Prepress Offset Solutions & Software
With a comprehensive range of offset printing plates and cutting-edge computer-to-plate systems from SCREEN and ECO3, along with advanced CtP software, Thunderbolt ensures seamless prepress workflows and superior print results. Whether you're a commercial printer, packaging specialist, or newspaper publisher, Thunderbolt provides the tools you need to achieve exceptional print quality and efficiency. ​
Offset Printing Plates
ECO3, formerly known as AGFA Offset Solutions, stands as a premier global provider of prepress solutions for the offset printing sector. Covering every aspect of the prepress process, ECO3 offers a comprehensive array of products and services, including offset plates, graphic film, equipment, software, and chemicals.
Thermal Offset Printing Plates
Energy Elite
ECO3’s Energy Elite is an advanced no-bake thermal plate technology designed for high-quality printing performance and efficiency. Fully compatible with UV and metallic inks, Energy Elite eliminates the need for baking, saving space and energy while achieving impressive run lengths.
Key Benefits:
- No-Bake Technology: Energy Elite’s double-layer technology with a chemical-resistant second layer ensures long-run performance without post-baking, allowing runs up to 350,000 copies and up to 100,000 copies in harsh environments.
- High-Quality Imaging: With daylight-safe positive-working plates boasting excellent image contrast, Energy Elite offers 1 to 99% imaging capability at 200 lpi, ensuring superior print quality.
- Press Performance: Utilising ECO3’s Flat Substrate Technology, Energy Elite provides the widest latitude on press without compromising performance, resulting in low dampening levels, stable ink/water balance, and excellent lithographic performance, even after press stops.
Energy Elite Pro
ECO3’s Energy Elite Pro is the next-generation no-bake thermal plate designed for consistent printing quality, high productivity, and reduced chemistry consumption. With run lengths of up to 400,000 copies and exceptional performance in aggressive printing environments, Energy Elite Pro offers unmatched durability and reliability.
Key Benefits:
- No-Bake Technology: Energy Elite Pro’s double-layer coating technology ensures robustness and high chemical resistance, making it suitable for high-speed platesetters and compatible with UV and metallic inks without the need for baking.
- Durable High-Quality Imaging: This positive thermal plate delivers durable, high-quality imaging with 1 to 99% dot resolution at 200 lpi, ensuring sharp and precise prints.
- Exceptional Print Quality: Energy Elite Pro guarantees exceptional print quality with advanced screening options like CristalRaster III, Sublima, or SPIR@L screening, along with a new double-coating formula for consistently sharp dots throughout the print run.
Ayinda 603
THe Aiyinda 603 is a double-coated thermal printing plate developed for the commercial and packaging printing market, offering high sensitivity, resolution, and printing suitability, especially for UV ink applications without baking.
Key Benefits:
- Unparallelled Economy: Aiyinda 603 achieves a perfect balance between performance and price, making it the ideal choice for users with high requirements for printing plate performance facing cost pressures.
- Superior Performance: With high sensitivity, no exposure dust, and excellent printing performance, Aiyinda 603 utilises double coating technology and Flat Substrate sand processing technology to deliver exceptional printing results.
Long-lasting - Durability: The double coating of Aiyinda 603 ensures long printing resistance, meeting the growing needs of packaging and printing customers while maintaining affordability and reliability.
Azalea ZP
The Azalea ZP process-free plate revolutionises environmentally friendly printing by allowing direct printing on the machine without processing, setting a new trend in the industry.
Key Benefits:
- Ultra-High Sensitivity: The unique double-coating technology of Azalea ZP ensures ultra-high sensitivity, enabling rapid light sensing and reaching the highest plate production speed on all thermal plate making machines.
- Versatile Applications: With its powerful printing performance, Azalea ZP can be widely used in commercial printing, packaging printing, UV printing, and newspaper printing, offering a new choice for green and environmentally friendly printing.
- Hassle-Free Operation: Azalea ZP eliminates the need for processing, offering zero exposure dust, convenient pre-press operation, and direct access, streamlining the printing process for increased efficiency and productivity.
Photopolymer Offset Printing Plates
N95 VCF
The N95-VCF from ECO3 is a revolutionary addition to their photopolymer offset plate lineup tailored for newspapers. Engineered for visible lasers at 405 nm, this chemistry-free plate eliminates the need for traditional developers, offering a greener alternative without compromising quality. Compatible with popular violet CtP units globally, its pH-neutral clean-out solution not only saves water entirely but also eliminates developer and replenisher, making it the ultimate eco-friendly choice for newspaper printing.
