Patent ID: 7947427

Claim:
A method of doing business between a supplier of planar printing element blanks and a printing plate manufacturer, wherein the supplier supplies a substantially planar printing element blank having at least one layer of uncured photopolymer that is capable of being imagewise exposed and developed to a printing plate manufacturer, and wherein the printing plate manufacturer performs the steps of imagewise exposing and developing the at least one layer of uncured photopolymer to prepare a substantially planar relief image printing plate, wherein the printing element blank supplier performs steps comprising: a) obtaining from the printing plate manufacturer desired characteristics of the printing element blank selected from the group consisting of thickness, resilience, hardness, durometer, and combinations thereof; b) preparing the substantially planar printing element blank according the desired characteristics obtained from the printing plate manufacturer, wherein the printing element blank comprises: i) a support layer; ii) a pre-cured floor layer comprised of a cured polymer selected from the group consisting of photopolymers and polymers, each with a resilience of at least 40% when cured disposed on the support layer wherein the pre-cured floor layer is sanded, ground, or machined to the thickness characteristic obtained from the printing plate manufacturer within the range of about 5 mils to about 134 mils; and iii) at least one layer of an uncured photopolymer disposed on the pre-cured floor layer; and c) supplying the planar printing element blank having the pre-cured floor layer to the printing plate manufacturer; and wherein the printing plate manufacturer performs steps comprising: d) selectively imagewise exposing the layer of uncured photopolymer to actinic radiation to selectively cure portions of the at least one layer of uncured photopolymer, wherein the at least one layer of uncured photopolymer thereafter comprises cured and uncured portions of photopolymer; e) developing the printing element blank to remove uncured portions of the photopolymer and reveal the relief image; wherein the printing plate manufacturer does not perform a back exposure step.