- The Pitman Co. of Totowa, N.J., is mounting an effort to add newspapers to its base of 40-to-50 commercial CTP customers. "We handle all major media issues and help customers pick units from the front-end to the outputting device," explained Larry D'Amico, regional manager of digital imaging.
- K&F Printing Systems International of Granger, Ind., showed a prototype CTP platesetter with an automatic plate-feeder.
- ECRM of Tewksbury, Mass., displayed its AIR75 color digital platesetter, with a multibeam internal-drum design that claims to produce 74 plates per hour.
CTP Momentum Builds
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Eight vendors, up from five last year, offered computer-to-plate systems at NEXPO'97 in New Orleans. Newspaper executives reported that some vendors truly listened to the questions asked in 1996 and returned with answers.
"We had a meeting with one vendor and recommended some changes to further automate the process so we could get the return [on investment]," explained Tom Shafer, director of production technologies for Thomson Newspapers in Stamford, Conn., in a post-show debriefing. "That vendor reacted, and we're going into two of our plants with machines by September as beta [test] sites."
Cymbolic Sciences of Blaine, Wash.; Monotype Systems Inc. of Rolling Meadows, Ill.; and PrePress Solutions of East Hanover, N.J., arrived boasting daily-newspaper customers who use CTP to produce pages, although none has entirely abandoned film.
The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., have bought Cymbolic's $140,000 NewsJet package. In Lexington, workers image up to 100 CTP plates per night, while the Journal-Register aims to produce half of its average 72 plates per issue using CTP. In June, it averaged 270 plates each week. Cymbolic claims NewsJet can image up to 60 single-truck or 30 double-truck pates per hour at 1,000 dpi.
Montana's Billings Gazette and the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin are using PrePress Solutions' FasTrak with its auto-loader, which addresses speed-one of newspapers' major hesitations in moving to CTP.
A Monotype Futuro unit is operating at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and two units are on their way to the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle. Monotype officials say they sold more than 50 Futuro units at Germany's Imprinta show.
Western Lithotech of St. Louis remains in beta-test mode at some big metros, including The Boston Globe and The Dallas Morning News. Western plates have made more than 200,000 impressions on presses in Dallas without needing replacement. The company says its DiamondSetter can image 200 single-page plates per hour at 1,016 dpi. "It's a reality, with the two large newspapers operating," said John Powers, Western's vice president of manufacturing.
In July, NAPP Systems Inc., San Marcos, Calif., began testing the technology of its flexographic NAPPflex Laser platesetter at the Herald & Review in Decatur, Ill. NAPP's platesetter currently images six plates per hour, although the next version aims for 80 plates, reported Research Director Dave Roberts.
Three vendors with commercial-printing CTP experience also pitched systems:
While computer to plate offers many possibilities for savings on materials, time and labor, the small CTP customer base keeps expenses relatively high for now. Integrating new CTP equipment into already patched-together pre-press systems presents challenges, too (see Presstime, July/ August 1997, p. 65). "Newspaper [employees] are generally unprepared for the cultural changes," noted Tony Adeshina, quality-assurance manager for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and researcher of a coming CTP report for NAA.
Yet some managers using CTP, including Bob Pavich, production manager of the State Journal-Register, report color improvement significant enough to bring in new business and later editorial deadlines.
Elise Burroughs, Presstime executive editor. E-mail, burre@naa.org; phone, (703) 902-1678; fax, (703) 902-1690.