DIGITAL PLATES & PLATESETTERS -- Two Steps Forward

The consensus of opinion among other plate manufacturers seems to be that non-ablative technologies hold more promise for processless solutions. Agfa actually brought an ablative plate, called Mistral, to the point of controlled sales before deciding "not to expand" its development of the technology, Wittner says. "We have been developing a variety of processless plates and have found that a non-ablative, processless CTP technology is the best solution for the marketplace," she explains. "At IPEX (the international printing exhibition held in April), we announced plans to develop a processless plate that leverages our success with the Thermolite on-press imaging technology."