After the successful coating of the first positive plate on the diazo film coating equipment in Fernwood, PA just before the DRUPA 1968, we started to look for a suitable solvent coater in Yonkers plant. All the plate coatings till then were water based coating and did not require solvent coater. Mr. Gumbinner took me to Chicago to visit a coating machine manufacturer and within a year we brought in our first solvent coater; F line. We learned the importance of clean air and good filtration as we were plagued with white voids. I was young and had a good pairs of eyes to detect even the tiniest white voids. ( which on development tended to be amplified!) The white voids turned out to be the enemy of all the coatings be it photographic film or thermal printing plate and became a focus of attention in every new product development since then.
The Osterode plant soon followed and we entered the ara of solvent coating Having the solvent coating capability allowed us to transition to the up and coming "subtractive"type plate line up .