Agfa Gevaert  distribution  plates - offset 
Market expansion for digital plates and innovation in inkjet technology are two of the core strategic goals for Agfa in the coming years, as the company seeks to continue to remain one of the pre-eminent graphic arts solutions developers.

Outlining the company’s plans during drupa company president Stefaan Vanhooren said the company was successfully negotiating its path from an analogue to digital supplier, and it had clear targets in sight. These included aggressive expansion of its digital plates business, particularly in the US (where Kodak is dominant) China and Japan (where Fuji is king of the hill). Agfa is also targeting the big three developing nations of Russia, India and Brazil. He said the company’s commitment to violet, thermal and chemistry free plates would continue.

Vanhooren said its digital UV inkjet business, which was currently worth about Euro400m annually was set for spectacular growth. He also issued a warning to would be imitators saying the company would not hesitate to defend its intellectual property.

Agfa is targeting a global UV inkjet market of around 4,500 units a year, and one which is growing at 23 per cent each year. This means next year more UV inkjet wide format printers will be sold than CTP units. Agfa’s market share is currently eight per cent, up from zero two years ago, and it aims to grow that significantly.

At drupa Agfa is launching the :Anapurna Mv, an entry level UV and varnish wide format printer, the Anapurna M4f, which is also an entry level printer, and the heavy duty :Anapurna XLS, designed to print on virtually anything at high productivity and high resolution.