Group chief executive David Danforth said: "We tend to have longterm relationships with our suppliers - it's unusual for us to change."

He declined to identify the previous suppliers of its plates, CTP and workflow.

With a 60,000m2-per-year demand for plates, Image Colourprint, the group's B1 litho printing facility, is one of the highest volume users to switch to chemistry-free platemaking using Agfa's Azura TS plates.

"We are very conscious of our social responsibility and do whatever we can to enhance our green credentials," said ImageData Group chairman Roger Birkin. "The environmental credentials of Azura TS were a significant part of the deal. We didn't like competitive products that were developed on-press."

The firm first used Agfa's Apogee workflow when it installed an Agfa M-Press Tiger at the end of 2009.

"Now we are going to build our entire pre-press system around Apogee and our pre-press hub in Willerby," added Birkin.

"Apogee and Azura were the differentiators; when we get a new customer, they invariably opt for Azura," said Agfa UK director Laurence Roberts. "CTP systems are all very similar, the differentiation is in the workflow."

At the heart of the system is a pair of Avalon N8 52XT B1 thermal platesetters. The firm was a pioneer of CTP, installing a proprietary B2 system in 1985, just two years after it was founded. It is now a £20m-turnover business employing 220 staff with three sites in Yorkshire and a fourth in Brighton. Production facilities span cutsheet digital, large-format digital and litho.