All seven of the Welsh groups presses are being supplied with 240lpi Sublima-screened plates from its two Agfa Galileo VXT platesetters. The switch to Sublima has increased platesetter throughput from 22 to 27 B1 plates per hour by dropping the resolution from 2,400dpi to 1,800dpi.

Its the most radical thing weve done quality wise since we went CTP, said pre-press manager Mike Donovan.

Customers have been pleased with the improved quality achieved without additional cost. The firm hopes the improved quality will help it to win new work.

Its clever but its not difficult to implement, said Donovan. If it wasnt so easy I wouldnt have dived in feet first.

As well as finer detail, Sublimas handling of the highlights and shadows is resulting in an extra 3%-4% of tonal range being held.

The firm didnt need to make any changes to proofing or to train the minders.

We calibrated Sublima to our dot gain, density and grey balance, so it just dropped in with no changes needed, said Donovan.