PRINTING PLATE UPDATE -- New Precious Metal

While digital may be the growth market, manufacturers of analog plates report they are still investing in that technology, too. Nonetheless, they generally only see limited potential in adapting cutting-edge digital plate technology, such as processless, for conventional exposure.

CTP production now accounts for more than 50 percent of the market in the United States and Europe, but the rest of the world is still in an earlier stage of the CTP conversion, points out KPG's Wiethoff. "We continue to dedicate a sizeable portion of our R&D budget to improving our analog plates," he says.