Key Benefits:
- Advanced Imaging & Processing: Utilizes violet-laser diode for polymerization during exposure, ensuring clean image removal and daylight resistance.
- Robust Substrate: Electrochemical graining and anodizing provide durability for long press runs, with high scratch resistance.
- Seamless On-Press Performance: Offers the familiarity of traditional metal offset plates, with high contrast for error detection and chemistry-free processing for consistent results.
- Precision Resolving Power: Ideal for high-quality Sublima and SPIR@L screening, ensuring exceptional print detail.
- Eco-Friendly Maintenance: Chemistry-free operation eliminates hazardous chemicals, with pH-neutral gum and substantial water savings, reducing environmental impact and maintenance time.
Graphic Film
Graphic Films
Discover ECO3’s Graphic Film collection, featuring a variety of contact, camera, and recording films meticulously crafted to deliver superior results with swift processing capabilities.
Key Benefits:
- Consistent, High-Quality Results: Wide exposure latitude increases productivity and reduces remakes.
- Easy to Handle: Streamlined handling minimizes remakes and material wastage.
- Rapid Access Film Processing: Quick development facilitates meeting tight printing deadlines.
Huaguang Printing Plates, made in Henan Province, China, have become a very popular product with some of the highest production sales worldwide.
Exporting to more than 100 countries and regions, our analogue and CTP Huaguang plates have proven themselves time and time again and are supplied to some of the most prestigious, award-winning printers here in South Africa.
TP-U Thermal CTP Plate
The Lucky Huaguang TPU Thermal CTP Printing Plate is a versatile solution designed for both UV and ordinary ink printing applications. Crafted with premium aluminium and a double coating formulation, this high-quality plate boasts exceptional sensitivity, dot reproduction, and stability, ensuring superior performance across various printing processes.
Key Benefits:
- Positive thermal digital plate: Enjoy the benefits of a positive thermal plate, delivering consistent results and compatibility with a wide range of printers and processing equipment.
- Wide operating latitude: Experience enhanced flexibility with a wide processing latitude, accommodating different printing conditions and optimising efficiency.
- High run length and chemical resistance: With resistance to chemical corrosion, including UV ink and printer cleaning water, this plate offers durability and longevity, making it ideal for high-quality, long-run printing without the need for baking.
PPVG S Low-Chemical Photopolymer Plate
The PPVG Low-Chemical Photopolymer Plate is an eco-friendly, low-chemistry plate designed for superior print quality and stability. Made with electronically grained and anodised aluminium, it offers a 12-month shelf life under optimal storage conditions. Simplified processing and reduced chemical usage make it a cost-effective and environmentally responsible choice for printing.
Key Benefits:
- Simplified three-step processing (preheating, developing, and drying) enhances efficiency.
- Reduced chemical consumption and water usage contribute to environmental sustainability.
- Weak alkali developer ensures consistent and stable print quality.
TD-GX Processless Thermal CTP Plate
The TD-GX Processless Thermal CTP Plate from Lucky Huaguang is a revolutionary green printing solution eliminating the need for processing, allowing for direct press placement post-exposure, saving time and resources.
Key Benefits:
- Obvious Visual Contrast: Achieve high contrast plate making with clear, visually striking graphics, facilitating automation and ensuring even the subtlest details are easily discernible.
- Good Development Performance: Experience fast development speed on press, efficient ink-water balance, and minimal over plate paper consumption, optimising printing processes.
- Fast Sensitivity & High Efficiency: Benefit from rapid sensitivity up to 120mJ/cm2, accelerating plate making speed while shortening plate-making cycles, enhancing overall efficiency.
Computer-to-Plate Systems
ECO3, formerly known as AGFA Offset Solutions, stands as a premier global provider of prepress solutions for the offset printing sector. Covering every aspect of the prepress process, ECO3 offers a comprehensive array of products and services, including offset plates, graphic film, equipment, software, and chemicals.
Avalon 8-up Series
The Avalon 8-up series is the pinnacle of B1-sized CtP systems and is tailored for commercial and packaging printing. Whether you’re seeking an entry-level solution or a high-performance powerhouse, Avalon delivers unrivalled quality, consistency, and productivity while championing sustainability.
