protocol, and was one

will create a dif ferent focal length for the laser, and a subof the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce a Climate

optimal development of the coating, leading to loss of focus

Change Levy, which is a tax on CO2 emissions, both at BAL

or a smudge type effect in the print. Secondly, coming backand at the upstream power generator. BAL is a member ofto the needs to increase productivity, automation of the pre-the UK Climate Change Agreement, and the UK Aluminium

press workflow, and to a certain extent plate loading requires

industr y has succeeded in reducing its CO 2 emissions byvery fine flatness tolerances for the automatic feeding devices

39% compared to 1990 levels. BAL will not stop there, as theon the various machines, as often a cassette of plates is loaded,pressures of the for thcoming European Union Emissions

and the operator leaves the machine to take care of the work,

Trading Scheme require a constantly reducing carbon

expecting that the plates will not jam as they are fed throughfootprint.

tight slots to the next part of the process.
One of the key projections for printing is that run lengths(or number of impressions printed in a single job) willcontinue to decrease. As the bar riers to the technology

3. INDUSTRY CONCENTRATION IN
GRAPHIC ARTS

have decreased, print runs are shorter, and this is the point

The other key trend of the last decade or so has been thein the market where of fset clashes with both high speed

industry concentration. A little over a decade ago the current

photocopiers, and industrial inkjet printing. The ongoing“Big 3” global leaders in Graphic Arts: Agfa-Gevaert, Fujifilm,

challenge for offset is to be competitive, and with important

Kodak were not nearly so dominant in PS plates. As the digital

innovations made by the major press suppliers such as

revolution has forced the decline of 35 mm colour negative

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, it is claimed that offset is now

photo film, PS plates have become a major cash generator forcompetitive at 150 copies and above. This in turn requires

the graphic arts leaders.

more from the plates, faster processing in the pre-press area

The story of the concentration of our customer base goesand so on. A direct response to this is for lighter coatingback to 1996 when Agfa acquired the printing plates businessweights to be applied to the aluminium substrate whichof Hoechst, followed the next year by their acquisition of thereduced the imaging time on the platesetter. This also reduces

graphic arts facilities of DuPont. So it was that the Belgian

coatings cost, and environmental impact. This in turn puts

headquartered company created a group of plate products andgreater quality demands on the aluminium, mainly also for thefacilities that took the heritage from the pioneering Hoechst

cosmetic issues cited in the paragraph above.

Kalle in Wiesbaden, with the rich history of Howson Algraphy

The quest for a reduced environmental impact leads thein Leeds, UK, and formed a group with plate plants inplate makers to a change in how the plates are used on press,

Germany, UK, USA, Brazil, Republic of Korea, and since 2002

the so called chemistry free, or low chemistry solution. Notin China.

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Lithosheet : View of Market Trends from Bridgnorth Aluminium

In 1997, Kodak and Sun Chemical formed their joint venture

4. TECHNOLOGY IS THE DRIVER … FORKodak Polychrome Graphics, and subsequently acquired theOPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

plate assets of International Paper. This produced a group withplants in USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Japan,and since 2007 in China.
Meanwhile in 2003 Creo acquired the assets of First
Graphics in South Africa and Imation in the USA, and thenwere acquired by Kodak Polychrome Graphics in 2005. Kodak
subsequently bought out the interests of Sun Chemical.

The technology in graphic arts in never standing still, andmust not. The sign of a vibrant industry is new technology. As
soon as technology becomes mature, substitute technologies
will be attracted.
At the PS plate level, it is vital that the needs of printers
continue to be addressed: higher quality, lower cost, lower

Meanwhile the other “Big 3” customer, Fujifilm, preferredenvironmental impact, faster change times. The extent toorganic growth to acquisition, and made investments in its 4

which each PS platemaker can offer innovative solutions inplants in Japan, Netherlands USA and China.

these areas will define their success and the size of their future

For the aluminium suppliers, 6 customers became 3, but therole in the industry.

story did not end there. In 2002 Italian family owned company

And in a very similar way, the successful strategies of PS

Lastra acquired Mitsubishi’s Western Lithotec facility toplatemakers will in turn demand new innovative solutions

become #4 in the market, and then in 2004 sold to Agfa.

from the lithosheet aluminium suppliers, which only some

So in summary, what started as the group of 9 customers in1996 became 3 customers by 2005.

companies will be able to offer.
Bridgnorth Aluminium, with its ver y strong and ongoing

So now in early 2010, after the concentration has taken

record of dedication to the graphic arts industry, with its track

ef fect, the world market is dominated by the “Big 3”

record of targeted investments to support the sector, and very

customers: Agfa, Fujifilm, Kodak. BAL is proud to have very

importantly with its new shareholding by FSA together withgood and well established relationships with these companies.

the technology assistance agreement , is not only very well

Besides the “Big 3” global customers, there are another 7 orplaced, but more importantly also fully committed to playing aso smaller companies who operate on a mainly regional scale,

key role in the future of the industry.

most of whom have developed their CTP technology and whooffer products which in their respective region may challenge
the leadership of the “Big 3”. These customers are also very
important for BAL, as we believe they have the capability tosucceed in the future, alongside the “Big 3”.
Together, 8-10 customers satisfy approximately 90% ofWorld demand for PS Plates, and these will continue to be thewinners in future years.

6Furukawa-Sky Review No.6 2010

Simon MacVicker
Managing Director,
Bridgnorth Aluminium Ltd.