Agfa Azura

[beermonster]

oh - checking plates....well only last week i missed a 4 colour barcode - spotted it whilst CHECKING the cyan plate - stopped process, fixed and all in all wasted just 2 plates but the job hit press in good time

[HockeyJewel]

We changed over a Presstek Dimension 400 to the Azura TS plates -The pressman love the plate (we have two Dimension 400s, one burning Azura TS plates, one burning Prestek Anthem) BUT, I have trouble EACH day with channel zones drifting on the machine burning Azura TS- any one have the same issue? (I am pulling my hair out, is it the machine or the plates?)

[Santa]

Could never say for sure without seeing your plate, But if it is vertical and each one is about an inch wide than from my experience it is a zone balancing issue. Zone balancing is inherent to the Dimension platesetter, the Agfa Ascento we run does not require such calibration. The need for constant zone balancing is why we de-installed our Dimension oh so many years ago.

[Prepper]

"There's also a study that reflects your observation. In a recent (March 2009) industry report,
nearly 80% of WW consumption of processless plates (of the Big 3) are Agfa plates.
(You can argue semantics - that's the category for Azura in this report.)"

Steve, in regards to the quote above from an earlier post you made to this thread, I was told that Agfa's install WW on Azura was 300 with about 150 of those in the US. Could that have been just the TS plate, or all Azura installs? 80% of what size market I guess is what I'm asking. The number above would seem to make it a very small market so I must have misunderstood something?

Thanks

[SteveAgfa]

Hi Prepper:

Regarding Azura install count:

I couldn't find the quote or the context you mentioned. I suspect that it was either a quote from several years ago, or perhaps it was referring to our then recent switch-over to Azura TS.

Regardless, Azura users now number in the thousands. Once a product hits such a critical mass, we tend to only internally measure in m2, or specific Clean-Out-Unit installs.

A year ago, we started the promotion recognizing Azura's five-year anniversary. Then we were mentioning over 2,500 ThermoFuse users. http://www.agfa.com/en/gs/news_event...late/index.jsp

We find that our happy Azura users (such as on this forum) are our best form of advertising.

That's what we can all count on!

Regards,

[Printservedigital]

The Azurra is a good plate I saw it in Mortsel in 2004

[Prepper]

Hi Steve,

The quote was from a post on page 3 of this thread. I have heard very few negatives on the Azura and we're currently working on getting to try these plates out. In speaking with someone from Agfa they mentioned the same thing, that Agfa had 79% of this market but said that was 300 installs world-wide and about 150 in the U.S., started me thinking this must be a really small market and maybe not a tried and true method yet (process-less plates), and please don't go into the terminology again, especially since all the problems we've experienced with our current plates.

But surely the numbers have to be more than that right? Do you have any industry info or estimates on how many people are currently using this technology in the U.S.?

When we start asking we can't find anyone in our area that is using them or the Fuji offering either for that matter, so it does make me wonder how large or small a group are we talking about?

Thanks

[rotarypower3]

getting the most hard work and is lasting about 65k impressions - but the others - well they finally gave up at 179k - yes that's 179k.

I'd love to know the secret of getting such long run lengths.
We're lucky to 13-15k out of ours. We have one job that comes in 4 times a year that's 120k, and I have to send out for Kodak plates.
The plates have been used on 4 different presses here with the same short run lengths before they wear out and I have to run more.

..

[Printservedigital]

Only a few years ago we used Agfa plates and run them at 60K per hour and they would run from 9:30pm to 4:30am the next morning with only press stops of 10-15 mins for 3 or 4 edition changes.

The Azura plate it still short of that though.

13K impressions nowadays? we would have sent the whole pallet/batch (if it was multiple pallets) back , obviously there is something wrong!

[SteveAgfa]

A couple things...

RotaryPower -
Something doesn't sound right.
I'm not tech support, but the first thing that comes to mind is that the drum speed or power setting isn't right. With Azura, the plate can read correctly, but might not be thoroughly fused. I've also seen a case where the focus setting wasn't correct, even though drum and power settings are by the book. Or, perhaps you are using a fountain solution that is not optimal. Please make sure your local Agfa plate technical resource is involved.

Prepper -
Please PM me your contact info, and I'll get you local references. I can't talk about install numbers or market share figures beyond published information. I'd bet however, that there are some users nearby.

Regards,