The two Avalon N8 platesetters will be imaging Agfa's Energy Elite plates. Each is capable of churning out 50 plates per hour, which will help meet the firm's appetite for plates - in March it produced 17,000.

"We need two lines because we can't afford to have the plate line go down; in the last two weeks of the month we're running plates like they're going out of fashion," said S&G group managing director Andrew Jones.

The deal was signed on the opening morning of the show on Agfa's stand (11/CD2200). It waspart of an 18-month £10m refit of the firm's firepower that also included presses and folders from Heidelberg. It installed its third Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105, a 10-colour long perfector, which joined another 10-colour plus an eight-colour XL 105 last month.

"This puts us in a position where we've re-equipped the factory for the next five years, unless we win a lot more work," said Jones. "The 105s make a massive difference to our productivity and print quality, so we needed a more robust pre- press set up to produce the plates those machines gobble up."

He added that he expected any future investments to be in soft- ware to improve the efficiency of the business.

"We're in the midst of recession and need to move forward," said Jones. "At current rates, we'll make nothing sticking our money in the bank, so it made sense to invest it in the business. We've fettled our kit to make sure we're in pole position."

Agfa UK managing director Laurence Roberts said: "Making the investment now as we come out of the recession is very wise."