TOOLS BOOST QUALITY EFFORTS

New software and procedures can help improve image quality and customer satisfaction while reducing errors and expenses in pre-press operations, three speakers outlining quality initiatives said Monday.

Gary Hughes, production director of the El Paso Times, said his paper is helping refine for the U.S. market a system called Intellitune, developed by Agfa Inc. and in use in Europe. Since June 1998, Agfa and the Times have worked to complete the color-management system. It allows "near one-click" processing of digital images and accounts for the idiosyncrasies of any number of devices, including monitors, scanners, imagesetters and presses.

Intellitune allows operators, for instance, to batch-process photos taken in similar conditions and destined for similar uses. Raw images are adjusted for any number of quality standards, and scripts can be written to automate any number of applications, such as preparing photos for an automotive or real-estate section including multiple images.

The El Paso Times has reduced hours, increased special sections and rolled back ad deadlines. The newspaper recently added a 56-page quarterfold automotive publication containing more than 500 photos each week. The ad compositor uses Intellitune and in-house scripting to adjust the photos with one click.

Hughes said the software is a good management tool. For it to work, however, machinery must be continuously re-calibrated, he cautions. For platemaking gear and imagers, that means each time the chemistry is changed.

"Calibration is the most important element of a good color management system. Equipment calibration is the key to success," he said.

Curt Walters, systems manager of Fisher Printing in Orange, Calif., discussed electronic-proofing software called QuickPrint. His company prepares about 1,500 grocery pages per week for free-standing inserts, and its customers are increasingly opting to receive electronic proofs via the Internet.

QuickPrint allows the customer to enter comments on each electronic proof, or mark up erroneous page areas with checkmarks, boxes, circles and squares for return to Fisher Printing. Plug-ins are required for programs other than QuarkXPress, but are available for Adobe products and others.

The system uses Adobe's Portable Document Format for page delivery. It is being refined so that pages can be sent to newspapers for printing with a single click.

Walters said production time and expenses have been slashed, not only by increasing the time sales reps spend on calls rather than delivering proofs, but also by slashing courier and fax costs by 78 percent in his shop. Charge-back errors from clients and downtime in pre-press also dropped 28 percent, he added. While the day gained during each preparation and printing cycle is invaluable, the primary advantage is customer satisfaction, he said.

"All the cost savings aside, if we can make our customers happy, that’s the goal," Walters said.

Alan English, assistant managing editor/photography of the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., discussed adjusting attitudes, not software settings, to get better results from digital photography used in advertising.

Publishers can’t afford to scrimp on equipment or training, he cautioned. They also have to realize that digital shooting is far more controllable when sessions are planned. The time photographers have to compensate for the lighting during a 50-car shoot at an auto dealership speeds work during pre-press processing, he said.

"Photographers and pre-press should work not independently, but together," he said.

-Bob Sims