Good day Gentlemen.
Being a former technician for Fuji film and highly trained on CTP devices I was quite skeptical. I was very much against the PCX system, Then one of my daily customers decided to put one in for testing. Being a representative of fuji (Manufacture of chemical) I highly disagreed with the customer. Stating this will void the service contract and Fuji would not assist if a problem would arise if there where any plate issues. I will get back to this in a moment
This customer who wants to be nameless has 4 VX9600 fully auto systems and is a very high volume shop. If I did not come up with a reason why they should not use the system it would cut there chemical use in half. I started monitoring the developer bath section for a few weeks with my myron 6L meter. I measured fresh chemical and I came up with a PH of 12.2 and a conductivity reading of about 1100. 4 weeks later when they decided to dump the chemical the PH and conductivity read 12.0 and 1095 and at 4200 40 inch plates this was over double of what they would normally get without the unit installed and cleaning the processor time was cut in half. With the bad news I immediately called my supervisor, salesperson and plate technician.
Getting back to the service contract issue. I had a meeting with the supervisor of the shop 2 days after the testing and he had asked me "Ray, what where your findings." Being a technician and a fuji representative I walked a fine line. I stated to him "I can give you the facts and you will have to decide for the information I give you." With the information given he was going to push his chemical even farther on the next batch. I do not know what the overall outcome of the test was. Before I could finish my testing I was let go from Fuji.
I was not in the shop when the plate tech and sales had informed him that service contract and plate support would be void if they proceeded with using the device. Nonetheless, I heard from the operator that the supervisor then stated "If this is the case you can come get your machines and get them the *&*#$%^ out of my shop. No one tells me what I can and can not do in my shop"
Back peddle back peddle back peddle
The funniest thing is that they are still paying there service contracts, buying plates and still are being supported with the devices installed on all there machines. They have cut there replenishment ordering in half and the rebatch of the processors 1-1/2 times as long. To add insult to injury I believe so much in the units that I am now installing and servicing them.
By the way, since this customer has cut his effluent he uses half of the neutralizing (citric acid) to treat the chemical that he now buys from process management. The unit has cut his carbon footprint for the environment for plate making. Since we are all trying to be responsible for the environment isn't this a good thing or is it a bad thing since someone stands to loose money.
I close my statement with this last thing.
Why wouldn't the manufactures embrace such a device and incorporate this in there overall sale. As a consumer if I was told my chemical would not just be cut in half but also twice as long between a rebatch why would I lend my ear to the information
By the way, that is a generic filter made by procam and at 26.00 that is cheaper than my filter on my water system on my refrigerator. I dont think you are going to find a filter any cheaper.
if you have any questions or want refrences please feel free to email me at
[email protected]
Ray
