Oil, silver and aluminum are the three key raw materials used to create plates, films and chemistries employed by the printing industry. The commodity price of each material could soar through the roof tomorrow if the appropriate political,m economical or social situation surfaces. Both Agfa and Fuji, two the world's largest metal CTP plate suppliers, have recently introduced large, worldwide price increases and the worst may be yet to come.

The supply squeeze is on for the CTP-enabled offset printers, who digital metal to bring their analogue form to the marketplace. Most already fight incredibly small profit margins, as they invest more digital infrastructure to capture more quality, more automation or more new business. PrintAction's 8th-annual Canadian CTP Listing provides a window into this offset world of JDF, process-less plates, stochastic quality and high-end digital colour production. While CTP technology remains their common denominator -- or control -- these companies tell a much bigger story inside. 

Click below for more details on how to obtain a digital copy of the CTP listing from the April 2006 edition of PrintAction.

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