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20 NEWSPAPERPRINTING into an automated line that punches, exposes, processes and bends them, ready for the press room; and they have a capacity to make 800 plates per hour, with a minimum of staff. All components are punched and pinned, from the film coming off the imagesetter through to press so, although not as precise as with CtP, the register is quite good and make-ready is very quick. The other oft-touted financial benefit of CtP is the lower overall cost of consumables that results from the elimination of film. However, many commercial printers and newspapers would argue that doesn’t always hold true. By the time they count the higher cost of the CtP plates and chemicals there isn’t much of a saving. For the very large papers this is particularly true because they have managed to negotiate such low prices for their film and analogue plates. Finally, for newspapers there is an additional factor in the ROI calculations, the film-to-plate ratio. Unlike commercial printing, where usually only one set of plates is made per job, it is common in the large dailies to make as many as six or more sets. Printing the paper on a number of presses concurrently makes it possible to meet their delivery deadline. It’s the only way you get to check last night’s scores while eating breakfast. Using the example of The Star one last time; they have an average daily circulation of 465,000 and their six Man Roland presses are rated at a maximum speed of 85,000 copies per hour. The math is simple. It would take over five hours running flat out if they just printed from one set of plates. Making more than one set of plates reduces the printing time but it also reduces the potential savings from the elimination of the film. So for many newspapers, looking for ways to reduce production costs in the face of declining ad revenue, CtP hasn’t proven to be the right direction, at least not yet. However, the CtP outlook is far from bleak, and it has already proven a viable option for many newspapers. Based on the numbers reported by Ifra and the rosy sales reports from some platesetter manufacturers, an increasing number of the ROI calculations must be yielding positive numbers since the conversions continue at an accelerating rate. When they do CtP Options for Newspapers: The most recent trade shows, IPEX and NEXPO revealed a selection of platesetters for the newspaper industry: At the end of 2005 Agfa claimed an installed base of over 1,500 newspaper computer-to-plate systems, making it a leader in this category. The company offers the :Advantage and Polaris violet laser platesetters for newspapers (both manufactured by make the switch, the options are very much the same as for commercial printers. It is pretty much a battle for dominance between visible light and thermal technology. The vendors of these technologies are racing to convert as many of the remaining papers as possible. And in North America Agfa is the dominant vendor of visible (mainly violet laser diode) platesetters and plates, while Kodak, having repatriated KPG and purchased Creo, leads the march to thermal. There are some other vendors in the market such as ECRM, Screen and now Fuji is making a charge at the newspaper market, but Ifra’s 2005 figures indicate that Agfa and Kodak/Creo had over 80% of the platesetter installations, divided almost equally between them. There is little more competition for the consumables business, although Fuji and Southern Lithoplate do have noticeable share. So the race will continue until the last paper has been converted to CtP. The vendors know that if they win the platesetter they will likely win the plates too, and experience shows that once a newspaper installs major prepress equipment they will probably run it for at least six or seven years. That adds up to a lot of plates if you are the chosen supplier, and a long wait if you aren’t. But regardless of the agendas driven by the vendors, those newspapers that have yet to adopt CtP won’t be forced to change before they’re ready. Perhaps, for the very large papers like The Star, the ROI will never justify the switch to CtP. It may be that the perceived quality issue and customer demand will finally force the remaining papers to install platesetters because ultimately, it’s about pleasing the customers. For the newspapers the risk is not so much about losing the customer to another paper, but rather losing him to another media, and that’s a dilemma that all printers can understand. CP (* Ifra counts total platesetter installs rather than the number of customers so market-share percentages maybe misleading.) Jim Dutton has over 20 years experience in the graphic arts industry. He can be reached a j.dutton@sympatico.ca Punch Graphix). The latest offerings are manual and semiautomatic versions of the :Advantage line targeting mediumsized newspapers. The new violet laser devices Xm (manual) and Xs (semi-automatic) offer a throughput of 85 plates/hour and resolutions from 1,000 to 2,540 dpi. They can image plates up to 41 x 25 inches. The NEWSmatic is an automated violet laser CtP system from ECRM capable of delivering up to 80 broadsheet plates per hour.These economical systems are manufactured in the U.S. Fuji is making moves into the newspaper market showing the new Saber News CTP at Nexpo. This violet device is capable of up to 130 single plates/hour, or up to www.canadianprinter.com APRIL/MAY, 2006
107 24 x 23-inch panorama plates/hour at 1,016 dpi. Saber News uses 60mw 405nm violet laser diodes. HighWater Designs in the UK launched Cobra News at IPEX, a small format manual violet device capable of up to 60 plates/hr. This device targets small regional newspapers. Kodak (Creo) offers the TREND- SETTER NEWS thermal CtP family for newspapers. The unit comes in five speeds, from 50 to more than 200 plates per hour and is available with semi-automatic or fully automated plate loading and unloading. German-based manufacturer Krause APRIL/MAY, 2006 www.canadianprinter.com HighWater Designs Cobra News NEWSPAPERPRINTING is making a push with its high-volume LS Jet 300 V an automated violet laser system capable of up to 120 –300 plates/hr. Screen introduced a new thermal solution with the launch of the PlateRite News 2000. This new entry outputs plates up to 38.6 x 26.8 inches and can output 84 broadsheet or 42 doublewide plates per hour. The machine has four resolution settings from 1,000 dpi, to 1,270 dpi. It allows for simultaneous loading and unloading of two broadsheet plates. ~DP SEND: 123123 MESSAGE: QUADSTACK 21
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