KPGs worldwide technical director for plates, Steve Doyle, received the innovation award from the Duke, who praised the company for its hard work and ingenuity.

This product was entirely developed by you here in this factory. Its a home-grown product, he said.

Winning a Queens Award for Enterprise is a great achievement for any company and innovation is a rather special category - we only give out a very small number each year, the Duke added.

The first-generation Electra plate, the 830, was launched at Imprinta in 1997 and the 30% faster Electra Excel was introduced in January 2001. An as yet unnamed third-generation plate will be unveiled at Drupa in May.

A finer emulsion will be applied to the new plate, using KPGs newly installed slot coater, enabling it to handle a 10-micron dot for stochastic screening.

The Leeds factory is dedicated to the production of Electra Excel and produces more than 23m square metres of the plate each year.

Story by Lauretta Roberts