Agfa Graphics to Release Apogee Upgrade, Launch Violet CTP Solution #Ipex

MORTSEL, BELGIUM—April 8, 2010—Agfa Graphics today announced that at Ipex 2010 the company will release Apogee 7 and a four-up violet chem-free CTP solution for commercial printers.

The new version of the Apogee workflow management suite includes Apogee Impose, an Agfa-developed imposition module that relies on live job information rather than templates to perform imposition. In addition Apogee 7 allows print buyers to go beyond the web-to-print screen to create new jobs in the prepress stage with WebApproval. The new version of Apogee also includes APPE 2.5, Adobe’s latest version of its native PDF renderer. Apogee 7 also allows printing companies that have digital inkjet printing capabilities to manage file distribution to different printers with their own specific application.

Apogee Impose, New Agfa-Developed Imposition

Apogee Impose is rules-based imposition software. Instead of using pre-defined templates which must be manually edited for each job, Apogee Impose uses job information, such as page size, product part information like cover, body and insert, and available equipment (prepress, press and bindery) to calculate and propose the optimal imposition scheme. Because it is intelligent, all job parameters are known and used to determine accurate imposition. For example, it will optimize signatures to put all black and white pages on specific flats. Conditions also determine that content goes to web presses and covers to sheet presses.

"Apogee Impose is unlike any other imposition software. It interprets and executes imposition based on each individual job, instead of having to fit a job into an existing template. It can save a company significant time and labour," said Bart De Pelsmaeker, Head of Software. “Our customers tell us how cumbersome current impositions software can be. We have the solution and we make the transition from template-based to rules-based imposition easy."

Apogee Impose lets operators set “standard" schemes for optimum efficiency. For example, imposition can be set with an “up" folding scheme, which results in fewer folding machine changes. Because Apogee Impose calculates the preferred imposition scheme for every job, the outcome is predictable and automated, eliminating wrong settings.

Manual editing required with template-based imposition can take up to five minutes per template. With rules-based Apogee Impose operators can use unlimited production rules and work the way they want with standard or custom schemes. Standard imposition is completely automatic requiring no manual intervention. Custom imposition may require one to three minutes for the entire imposition layout. The result is significant savings in time and money.

New WebApproval Functionality

Apogee’s browser-based WebApproval function allows print buyers to view their jobs, approve and reject pages, upload and replace pages and approve for further processing. Apogee 7.0 extends WebApproval functionality beyond the traditional upload and approve functionality by allowing the prepress department to invite buyers to view and create new jobs in the prepress stage. They can create jobs based on a series of pre-define job plans. Once approved, Apogee selects the imposition scheme and starts processing the job. This gives printers the ability to develop greater involvement with preferred customers and further automating the prepress process.

Apogee Wide-Format Printing Hub

Apogee 7 gives printers who operate a variety of wide-format inkjet solutions or use wide format solutions next to their traditional CtP, a central production management hub. Apogee checks and corrects incoming files and applies colour management before outputting the file to different devices. This avoids unnecessary stand still of the wide format printers due to errors or incompatibilities of the supplied files. It also re-directs files to idle printers hence more efficient job management while maintaining colour consistency. Apogee 7 works with each printer’s RIP and dedicated tools for a specific printing application on the wide format printer. This gives printers automated output control of the complete production environment.

Adobe PDF renderer (APPE 2.5)

Apogee 7 also includes the latest available Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE 2.5) giving users the advantage of using the latest workflow engines and guaranteeing compatibility with Adobe’s latest Creative Suite.

Agfa will demonstrate the benefits of Apogee 7 at IPEX and will hold a User Group Conference May 23rd at the Ipex booth to provide an in-depth look at Apogee 7.

Avalon V4 CtP and Azura V plates

The new 4-up violet chemistry-free CtP system is designed to help small- to mid-size commercial printers eliminate plate production errors, reduce waste and water usage, and lower maintenance requirements.

The full system includes an Avalon V4 CtP engine (36 pph at 1200dpi with 175 lpi), Azura V (violet) chem-free plates and a dedicated clean-out unit (VCF85). Existing photopolymer processors can be adapted to serve as clean-out units, making Agfa's Azura V system a versatile, lower cost solution. The Avalon V4 is available both in a semi-automatic as well as a daylight working fully automatic configuration.

The new chemistry-free system is ideal for commercial printers that use up to 10.000m²/year of plates on smaller presses (4-up) with jobs of 150lpi to 200lpi. It delivers high productivity and reliability at the quality level of 4-up thermal systems but at a significantly lower cost.

Because Azura V plates are not chemically processed, all conventional processing variables are eliminated hence corresponding processing concerns and errors are excluded. This results in plate production with high stability. The Azura V plates are cleaned out with gum and do not require extra rinsing water, yielding an improved ecological footprint.

"Our new violet chemistry-free CtP solution is based on Agfa's own photopolymer technology, proven in newspaper production. We wanted to bring the extraordinary success we had with this technology to the commercial printer. Agfa has been the world's leading developer of innovative and successful chemistry-free solutions, first in thermal technology and now in violet technology," said Marc Op de Beeck, senior vice president of Marketing and Sales, Agfa Graphics.

The system will be available in the third quarter of 2010