Imagehaus, which handles all the repro for greetings card publisher Woodmansterne, kicked off the upgrade with an Agfa Acento S platesetter from Agfa.

The new CTP system was installed at the Watford-based business during the summer, sparking a switch to Agfa's Azura TS chemistry-free plates.

Managing director Alan Smythson said: "We are very conscious of our environmental footprint and are constantly trying to improve in this area, and by using Azura TS plates we have been able to dispense with our use of chemistry.

"We looked at a number of alternatives but only Azura TS has an image we could see. The plates are not light sensitive, so after imaging they can be kept beside the press ready to be used time and again when reprints are required."

Imagehaus recently completed its overhaul with the installation of the latest Apogee Suite 6 workflow, also from Agfa.

The company said that Apogee was well-suited to the demands of producing "not just standard CMYK, but special colours, including metallic inks, glitters, cutter guides and embossing guides".