Ben van Assache (pictured), who has 35 years' experience of the chemical, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, takes over the role, effective immediately.

Prior to joining Punch, van Assache was with coating, ink resins and adhesives manufacturer Cytec Surface Specialities.

The firm also used Ipex to unveil a number of additions to its product range, the most high profile of which was a new member of its basysPrint UV platesetters.

The first orders of the fully automatic six-up UV-Setter 646, which can handle 25 610x860mm plates per hour, are expected to be shipped in July. The machine carries a list price of 153,000 (220,000).

Punch also announced that it had successfully completed tests on processless UV-sensitive plates. Tests at customer sites are ongoing, but the firm is aiming for commercial availability in early 2007.

The processless plates imaged on the basysPrint UV-Setter are negative working aluminium plates using a polymer coating sensitive to UV visible light energy, and the company is working closely with a third-party technology provider in the US on the project.

New enhancements to the firm's Xeikon X-800 digital front end were also unveiled, the most significant being the introduction of a metadata tool, which enables the late addition of information to a job without having to re-rip it.

Punch Graphix chief marketing officer Veronique Mathias said the introduction of the Metadata capability is "a major step toward fulfilling the requirements of industrial markets, such as packaging and labels, where Xeikon is experiencing considerable growth".