FESPA Digital 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands -- At the FESPA Press Conference Agfa Graphics unveiled the second generation :M-Press, the :M-Press TIGER. Targeted at screen printers since day one, this digital solution marrying Agfa inkjet technology with a Thieme Screen Printing base, now boasts a 300 percent increase in productivity with even higher quality output.

With :M-Press TIGER, Agfa Graphics has shown that the future of the screen printing industry is digital. Rather than building a whole new machine, Agfa Graphics uses Thieme screen printing knowledge and media transport expertise and adds the new :M-Press Tiger UV inkjet shuttle. This shuttle uses page-wide printing arrays, created with 64 new Agfa UPH2 dual color piezo printheads. This new shuttle delivers large format printing at unparalleled speeds.

?With the :M-Press Tiger we are taking a major step forward, with regards to both speed and quality,? said Tom Cloots, Business Line Manager M-Press at Agfa Graphics. ?The printing capabilities of the :M-Press TIGER are extraordinary,we have dramatically boosted the speed of the engine as well as introducing new higher quality printing modes and the ability to select gloss level, with no impact on productivity. With our new printhead technology, auto head positioning and tuning, we are capable of printing at 1,583 sqm an hour (which equals 770 sqm/hr on the floor including loading and unloading). The :M-Press TIGER has a colour gamut better than ISO coated V2 and with optional in-line traditional pre- or post screen printing stations, can also deliver primers, varnish, fluorescents, spot and metallic colours. Since there is virtually no set-up time required on the :M-Press Tiger, for the majority of common screen printing run-lengths, the effective output of the M-Press TIGER is equal to traditional screen printing. It gives the same turnaround time per job, but at a lower cost and with higher quality. With :M-Press Tiger there is no need for the CMYK screens and it has only 25% of the screen ink lay-down.?

"SMP was the first to install an M-Press,? said Mark Turner; Production Director at SMP. ?We have now been operating an M-Press for over two years, 24/7, and this system has been key to us offering new services to our clients, faster turnarounds and a lot more detail than our traditional screen printing. Besides the pure replacement of our short and medium runs, from litho and screen, it has allowed us to develop new applications that were previously impossible. When Agfa showed us the :M-Press Tiger, we were convinced. Agfa had kept us informed on their developments but even so the quality and speed they have achieved exceeded our expectations. We want to be the first in the world with the :M-Press Tiger at SMP with such a competitive advantage for our clients. With the :M-Press Tiger tripling our productivity we can see ourselves moving almost every run-length from screen print to our :M-Press. We are planning to have our :M-Press Tiger operational in Q3."

:M-Press TIGER uses Agfa Graphics :Anuvia UV curable inks. The new Tiger shuttles are compatible with all current :M-Press installations. This unique ability to upgrade the :M-Press Thieme screen printing base, maximizes the value of the initial investment for future growth.