"This option will slash makereadies," said Neil Handforth, sales and marketing director of Ryobi's UK agent, Apex Digital Graphics.

Full-RPC will be demonstrated on the 758P, the firm's B2 long perfector, which is making its UK debut at the Birmingham show on Apex's stand.

Handforth said the system can change plates on a eight-colour press in four-and-a-half minutes, compared to the seven minutes of a semi-automatic plate changing press.

However, according to the firm, Full-RPC can reduce makereadies by 50% as it allows operators to focus on other set-up tasks while the plates are changed. Its own research showed that the total makeready time for an eight colour press with semi-automatic plate changing is 13 minutes, with Full-RPC it's more than halved to six.

"This is futher evidence that Ryobi is at the cutting edge of technology on all sizes, but certainly B2. We've now got a machine that's as highly specified as anything else on the market," said Handforth.

Plate mounting and removal can be controlled remotely from the touch-panel on the Ryobi PCS-G off-press control.

Pricing will be unveiled at Ipex and the Full-RPC option will begin shipping in September.