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GOING TO PRESS WITH CTP

A Virginia newspaper went online with its second computer-to-plate system this week and expects to gain more cost savings.

Dennis (Chip) Harris, facilities manager for The Roanoke (Va.) Times, discusses CTP technology.

The Roanoke (Va.) Times uses Purup-Eskofot CTP technology, which has allowed the paper to slightly improve quality and massively cut platemaking time and cost, said Dennis (Chip) Harris, facilities manager.

Platemaking staffing has gone from 12 skilled workers to five "manpower" people. That means the system will pay for itself within 2.8 years, he said.

The paper found problems with some mechanical aspects of the system, and when execs did not communicate the changes well to its pressmen. However, Harris said the benefits far outweigh the negatives. The machine, which burns a two-page broadsheet spread at a time with a plate-splitter halving the double-truck, has ended plate bunching at deadlines and streamlined the process. The newsroom and advertising department use page proofers to see their work before sending it directly to plate, he said.

--by Bob Sims



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