CTP--Still Testing the Waters

What's holding thermal back? All together now: Consumables.

"The true availability of thermal printing plates and the flexibility of plate manufacturers to provide these plates must improve considerably for thermal CTP to be fully optimized," contends Scitex's Stan Najmr, product marketing manager chiefly responsible for the roll-out of the Scitex Lotem 800V thermal platesetter. "Thermal plate technology is still not where it needs to be; the industry needs more than just one or two vendors to rely on for availability of plates for full production capacities, far beyond just the testing stage."