The Brillia HD Pro-T2, which has the same specifications as its predecessor in terms of sensitivity, resolution and run length, features an improved coating that the company said allowed for better performance across a wider range of press conditions.

Sean Lane, technical manager for plates at Fujifilm Europe, said: "Clearly, there are a lot of variables when it comes to printing, such as different inks, fount solutions, paper grades, chemicals and press conditions, and like with any plate, certain combinations of those are not ideal.

"What we've tried to do is make the plate more tolerant and more suitable to all different types of inks, founts and press conditions, so that whatever unusual inks or founts you might be using or whatever the condition of your press, you will still be able to get the best from the plate."

However, despite its improved coating, Lane said that the plate was not yet capable of being used with UV inks, although he added that this was one of Fuji's main ambitions for future updates of the product.

In addition to better on-press performance, Fuji said that Pro-T2 has a harder wearing coating for easier handling and wider imaging tolerances to improve compatibility with the latest platesetters, and that it requires fewer sheets to run-up to copy, enabling faster start-up.

Lane said: "Image quality can vary from one platesetter to another, depending on the technology they use, so we've made changes to allow the plate to be more adaptable to the different imaging technologies."

Fuji, which has completed more than 500 European installations of the original Pro-T since its launch in 2006, is currently in the process of migrating its existing customer base over to the new Pro-T2 plate.

Lane stressed that there would be no additional cost to Pro-T customers to upgrade and that all existing customers would be migrated to the new technology as stock becomes available.