A source at a Scottish colour printer, who declined to be named, said his firm had suffered numerous problems with the Ipagsa plates after switching from Fuji.

"I couldnt believe how dirty the chemistry was from the dye content, and the corrosion build-up was horrendous," said the source.

The savings that could have been made were ruled out by the time it took to solve the problems, so he reverted to using Fuji plates.

Ipagsas director of production, Jonathan Bentley, said: "There will always be customers that change, thats the nature of the market."

He said demand was good in Europe and the UK, and while there had been no complaints from customers, Ipagsa was continuously looking for improvements.

Bentley said the level of dye used by the T-50 was higher than most thermal plates, but that it was still a very robust plate.

NCS Supplies, NCS Integrated Solutions consumables division, sells the plate in the UK and has contracts with more than 20 printers.

Ipagsas plate has been the centre of attention in the UK market since late last year (PrintWeek, 29 November 2002).

Story by Andy Scott