CTP Experiences--Digital Devotees

BY MOLLY JOSS

In a little more than five years, computer-to-plate (CTP) technology has moved past the early experimenter phase and has moved into the later stages of the early adopter stage. Some might even argue it's moved into the early stages of the mainstream phase.

However you measure it, it's difficult to argue that CTP is a flash-in-the-pan technology. Still, it hasn't yet found its way into every print shop in the nation and around the world. Widespread acceptance to that degree is yet to come.

Wanting to get an inside look at how CTP is coming along, Printing Impressions recently spoke with five individuals who have helped shepherd CTP into the printing companies for which they work. We asked them, among other questions, what they had learned through their experiences, what they wished they had known before they moved into a digital workflow, and how CTP has changed their jobs and their companies as a whole. Their comments and the details they shared about their experiences are enlightening and encouraging.

User Commonalities
Although all five interviews were conducted separately, some themes and conclusions emerged that most, or all, of the men shared. Here are the most striking of those commonalities:

• No matter what CTP system or CTP vendor was involved, everyone said they had found the supplier they worked with to be helpful and that they were satisfied with the system(s) they had purchased. Several companies that had started out with one system were so pleased with their investment that they have recently added one or more new units from the same company.
• They had all been able to make the transition from their previous workflow—whether it was from imposed film or not—within months of the date the CTP system was installed. Three to six months was the average transition time and none needed more than six months to make the switch.
• All noticed improvements and benefits, including reduced make- ready times and improved productivity, during the initial installation period. These same benefits have continued, if not increased, to date.

Individual Differences
When platesetter vendors first started selling CTP systems, the list of benefits they promised included better print quality across the length of the print run and improved registration. Some also suggested printers could look forward to improved productivity. As is the case with many sales campaigns for new products in any industry, the list of benefits came along with a list of qualifiers intended to convey the thought that not every user would enjoy these benefits to an equal degree.

That turns out to be true for the five companies included in this informal survey, although with an interesting twist. They have noticed these benefits and each has a similar list of benefits—but they rank them differently. For example, according to Jim Budke, prepress manager of Lithographix in Los Angeles, the biggest improvement is "the cleanliness of the plates—no more hot spots. That's a really big benefit."

His list of top benefits continues. Number two on the list is the improvement in registration, which has led to reduced makeready times. Number three is that "when there is a problem, the time needed to make it back on-press is greatly reduced. A problem on-press that required a new plate used to take six hours to fix; that time is now down to one or two hours."

For Rod Rumer, prepress manager of Acme Printing in Des Moines, IA, one of the major benefits at the top of his list is the improvement in productivity. In the plating, stripping and imposition areas of the company, Acme Printing has been able to reduce manpower by half with CTP. Some of the employees were re-trained for other work within the company, but a few left Acme for other jobs or to relocate.

The improved productivity benefits also means Acme can get more done with fewer people than ever before. "For a job that once took three shifts of solid plating and stripping, we can have it plated in one shift—now that it's digital." Rumer also says that Acme's customers have noticed, and approved of, the improved print quality that CTP affords them.

The ability to get more work done with fewer employees has also been a big benefit for Perfection Press in Logan, IA. COO Randall Cavanah says he wished he had known earlier how much more productive his company could have been with CTP. He would have switched sooner than nine months ago.

"Our turnaround times are greatly reduced because proofs come out faster," reports Cavanah. "It took us two to two and a half days to produce the film and do the stripping for one of the four-color books we do. Today, we've got it down to where we can do four books a day."

Cavanah also likes the fact that he doesn't have to deal with the chemicals and chemical disposal that come with using film. "I'm in love with the fact that there's no chemistry with the [Presstek] Anthem plate."

Craig Yolitz, director of press and prepress operations for the West Group in Eagan, MN, also likes not having to pay for, or image, film, nor cope with the required chemical and toxic waste associated with film. His list of benefits also includes higher print quality and better registration. He says that better registration on-press has transcended beyond the pressroom. "The consistent placing of the image on the page also helps reduce time and waste in the binding and finishing departments."

Rob Anderson, vice president of operations for Lynchburg, VA-based Progress Printing, also feels that CTP has been a good experience for his company. Anderson says that because, among other reasons, he has witnessed a number of unanticipated benefits from CTP.

"It brings a lot to the production workflow. It helps eliminate registration problems, enables CIP3 integration, and improves productivity and quality. None of these benefits by themselves are earth shattering, but taken together, they mean significant productivity improvements in both the pressroom and finishing department."

