The 300,000 investment is designed to boost the firms plate throughput. Its two visible light platesetters, Screen PI-R 2080 machines, each produce 10 plates an hour compared to 30 plates an hour from the PlateRite 8800.

Garden House commercial director Richard Langeveld said: Screen has created a fast, reliable, cutting-edge solution that is precisely designed to meet business needs in a highly competitive environment.

We chose thermal because we wanted a plate technology that was a bit more open and competitive and there are more players in the thermal plate market than in silver halide.

The Screen PlateRite uses Grating Light Valve imaging technology that deflects the thermal laser to produce 512 individually addressable writing beams. It was first introduced Ipex last year.

Story by Tony Brown