Ridgefield Park, NJ -- Agfa announced today that BFC Forms Services recently upgraded their prepress equipment and as a result, achieved a significant reduction in production costs in their prepress department. This is good news for the organization given the current economic climate. BFC provides a complete line of services that include online storefronts, design, prepress, fulfillment and warehousing, sheet-fed offset printing, digital imaging, full bindery and mail services. Their equipment upgrades included two :Avalon N8 Platesetters. BFC also uses Agfa's :Amigo  low-chemistry thermal plates and :Apogee workflow, all of which is a powerful combination that work together to contribute to their reduction in expenses.

According to Keith Kanak, prepress manager at BFC, "One of the most notable benefits seen by the prepress department was the decrease in chemistry use. We run a lot of plates and have easily cut our chemistry consumption and costs by 50%. And there were additional unexpected benefits that we saw as results of the upgrades. We saw savings of about 20% in our energy costs because the :Avalons don't use high pressure pumps and don't need large external compressors running constantly like our older equipment. Plus, these plate processors run a lot cleaner so we don't lose any production time cleaning out the developer tanks. The technology has come a long way. Time savings and energy efficiency are areas of improvement that we truly welcome."
 
Today, Agfa's :Avalon N8  thermal platesetters provides new levels of productivity and reliablity in CtP imaging. Its reliability allows for the delivery of more projects in less time and exceptional registration accuracy reduces costs with faster-make ready times on press.

Moreover, Agfa's :Amigo thermal plates use ThermoFuse™ technology to deliver robust, high resolution plate performance with remarkable chemical resistance and processing latitude thanks to the use of physical plate imaging. :Amigo gives consistent high quality results without the variability seen with conventional plates. ThermoFuse technology makes plate processing simple, reliable and clean.

Agfa's :Apogee workflow solution is designed to meet the needs of all stakeholders in the printing and publishing process, including print buyers, content owners, designers, prepress managers, and production coordinators. It integrates all content, proofing, output, connectivity and other integral elements through one comprehensive solution.