Why are CTP plates still more expensive?

[frailer]

Well, it's a bit of everything, I suspect. Doubt whether there's a true oligopoly situation, where they're conniving on prices. Here, at least, they're at each others' throats too much. There's things like R&D to amortise, new materials/coating technology/plant[they're expanding to China etc.] leaving aside alu prices, the pressure will be downwards, but how fast, who knows...

[Laurens]

Thanks to Acrobat's wonderful ability to do a full text search across an entire folder I just found the Seybold Reports article in which Kurt Wulf interviews the Agfa product manager for CTP plates (TSR-0921, september 2006)

The stuff that gets mentioned
- higher grade aluminium because of greater mechanical demands of automated plate loading in CTP-machines
- more expensive slip sheets
- for Agfa Energy plates deeper graining in a special processing step
- double instead of single coating to improve chemical resistance
- tighter temperature tolerances during coating,drying and heating because of the high thermal sensitivity
- more demanding testing across more devices & developpers
- better packaging against moisture
- temperature controlled transport to avoid uncontrolled pre-exposure

[30YearsandCounting]

Thanks to Acrobat's wonderful ability to do a full text search across an entire folder I just found the Seybold Reports article in which Kurt Wulf interviews the Agfa product manager for CTP plates (TSR-0921, september 2006)
The stuff that gets mentioned
- higher grade aluminium because of greater mechanical demands of automated plate loading in CTP-machines
- more expensive slip sheets
- for Agfa Energy plates deeper graining in a special processing step
- double instead of single coating to improve chemical resistance
- tighter temperature tolerances during coating,drying and heating because of the high thermal sensitivity
- more demanding testing across more devices & developpers
- better packaging against moisture
- temperature controlled transport to avoid uncontrolled pre-exposure

Thanks Printing4fun / Laurens, but since you do work for Agfa is it not possible that you are maybe just a little biased on the argument justifying higher CTP plate prices?  Aren't most of the above comments just describing improvements to quality control that Agfa had to make because they had to react to all the quality problems they had?  Having used well over 100,000 Agfa CTP plates I can assure you that they have had LOTS of problems.  Just give me a plate that is as good as you say it is and I will be happy.  Heck... I might even be happy paying a premium for it. 

[pspdfppdfxhd]

dumb question to throw into this heated debate....

We burn a lot of 2 sided plates here and I would imagine that lowers the cost per plate. Do ctp devices do 2 sided plates?

[30YearsandCounting]

dumb question to throw into this heated debate....

We burn a lot of 2 sided plates here and I would imagine that lowers the cost per plate. Do ctp devices do 2 sided plates?

Unfortunately... no.  CTP plates are only one sided.
As far as I know 

[doubting_thomas]

Not ours. The second side would be trashed, but they're 8 mil poly.

[Laurens]

Thanks Printing4fun / Laurens, but since you do work for Agfa is it not possible that you are maybe just a little biased on the argument justifying higher CTP plate prices?

Please understand that I visit this forum in my spare time and not as an Agfa spokesperson.

As for being biased about CtP plate pricing: the competition in that market is so fierce that any manufacturer who would manage to make CtP plates as cheap as analog plates would instantly become the market leader. That hasn't happened (yet?) so I assume the reasons mentioned in the Seybold article have some value.

[frailer]

the competition in that market is so fierce

You can smell the desperation on reps when they are trying to come in whisker under what you're using...agree with that...