Special to Newspapers & Technology

As recently as a decade ago, full color in a newspaper was rare.

As we enter the new millennium, however, color is becoming commonplace as newspapers look to attract readers and compete in an increasingly crowded marketplace. To be competitive in the 21st century’s information marketplace, newspaper printers need to achieve higher levels of quality color reproduction in a faster time frame, while keeping costs down.

Many pressrooms can obtain significant improvements in makeready, color control, and efficiency without the purchase of a new press. An automated ink control system will help newspaper printers attain the same goals — minimize makeready time, improve overall quality, especially color, and increase productivity, while providing the foundation to integrate prepress and the pressroom to an complete electronically linked print process.

Automation in action

Automated ink control systems, in their most basic form, allow the press operator to adjust the ink keys electronically by a remote computer console, saving time and materials, as well as operator fatigue and stress.

Ink coverage is accurate and consistent, providing a higher quality product, while saving both time and money. Even press operators with little computer experience can benefit from an automated ink control system. Monitors will lead the operator through the customized software programs step-by-step, while simplified controls provide easy operation.

Time savings

How much time is saved ultimately depends on a variety of factors. Of particular importance are the number of fountains and ink keys on a press. Also significant are the press operator’s expertise, the amount of color used, the number of set-ups, and how difficult the color change is between jobs.

On multi-unit presses, a newspaper printer can expect to reduce makeready time by up to 50 percent with automated ink control. Other savings are realized because the operator gets up to color faster, reducing paper and ink waste. Labor costs are a part of the equation as well, since the operator is spending more time running the press and less time on set-ups. Savings are further improved with additional software that allow printers to remotely control ink ratchet, water and registration.

In the pressroom

While automated ink control is suitable for all offset presses, newspaper printing has specific requirements that have been addressed by customized software. There are systems which simplify the process of setup and color correction for newspaper printers, allowing operators to setup and adjust ink fountains by page number and color.

Linking to prepress

Makeready time can be further reduced through software that will take digital data, including zone coverage data files, low-density bitmap files, or CIP 3 files, from a plate scanner, imagesetter, or computer-to-plate system, to provide automatic preset of ink fountain keys. In addition, a system that utilizes continual improvement logic to recognize adjustments made after preset and uses that information to improve the accuracy of subsequent presets will further enhance productivity.

Color control

To meet demands of readers who see vibrant color everywhere, newspaper printers should use an ink control system coupled with an automatic scanning densitometer. Prior to the press run, printers can use software to enter the desired standard density targets. The densitometer scans the color bars of a sample print, and the software compares the actual densities to the desired densities. The software calculates the required corrections for each ink key setting, which can then be made automatically. To track densities throughout the press run, statistical data is collected and stored automatically.

Closed-loop color control equipment reads color bars on the moving web and sends changes to the ink control system for immediate ink key correction. Table-mounted scanning densitometers read color bars on a sample sheet and can also close the loop with an automated ink control system for less frequent color control.

Additional benefits

Automated ink control has additional benefits. Repeat jobs need not be preset a second time. Once a job has gone through the preset process, the operator can save the data. When that job is run again, the operator calls up the job and the ink settings will be automatically restored. This can be particularly helpful for newspaper printers that also print commercial jobs.

An automated ink control system can be easily mounted as a retrofit on an existing press, or specified as part of an original press. Retrofit installations often take no longer than normal press downtime.

As we enter the new millennium, newspapers will continue to face increasing pressures from alternative sources of information and entertainment. To remain a viable player as an information and entertainment source, newspapers will need to attract readers with higher quality color reproduction.

Automated ink control is the perfect solution to bring a press up-to-speed and ready it for the business challenges of the new millennium. Offering the prospect of reduced makeready, increased productivity, and a higher level of color control, it allows newspaper printers to meet the requirements of today’s sophisticated consumer.s