PRINTING PLATE UPDATE -- New Precious Metal

Agfa also continues to devote resources to its analog production line along with digital, says Susan Wittner, marketing director, North America. "Our focus is on evolutionary changes that increase our customers' productivity and pressroom performance," she says.

Enovation's Crawford sees a more bearish outlook for analog products given that many plate manufacturers ship more CTP plates than conventional. "Based on the sales growth and increasing demand for technology improvements within the CTP sector, R&D budgets need to be projected toward CTP products," he says.