McLaren Press (Melbourne, Australia)

Although McLaren Press is a long-standing family business, established in 1915 by the grandfather of current owner-operator John McLaren, it is far from being out-of-date. According to McLaren, the company is equipping itself for the environmentally-conscious future, and Agfa’s :Azura plate system is an important part of that process.

“We want to make a strong impact in Victoria as an environmentally-friendly printer,” he explains. “We moved to the :Azura plates because they are chemical-free. We are doing whatever we can on the environmental side of the business. We have installed water tanks to catch water for running our machines, and we use vegetable-based inks and varnishes. We are also looking at our air emissions now.”

McLaren Press produces high quality single and multi-colour printing work for corporate, government and other commercial customers requiring large print jobs. Current production levels are around 5,000 sq. metres of plate each year.

To date, half of McLaren’s prepress work has been film-based, created in-house using an imagesetter.  The remaining fifty percent is produced externally as CTP plates. The company will install a new Agfa :Xcalibur 45 thermal CTP device after the Pacprint exhibition which will take up full production of the :Azura plates.

According to McLaren, the move to total in-house CTP production will provide substantial savings as the time-consuming film making process will be eliminated. The company has conducted extensive trials of the new :Azura plates, running up to 80,000 impressions with very good results. “We even ran the plates through again after two weeks in storage and they still inked up well with just as sharp a dot,” explains McLaren.

McLaren is looking forward to taking delivery of the new platesetter and getting full :Azura plate production underway. After waiting almost 18 months for the right plate technology to come along he is keen to use it, now it is here.

Lionheart Offset (Sydney, Australia)

Lionheart Offset firmly believes in the benefits of keeping up with new technology. General manager Steve Bujeia acknowledges it is this strategy that has brought them, after 18 years in business, to where they are today – a successful commercial printer specialising in full-colour, corporate printing with complete in-house finishing and warehousing services. As the first company in the region to take up the new :Azura plates, Lionheart is also reaping the environmental benefits of the plate system’s chemical-free processing.

“The Azura plate and processor were recommended by Agfa, so we tried the concept. The plate has made our operation more environmentally-friendly, saving thousands of litres of water each week and there is no harsh chemical waste to get rid of,” explains Bujeia.  The plate systems’ low maintenance routine influenced the company’s choice of :Azura over standard thermal plates.

With an average production of over 600 plates each month, converting to the chemical-free :Azura plates has significantly ‘greened’ Lionheart’s prepress operation and it complements other initiatives implemented at the printing site. The company also uses low solvent inks, some recycled paper stocks, and chemicals and washes that meet the stringent standards of leading German-based printing technology research organisation FOGRA Graphic Technology Research Association.

The company converted to computer-to-plate four years ago and now produces all jobs on :Azura plates imaged on a Heidleberg Topsetter platesetter with Meta Dimension and processed through an :Azura online C85 cleaning unit.  The plates are printed on two Heidleberg presses (a new CD74 5-colour perfector press and an SM52 4-colour).

With press runs ranging from 100 to over one million, print quality and fast turnarounds are important in giving the business a competitive edge.  Bujeia believes Lionheart’s investment in technology like the :Azura plate system, which offers environmental efficiency and stable qualities, will help the company continue its growth as a highly-competitive business.

The Technology

The :Azura’s ground-breaking chemistry-free plate processing technology offers high quality thermal imaging (on standard 830nm thermal platesetters), quick make-readies and streamlined workflow, ecologically-sound working environment, and reduced waste (only 20L/300 sq.m).

Based on the thermofuse technology originally developed for its :Thermolite plates, the :Azura plate system uses a negative-working aluminium plate that combines a standard electrochemically-grained and anodised aluminium base with a single layer coating containing ink-accepting thermofusable (latex) particles. During exposure, the coating absorbs heat in the image areas from a standard 830nm thermal laser, fusing those particles together and bonding the images to the plate.

After exposure, non-imaged areas are removed with a gum wash in the compact :Azura C85 cleaning unit, eliminating the hazardous chemicals associated with standard processing.The gum also protects the hydrophilic aluminium substrate from oxidation.  The plate is press-ready once it exits the cleaning unit.

In conventional computer-to-plate, the latent image first formed must be processed chemically to become physically durable and stable. The effect of the chemistry on the image therefore depends on the chemicals’ temperature and exhaustion, the plate’s speed through the processing unit, whether the plate is rinsed completely or treated effectively with gum, etc. Some plate technologies also require a post-imaging pre-heat phase, and/or pre-wash.
The :Azura system eliminates plate processing altogether so it has fewer process variables to manage and the processing cannot affect the image in any way. The image initially formed on the plate is exactly the image to be printed on press.

The particles in the thermofusable coating are small enough to produce sharp images. Screen tints of 2-98 percent are possible at 200 lpi, depending on platesetter performance, and runs of up to 100,000 are achievable (depending on press conditions).

The plates (available in thicknesses of 0.15, 0.20 and 0.30mm) can be handled in daylight conditions and work with existing inks, founts and plate cleaners, and the aluminium base ensures fast ink roll-up and consistent ink/water balance. All of this shortens make-ready times and minimises paper waste and downtime.