Key Benefits:
- Proven technology: Choose between fibre-coupled laser technology for entry-level models or Grating Light Valve (GLV) imaging technology for high-end engines, ensuring superior imaging speed and quality.
- Industry-leading productivity: With throughput speeds ranging from 24 to 70 plates per hour, Avalon meets the demands of printers of all sizes, supported by upgradable options for evolving businesses.
- Sublime imaging quality: Experience consistent, top-tier imaging quality of up to 340 lpi Sublima, surpassing industry standards and elevating your print output.
- Perfectly upgradable: Start with a basic model and effortlessly upgrade to a fully automated system as your production requirements expand, maximising your investment.
- Automation choices: Customise your workflow with manual loading or opt for automation with single or multi-cassette autoloaders, or the advanced Expert Loader for complete prepress automation with the Avalon N8-90 engine.
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Throughput Plates Per Hour (Energy Elite Eco: 1030 x 800 mm, 2400 dpi) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | N8-30 S | N8-30 XT | N8-90 E | N8-90 S | N8-90 XT |
| PPH | 24 | 32 | 36 | 48 | 70 |
SCREEN is the leading Computer-to-Plate (CTP) system manufacturer and provides CTP solutions for all press sizes and throughput requirements. With over 22 000 CTP devices running worldwide, their CTP machines are known for their reliability and longevity.
PlateRite HD 8900 Series
The PlateRite 8900NII-ZA/SA is another high-quality thermal CTP recorder built with the renowned technology and expertise that have made Dainippon Screen the world’s number one CTP manufacturer.
Key Benefits:
- Versatile Plate Imaging: Imaging capabilities ranging from 2-up to 8-up plates, accommodating sizes from 304 x 305 mm to 1165 x 950 mm, ensuring compatibility with various printing needs.
- Diverse Model Selection: Choose from three models—PlateRite HD 8900N-E, HD 8900N-S, and HD 8900N-Z—offering plate-making speeds of 36, 48, and 70 plates per hour respectively, catering to different production requirements.
- Energy-Efficient Operation: Achieve a significant 43 percent reduction in power consumption during operation, with a power-saving standby mode slashing power usage by 85 percent, promoting sustainability and cost savings.
- Remote Production Monitoring: Seamlessly monitor production status from afar, enabling efficient management and troubleshooting without the need for on-site presence.
- Future-Proof Upgradability: Easily upgrade to higher productivity levels by replacing a few key parts post-installation, ensuring adaptability and longevity in response to evolving business needs.
- Scalable Configurations: Available in a variety of scalable configurations, from manual to fully automated setups, providing flexibility to match workflow preferences and scale production capabilities accordingly.
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Throughput Plates Per Hour (1,030 × 800 mm, 2400 dpi) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 8900N-Z | 8900N-S | 8900N-E | ||
| PPH | 70 | 48 | 36 | ||
| Light source | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 8900N-Z | 8900N-S | 8900N-E | ||
| Laser Diode Channels | 1024 | 1024 | 512 | ||
PlateRite 8600 Series
The PlateRite 8600 Series is the dae facto standard 8-page thermal CtP system, renowned for its exceptional balance of productivity and exposure quality. With the latest fibre laser diode exposure heads, these systems achieve throughput of up to 32 plates per hour, while optional autoloaders enable seamless integration into production lines for automatic plate supply, significantly extending run times and boosting press operating ratios. As expected from Screen, the new PlateRite 8600NII series ensures superior imaging precision, reliable operation, and reduced electricity consumption per plate, meeting the dynamic demands of modern printing companies.
Key Benefits:
- High-Speed Productivity: Benefit from high-speed exposure using cutting-edge fiber laser diode heads, enabling the PlateRite 8600 to achieve throughput of up to 32 plates per hour, ensuring swift plate production to meet tight deadlines.
- Enhanced Automation: Seamlessly integrate into production lines with autoloaders such as the MA-L8900 multi-cassette autoloader, allowing for automatic plate supply and cassette switching, thereby extending run times and boosting press operating ratios.
- Space-Saving Design: Opt for the SA-L8600E single-cassette autoloader with a smaller footprint, reducing installation space by 43% and initial costs, while still accommodating up to 100 plates at once, ensuring efficient and economical plate handling.
- Eco-Friendly Operation: Experience reduced energy consumption by up to 60% during operation and up to 73% during standby with the energy-saving design of the PlateRite 8600Nâ…¡ series, contributing to cost savings and environmental sustainability.