Anderson also contends "it takes the human element out," which means CTP removes the element of human error or reduces it enough to ensure consistency in the entire printing process. Higher degrees of consistency and fewer errors lead to higher productivity overall. "It allows us to do more business with the same amount of people, move more jobs through prepress and make more plates with the same number of people."

Hindsight Is 20/20
Several men mentioned a few points they wished they'd known earlier—although most said they'd wished they'd known about the benefits of CTP earlier and had made the move earlier. Yolitz put the whole matter in perspective, though, by recalling that from 1995 through 1997 there were not enough plate vendors in the market and, as a result, digital plate prices were too high. "We got into it, learned a lot and then waited for the prices to come down on plates."

Cavanah says that all has gone so well that it's difficult to think of anything he wished he had done differently. One minor change he would make if he had to do it over again is "more training up front for bindery workers in imposition and digital workflows." Although the staff rolled with the punches, it would have helped to teach them earlier about how their roles would shift when CTP came into the plant.

Anderson recalls that CTP wasn't responsible for the full degree of productivity improvement. "A lot of it came with automatic imposition and the entire digitization of the prepress workflow and integration into the pressroom."

Hurdles Yet to Overcome
When you ask printers that haven't made the switch to CTP why they are still considering the change, one of the most common responses is that there isn't a good enough way to handle color proofing needs. For printers that have made the switch, some of them would say the same thing—except they have a system that works well enough for them today.

All but one of the companies surveyed for this article use some kind of halftone digital color proofing system for final contract proofs, although some also use ink-jet for concept proofing and intermediate contract proofing and color management. Lithographix also uses analog proofing for its really high-end work, especially on auto-mobile brochures. "We feel we can match it [the analog proof] better than the digital ones," reports Budke. Cavanah says that an Epson Stylus Pro 9000 coupled with the Harlequin RIP is fine for Perfection Press' color proofing needs—all of them.

Rumer mentions another wrinkle that has largely been ironed out at this point. He says that when Acme first switched to CTP, it sometimes found it difficult to match the work done by other printers not using CTP. "We couldn't muddy our stuff up enough to match theirs," he recalls. So, when customers wanted Acme to print part of a job and marry the new portion with printing done by other printers, the print quality differences were sometimes noticeable. That problem has pretty much disappeared at this point as most of Acme's customers have used up their pre-printed materials and let Acme print the entire job.

Without exception, the individuals interviewed said they would not want to return to doing printing the traditional way, whether it was imaging film and stripping it or even using imposed film. The benefits they've realized from moving to CTP are too numerous and important to consider a return to film-based workflows. Rumer expresses the opinion of each man aptly when he says, "I don't miss the film at all. I can't imagine going back to it."

About the Companies
Acme Printing is a sheetfed operation that does a variety of commercial print jobs. It has been involved in CTP for two years. The company has two Purup-Eskofot platesetters and does 99 percent of its work in a digital workflow. It only uses film when the customer supplies it. It took Acme three months to move 85 percent of its work to CTP after the first system was installed.

Lithographix is a high-end commercial printer that specializes in car brochures and annual reports. Two years ago the company purchased its first Scitex (now CreoScitex) Lotem platesetter. It just installed a second one in early fall of this year. With the addition of the second system, the company will do 80 percent to 90 percent of its work CTP.

Perfection Press is a commercial printer that does book printing for its sister company, Perfection Learning, and does about 30 percent of its work for other customers. The company has had a Presstek Pearlsetter 74 CTP system for about nine months and does the majority of its work using the system. Reprints that use existing film or plates are not run through the system.

Progress Printing, a sheetfed and web operation, does a wide variety of print jobs including corporate work, advertising, and some direct mail and packaging. The company has two Heidelberg/Creo Trendsetters and one Kodak Polychrome Graphics thermal plate processor. The first Trendsetter was installed in September 1996. The company does 99 percent of its jobs in CTP and only uses film when the customer supplies it.

The West Group has 8,000 employees and generates $1.4 billion in annual sales. It does a wide variety of printing jobs, including books and publications. It produces hundreds of millions of printed pages each year. The West Group acquired its first CTP system in 1994. It now has 11 CTP systems—three Creo- Scitex thermal systems and eight Citiplate Aqua LHP systems (UV). Using these systems, the company produces 450,000 plates a year and does 87 percent of its work in a digital workflow. Reprints are done with existing film.