ECRM will launch its fast imagesetter for the newspaper industry at Ifra.


The Bluefin produces 140 broadsheet pages per hour at 1,270dpi. ECRM product manager Don Langston said: It also punches and cuts, making it one of the fastest on the market.


The Bluefin incorporates the holographic technology used in ECRMs Marlin imagesetter range. It also has a vacuum drum to exert a constant tension on the film during the imaging, punching and cutting process.


Langston said: The Bluefins got three punch-bars that can punch media anywhere you like, to suit any newspaper application. He added that it can also alternate between page formats, including single broadsheets, panorama pages and four-up tabloid pages, on the fly.


The Bluefins processor has been developed specifically by Glunz & Jensen, and the two-bar version costs 71,600 ($99,500).


ECRM is also launching three new wide-format versions of its WildCat CTP system capable of producing plates up to and including the Goss Community press size. The WildCat XL, XL 180 and XL 240 produce 100, 180 and 240 plates per hour respectively.


Story by John Davies