Ridgefield Park, NJ August 17, 2006 -- Agfa Graphics announced today that The Town Talk, a Gannett-owned daily newspaper in Alexandria, Louisiana, has purchased two of Agfa’s violet :Advantage platesetters, one for the newspaper and the other for its commercial operation at a separate facility. "We've been studying the CtP market for three years now. Our sister facility in Lafayette, Louisiana purchased two :Advantage DLs two years ago, so we decided to go down there to take a look," said Dorothy Sasser, production director for The Town Talk. "Once we saw it in action, we were convinced. The competition in this business is fierce, so we need to provide a level of quality that gives us an edge. We're counting on the :Advantage to deliver for us." The Town Talk has a daily circulation of 35,000 and a Sunday circulation of 39,000. The commercial unit, McCormick Graphics, prints hundreds of special interest publications in fields ranging from automotive and watercraft to real estate and travel. According to Sasser, many of McCormick's commercial customers also are aware of the potential for quality and automation improvements and are looking forward to the installation. "With Agfa's :Advantage DL platesetters, the production department at The Town Talk and McCormick Graphics will enjoy not just the highest quality and reliability, but also improvements in scheduling and cost expenditures," said Sheila Nysko, Agfa's business development manager, Newspaper Systems, North America. "As a very busy newspaper and commercial printer, they needed a CtP system that could meet the total requirements of both of their locations. The :Advantage DL violet system was a perfect fit by offering them unsurpassed reliability, quality, productivity and ease of use. They have gained the edge they needed." Agfa's :Advantage platesetters are designed specifically for short, medium and long-run newspapers that require a high volume of plates on short deadlines, and for commercial printers that have a heavy workload of special interest guides, catalogs and magazines.