The plates require no chemistry or water wash-up post-exposure and can be put on press straight out of the platesetter.

Agfa said the plate behaved "very similarly to a traditionally processed or chemistry-free plate" and would clean out rapidly and accept ink immediately on press, resulting in "sellable sheets after only a few copies".

"A direct-on-press plate is ready for use after exposing on the platesetter," said Guy Desmet, head of prepress marketing at Agfa Graphics. "On top, Azura TE shows an outstanding image contrast thanks to our patented Thermochromic Dye technology.

"That makes visual inspection easy and means that dot measurements or plate detection can be done with standard devices. In addition, Azura TE has an excellent daylight stability, which comes in handy if the plates cannot be mounted on the press immediately."

The plate supports up to 240lpi with Sublima screening and are said to be very stable on press, eliminating many of the variables inherent with conventionally processed plates.

Desmet added: "A one-year field test period all over the globe taught us that Azura TE is compatible with all Agfa and non-Agfa platesetters, a wide range of founts, inks and press architectures. Customers love the ease of use of Azura TE, the gain in system productivity and the quality on press."