"Printing today is so much more sophisticated and standardised, yet water quality is still a major varia- ble," explained Technotrans man- aging director Peter Benton. "Sometimes people put in an RO (reverse osmosis) unit after they've had problems, we're saying why not just put one in?"

The prototype Basic.fcr unit on show on the Technotrans stand is a compact device - the size of a ‘chunky' washing machine. It is suitable for presses in B3 and B2 formats, up to a six-colour B2 machine. Benton said the price would be "less than £10,000", whereas buying separate filtration and RO units would typically involve a spend of £13,000- £14,000.

He cited significant potential advantages for printers looking to eliminate or reduce the use of alco- hol on press, too. "As they do that they need better filtration. We have customers who've gone from drain- ing down weekly to only needing to do that every three, or even six, months.

"We want to make it a no-brainer for people to have one, and the whole idea this week at Ipex is to gauge people's reaction and find out if it is a sensible move," Benton added. "We want to see whether the press manufacturers say ‘yes'. They can put a complete system on the back of a press installation and know that every possible variable is controlled."

If reaction is favourable Technotrans intends to integrate the basic.fcr technology into its Beta.c system for B1 presses.