Heidelberg has turned its back on sprayable polymer (SP) as the future of on-press imaging.


It still believes that the use of rewriteable masters on-press will be the technology used in future DI presses, but has withdrawn from its joint project with Agfa and CreoScitex to develop an SP-based system.


"Sprayable polymer has not proved to be a very reliable concept," said general manager direct imaging Marcel Kiessling. "The rewriteable master is a very good concept that we will continue to develop."


Problems with the consistency, quality and reliability of coating plates on-press are behind the move.


"If you look at the technology and the investment in a plate coating line, its difficult to see how to do that on-press," Kiessling said.


Heidelberg has also rejected existing technologies, including the thermal transfer process used on MAN Rolands DICOweb. Kiessling said he believed that a viable on-press rewriteable system was still three or four years away and that DI using plates was the most viable process in the interim.


"MAN Rolands DICOweb still needs to be proven to work in production. Its very expensive if it doesnt work on a web press," he said. "We developed the SM74 DI to take conventional plates because of that risk."


He also highlighted the success of the SM74 DI, which now has over 50 insta-llations worldwide and another 20 on order, over the rival 74 Karat, which has around 30 installations.


Story by Barney Cox