Inkjet, a technology into which Agfa has sunk a great deal of its R&D spend, came of age at drupa 2008. However, the company stressed that it would not be turning its back on its traditional strengths.

Chief executive Jo Cornu said that Agfa’s recently-announced $AU25.5m investment in its Brazilian plate manufacturing facility was evidence of the company’s commitment to the global plate market.

“It’s an illustration first of all of the fact that we are still very strong believers in that market and that it will exist for a long time,” said Cornu.

“It’s our strategy to have local manufacturing in all of the major economic zones in the world, so we are in the process of upgrading to our newest technologies in our factories in Europe, in the US, in South America and in China.”

Agfa’s expansion of its Brazilian manufacturing facility to produce its Azura, Energy Elite and N92 Violet digital plates should be completed in 2009.

Cornu said that Agfa’s “local manufacturing” strategy was in response to rapidly-increasing global demand, particularly in Asia and Latin America.

Agfa expects stable prepress sales for 2008, as growth in digital offsets decline in the analogue segment, and to continue to reduce its start-up losses for industrial inkjet, which should reach break-even during 2009.

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

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