NEWSPAPER CTP — MAKING THE LATE EDITION

MEETING DELIVERY dates can be a challenge for any type of printing operation, but there’s nothing quite like the deadline pressures of producing a daily newspaper. Pages need to be kept open as long as possible for competitive reasons, but the printed paper absolutely must be available to readers with their morning coffee.

All elements of the newspaper production workflow have to be up to the challenge, and platemaking is a critical link in the chain. More plates typically are output in the final 15 minutes before the presses start to roll than during any other block of time.

In recent years, digital technology has increased the pressure on print media by spawning electronic news outlets that can publish content at will. The obvious answer would seem to be for newspaper operations to be among the leaders in adopting the latest technology.

Yet, the industry’s computer-to-plate (CTP) adoption curve has followed a rather conservative trajectory on the whole. A 2005 study published by the Print Industries Market Information and Research organization (PRIMIR) projected that 40 percent of newsprint publication printers had adopted CTP production so far. By comparison, the adoption rate for commercial printers with 20 or more employees ranged from 53 percent to 90 percent, depending on size category.

The study—“Life Cycle of the Analog and Digital Lithographic Printing Plate”—found price and ROI to be the main reasons cited by newsprint publication printers for not having converted to CTP production. Cost of plates and chemistry were their top concerns. Nonetheless, this market segment is projected to be the most likely buyers of CTP systems through 2010.

All the News That Fits

Averages and statistics are one thing. The story can be a little different when one looks at individual companies.

The Evening Post Publishing Co., Charleston, SC, installed its first CTP system a little over a year ago. Charleston’s The Post and Courier is its primary news-paper, but the company also produces more than a dozen smaller community publications.

Mickey Bella, corporate director of production, reports the newspaper publisher opted to install two Agfa Advantage CLS violet platesetters to image Agfa plates with Sublima screening. One of the factors that it weighed most heavily in deciding which system to buy was the machine itself.

“We knew both thermal and violet were solid technologies, so we first settled on the machine design,” Bella explains. “Our biggest concern was how complex, or rather how simple, is the machine to maintain.”

For mechanical simplicity, a flatbed design is the answer, Bella believes. He previously had experience with a drum-based system at one of the publisher’s other operations—The Salisbury Post—and didn’t want to go that route again.

The need for production speed and efficiency to meet tight deadlines was the underlying reason for the company seeking a machine that was easy to maintain, reports its director of production.

“We didn’t have a real preference for thermal or violet technology and looked at both, as well as a digital UV system,” he says. “We didn’t eliminate thermal until we found the flatbed machine design. We felt this machine would have less of a requirement for maintenance overall and was a system that our staff would be able to handle. It’s pretty simple to learn and maintain.”

The newspaper operation still went with all of the automation features. Bella says this was in keeping with his “keep it simple” goal because the flatbed design means that loading/unloading operations are straightforward. He also didn’t see the need for a processor and chemistry as a complicating factor because the company had experience dealing with a similar chemistry.

Bella believes the benefits of CTP are even more significant for newspaper printing operations, but the technology wasn’t ready for the demands of this market until more recently. “Our cost savings have been significant,” he notes. “We eliminated at least three people in the department and have added 30 minutes to deadline.

“The ROI worked for us in about five years, which is important, but there are many other advantages that make it the right thing to do as your imagesetters start to die,” Bella concludes.

Phoenix Newspapers Inc. (PNI) is in the process of converting its Deer Valley and Mesa facilities in Arizona to computer-to-plate production. Part of Gannett Co.’s largest newspaper operation, these facilities primarily print The Arizona Republic and The New York Times.

PNI is installing five Kodak thermal newspaper CTP systems, including four Trendsetter News 200 platesetters and a Trendsetter News 100 device. The machines will be used to image Kodak ThermalNews plates fed by four NELA PL-T plate loaders.

Full Plate of Needs

According to Dale Carpenter, PNI’s director of production, the large order of platesetters was dictated by the high number of plates required per average press run and the need for compressed production windows. Redundancy was part of the equation, but the number was predominantly driven by the plate capacity needs of the two facilities.

“We currently process 16,000 plates per week,” Carpenter explains. “Take into consideration that we’re converting multiple plants with tight production windows, and you can easily see the need for five machines.”

PNI chose the thermal process because it believed the technology offers a higher probability of consistently and reliably producing high-quality plates due to the fewer process variables involved. It zeroed in on the Kodak products because of the large installed base and the company’s strong service record, he adds.

Even though the ability to use Staccato screening (enabled by SQUAREspot imaging) wasn’t specifically a factor in its buying decision, PNI does plan on using the technology at both plants, notes the director of production.

While not a publisher itself, Greater Dallas Press does print newspapers for other companies located throughout Texas, up into Oklahoma and as far away as Georgia. The papers it produces run the gamut from dailies to monthlies, and the shop also prints magazine-style publications, or pony tabs, that may use a gloss stock throughout or just for the cover form, reports Jim Jarvis, vice president. Sheetfed presses are used for the latter work.

Plates for all of these products are imaged on two ECRM Mako 4matic violet CTP machines. The company installed its first plate-setter in November of 2004 to transition from using film negatives output on two imagesetters.

“We quickly became dependent on it and started to increase the amount of daily newspaper business we were doing, so we soon realized we’d be in big trouble if the platesetter went down,” notes the company exec. “In March of 2005, we bought a duplicate unit just as a back-up, but instead we’ve end up running the machines in tandem to meet our demand for plates.”

Throughput topped the list of criteria for selecting a solution. Since the printer had a good relationship with a local dealer, it had the sales rep do an assessment of the shop’s needs and then present a couple of options.

“Price was our second criteria, which culled the list down further,” continues Jarvis. “Finally, it came down to which company we felt confident could provide the level of servicing we wanted.”

The company’s plate demand (it now uses Agfa’s violet photopolymer product) runs somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 plates a week, Jarvis says.

Dealing with chemistry wasn’t a factor in the decision and hasn’t been a problem, reports the printing exec. However, the shop has gone through a learning curve with regard to the routine maintenance of the equipment.

“These (platesetters) are quite a bit different than the image-setters,” Jarvis observes. “We had to learn to be more disciplined in maintaining them, which was a shortcoming on our end that we’ve had to work through.”

Another indication of the vitality of the newspaper CTP segment is new vendors entering the market. At least two companies are expanding beyond the commercial CTP segment by introducing new systems developed specifically for newspaper applications at IPEX 2006 and/or NEXPO 06.

Screen (USA) is entering the market with the PlateRite News 2000, a compact, thermal system aimed at newspapers with single cylinder rotary presses. It can output 84 broadsheet plates or 42 double-wide plates per hour.

The new Fujifilm Saber News CTP violet platesetter, from Enovation Graphic Systems, is based on the technology in its commercial systems, but is capable of outputting 107 panorama format (24x23˝) plates per hour or 130 single (123⁄8x24˝) plates, both at 1,016 dpi.

In addition, Agfa and Punch Graphix reaffirmed their commitment to the market by extending their partnership in offering the Advantage and Polaris systems.