Four different solutions have gone on sale aimed at the pre-press and consumables giant's silver, photo-polymer, thermal and developer-free thermal plates.

Mike Loose, Agfa UK plate product manager, said: "We believe we are the first plate manufacturer to offer technology-dedicated plate cleaners, and I expect other manufacturers will follow suit."

The solutions are each uniquely tuned to the particular substrate and coating on each of the plates.

Loose said that the new products are up to twice as expensive as third-party offerings, but that down-time on press would be saved through reduced damage to plates.

He argued that third-party plate cleaners are more likely to cause deterioration in plates and, especially, coatings, because they were not specifically adapted to the particular plate.

Loose added: "From a printer's point of view, he now knows that the same technicians that developed the coatings and the substrates have also developed the cleaner."

The news follows the launch just before Christmas of the Amigo plate, the second plate to use Agfa's developer-free ThermoFuse technology.

Agfa's plate cleaners
Lithostar Kleen: silver plates
Polykleen: N91 and N91v photopolymer plates
Thermokleen: Thermostar and Ampio thermal
plates
Azurakleen: for ThermoFuse plates Azura and Amigo