The plant, which makes Agfa's Avalon 8-up and VLF ranges, is set to be shut by the summer as the CTP giant turns its attentions to the "replacement market".

Agfa UK managing director Laurence Roberts revealed to printweek.com that 8-up and VLF manufacturing would be picked up by one of its existing OEM partners. Its 4-up kit is made by Screen, while Punch Graphix produces its newspaper machines.

Roberts said: "The platesetter market is now a mature market. We are catering for a replacement market," such as the 11m sqm of Agfa plates he claimed were sold in the UK every year.

"We've always had a long-term plan to focus on what we do well, such as consumables and software," he added.

The machines will be superseded by new Agfa-branded third-party machines, due to be announced on 18 March and shown at Drupa.

Agfa, which sells about 30 8-up and 15 VLF machines into the UK each year, said its existing customers would be "fully supported by 80 engineers across the UK" and added that it would "guarantee parts for at least seven years".

According to a statement, a redundancy package has been "developed for the approximately 150 employees involved". Roberts said: "We always look to redeploy people if possible".

The closure plans involve all 150 staff at the site's manufacturing plant, though other operations, such as service, IT and sales will continue to operate from Wilmington.