- Advanced Support and Monitoring: Easily monitor and control system operations remotely via web browser or email, with automatic forwarding of diagnostic information to service centres for proactive maintenance and optimal system reliability, ensuring uninterrupted production.
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Throughput Plates Per Hour (1,030 × 800 mm, 2400 dpi) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 8600NII-Z | 8600NII-S | 8600NII-E | ||
| PPH | 32 | 24 | 14 | ||
| Light source | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 8600NII-Z | 8600NII-S | 8600NII-E | ||
| Laser Diode Channels | 96 | 64 | 32 | ||
PlateRite 4600N Series
The PlateRite 4600N series offers cutting-edge 4-page Thermal Plate Recorders that set new standards in performance and quality. Designed to consistently produce high-quality printing plates, the high-end PlateRite 4600N-Z achieves an impressive throughput of up to 33 plates per hour, powered by advanced fibre laser diode technology for sharper halftone dot reproduction.
Key Benefits:
- Enhanced Print Quality: Equipped with advanced fibre laser diode exposure heads, the PlateRite 4600N series ensures accurate reproduction of halftone dots, resulting in superior print quality and sharpness.
- Wider Compatibility: Supporting process-less plates and waterless plates, these systems reduce chemical and electricity consumption, promoting eco-friendliness and offering flexibility in printing methods and plate types.
- Automation for Productivity: Maximise productivity with optional autoloaders, such as the SA-L4600N single-cassette and MA-L4600N multi-cassette autoloaders, automating plate loading, exposure, transport, developing, and discharge processes.
- Versatile Plate Handling: Enjoy a wider range of supported plate sizes, from 270 x 278 mm to 830 x 680 mm, enhancing compatibility with various presses and offering flexibility in plate selection.
- Superior Halftone Dot Reproduction: With a light source equipped with proven fibre laser diodes, the PlateRite 4600N series ensures stable exposure and precise reproduction of halftone dots, elevating overall print quality and consistency.
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Throughput Plates Per Hour (724 × 615 mm, 2400 dpi) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 4600N-Z | 4600N-S | 4600N-E | ||
| PPH | 33 | 21 | 11 | ||
| Light source | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODEL | 4600N-Z | 4600N-S | 4600N-E | ||
| Laser Diode Channels | 64 | 32 | 16 | ||
Computer-to-Plate Software
EQUIOS Workflow Solution
SCREEN Equios Workflow Software, the solution to print providers’ efficiency challenges, offers streamlined order processing, enhanced automation, and improved customer relationships, ensuring competitiveness in today’s market.
Key Benefits:
- Comprehensive Support: Equios supports print on demand, computer-to-plate production, and high-speed variable data printing, covering diverse printing needs and enhancing production efficiency.
- Enhanced Automation: Equios brings a new level of automation and efficiency, simplifying workflow design and imposition, reducing CO2 generation, and making smart print manufacturing a reality.
- Advanced RIP Core: Version 9 incorporates Adobe’s latest RIP core, ensuring stable output results, faster processing speeds, and improved productivity, enhancing overall workflow efficiency.
Simplified Job Control: - The Simple Job Controller feature streamlines job processing, allowing job registration and output instructions to be managed via iPad, significantly improving operational efficiency.
- Nonstop Processing: Equios enables nonstop processing from order receipt to final submission through Web to Delivery Automation, eliminating unnecessary operations and maximising workflow efficiency, ensuring seamless production flow.
Apogee Prepress Workflow & Automation Software
Apogee, the premier prepress workflow and automation software is designed by professionals for professionals, offering a comprehensive suite of workflow management products to streamline your production process.
Key Benefits:
- Enhanced Packaging Support: With Apogee v13, operators can optimise packaging designs, nest them for media efficiency, and generate die cuts, reducing training costs and increasing flexibility.
- Advanced Print Quality Management: Apogee v13 integrates PressTune for spectral data management and calibration, ensuring print quality meets agreed standards effortlessly.
- Compatibility and Performance: With APPE 6, Apogee is fully compatible with the new PDF 2.0 standard, ensuring seamless integration and performance improvements.
- Digital Quick Strip Efficiency: Apogee’s Digital Quick Strip mechanism enhances efficiency by processing each page separately before integration, simplifying page revisions and layout updates.
- Streamlined Automation: From versioning automation to task processors, Apogee offers accessible automation options, allowing effortless setup of standard tasks and intelligent order combination for optimised press time and efficiency.
