CTP: EARNING RESPECT

Computer-to-plate technology converts reported Thursday that they gained quality, cut costs and got promised results from newly installed equipment. Typical was Jimmy Morton of The Dallas Morning News, who expressed cautious optimism during a Press & Materials segment discussion.

"I’m not going to stand here and say it’s been great fun and you can just plug and play," he said.

Dallas only sends about 20 percent of its page flow through its Western Lithograph CTP equipment, but Morton is pleased with the system's speed and page flow. Also, the dots are crisper on the photopolymer plates, which have held up even on press runs of up to 280,000 impressions.

And after pagination is fully implemented at the newspaper -- its delay is one factor that has kept Dallas from moving fully to CTP -- Morton envisions he’ll get the promised processing speeds of 180 pages per hour.

Compared to Dallas, Tom Ford, systems department manager of The Gettysburg (Pa.) Times, has a relatively small press run. His six-day paper prints 11,500 copies, but has two pressroom shifts to handle tabloid and commercial-printing projects.

The company went to CTP when it lost well-trained, career cameraroom workers and found turnover a problem among their replacements. CTP made that a non-issue, Ford said.

Other advantages of the Times' PrePress Solutions Inc. Panther 62 system, which uses polyester plates: Material costs are lower, production time has improved and deadlines can be pushed to the limit.

At Thomson Ohio in Newark, Vice President for Operations Ken Shelby said his ability to push back deadlines helped tame an overeager editorial department. If news staffers meet other production goals on a given production day, they are now allowed to move the last full-color page as late as 15 minutes before press start-up.

The Thomson cluster's first paper converted to CTP two years ago by acquiring a Panther FasTrack system. "Immediately, you have cleaner dots," Shelby said. "You have an increase in color. It’s the only technology I’ve been willing to hang my hat on and say 'change deadlines'."

David Roberts, director of research at NAPP Systems Inc. of San Marcos, Calif., said his company will beta-test CTP for flexographic presses in February. The system is, thus far, slow -- 60 plates per hour -- but it offers advantages to the 50 U.S. papers running the flexographic printing process. It uses water-based processing for the plates, which are daylight safe. The system also claims a wider tonal range and smoother ink laydown, he says.

A test site should be up and running in Merced, Calif., no later than March, Roberts said.

-Bob Sims