CHICAGO — Although computer-to-plate is common in commercial printing and throughout many European newspapers, the technology has been slow to gain traction at most North American newspapers.

That’s about to change — and fast.

That’s the message more than 120 production executives heard at a CTP conference co-sponsored by Newspapers & Technology and Inland Press Association. The two-day meeting brought users, potential customers, vendors and consultants together in a bid to map out CTP’s ultimate role in newspaper production.

The market is just beginning to gain steam. Fewer than 300 CTP systems are currently in place within North American newspapers, and a single daily, USA Today, is using almost a third of those.

Allan Marshall’s Associated Newspapers is in process of deploying digital workflow.
Photo: Mary L. Van Meter

Users tout the technology’s speed, print quality and easy integration into emerging digital workflows as selling points. But CTP’s deployment is draped with potential stumbling blocks. For one, the technology comes in multiple flavors using myriad technologies, ranging from ultraviolet light to thermal imaging. Second, it also requires in some cases plates that may be more costly than conventional materials. Those diverse approaches make it exceedingly important that production managers choose wisely.

“Make sure your CTP deployment meets your needs,” said David Lightfoot, president of the Chesapeake Resource Group. “One size does not fit all.”

Going all the way

Case in point: Associated Newspapers Ltd. When the United Kingdom-based publisher was looking for ways to reduce the amount of time it took to print more than 3 million newspapers each day, digital plate production fueled by CTP was an integral ingredient, said Allan Marshall, group technology director.

Associated tapped Agfa unit Autologic to install 32 Polaris CTP systems throughout its European plants. The deployment, which began in 2000 and earmarked for completion later this year, “let us handle time pressure, increase press utility and decrease costs,” said Marshall.

Since the units were installed, Marshall said the amount of color in Associated’s flagship 2.5-million-circulation Daily Mail has grown to more than 33 percent of the typical 96-page folio. That’s expected to double by 2004 as the remaining CTP systems are installed. The paper’s editors, meanwhile, have gained more flexibility to produce more pages for the newspaper’s multiple editions closer to deadline. “We can produce up to 400 pages in the last 20 minutes,” Marshall said. The goal: 600 pages.

Automate entire process

Associated’s adoption of CTP mirrors Marshall’s goal to digitize the publisher’s entire workflow, from start to finish, by the end of 2004. “Before going digital we had dozens of disparate systems for advertising and editorial,” he said. With Associated’s forthcoming workflow, all of the newspapers will use equipment and software from IBM, CCI Europe, Agfa and a small handful of other vendors, linked by application integration software from Tibco Software Inc.

“If you haven’t done CTP and are thinking about it,” Marshall told conference attendees, “the longer you put it off the more money you are losing.”

Training key

The Globe and Mail in Toronto faced similar color and deadline pressures it wanted to control using CTP. The newspaper prints more than 400,000 copies each day at six contract production plants sprinkled throughout Canada, said Andy Ritchie, vice president of production.

Like Associated, The Globe and Mail opted for a CTP system using technology developed by Autologic. The newspaper has 13 3850 CTP platesetters, linked by a customized data transmission system.

“It’s a big investment,” he said. “The [returns on investment] are there, but it’s difficult. You have to devote your staff properly or else you’re wasting your time.”

Go all the way

The digital workflow also enabled the newspaper to automate other operations, such as plate-bending, Ritchie said.

“If you go CTP you might as well automate all the way,” he said about the Burgess Industries Inc. benders the Globe and Mail is installing. Next up: closed-loop monitoring.

While CTP is permitting the newspaper to meet its current color and production goals, Ritchie said that performance has occurred in part because of the time the newspaper spent training staff and maintaining its Goss International Corp. and Heidelberg presses.

“You must have at least two technicians in-house who can support this; if you don’t do that it can kill you,” he said. “We’re talking about a more advanced technology and to believe it will be the same (as film-setting) — it isn’t.”

Ritchie said Globe and Mail technicians ran press tests to identify any mechanical issues that may have blossomed because of the conversion to CTP. Press operators also made sure they could pinpoint any damage or deterioration on the cylinders, blankets or any change in ink densities.

“You must have a stable press.”

Alternative approach

It’s not only the larger newspapers adopting CTP. The American Press in Lake Charles, La., first deployed its CTP system in 1997, using a system that employed a visible-light argon ion laser, said Gordon Clark, prepress manager.

But the system never paid off, he said. Anticipated savings in film costs were wiped out by stubbornly high prices the paper had to pay for the silver plates the system required. Moreover, Clark said a “nasty” processing system created ongoing clean-up problems while dealing with a overseas supplier made for some nervous moments.

Last year, the American Press (daily, 44,000; Sunday, 40,000) took steps to replace its system, but remained thwarted by what Clark said was an uncomfortably small group of suppliers.

Gaining traction

Instead, Clark examined computer-to-conventional-plate, a trend that has gained some traction among smaller and mid-sized newspapers. With CTCP, newspapers can use conventional ultraviolet-sensitive offset plates instead of higher-priced digital plates. The tradeoff, some observers say, is that conventional plates might not boast the same printing benefits an all-digital workflow will support.

In April, the American Press deployed a FasTrak CTP/C platesetter from alfaQuest Technologies. The paper is the third of an anticipated 10 newspapers slated to use alfaQuest’s CTCP platesetter, which can churn out as many as 150 plates per hour.

“Throughput is good and we’re saving more than $1.50 per plate,” Gordon said. Plate processing has also dramatically improved and developer and chemical use has dropped, he said. “I’m now seeing today what I wanted to see six years ago,” he said. “What I’ve seen so far has been very positive.”

CTCP systems are also in use at smaller dailies, such as The Clarksburg (W. Va.) Exponent-Telegram (daily, 16,066) and the Enterprise Journal in McComb, Miss., (daily, 11,492; Sunday, 12,083). The Enterprise Journal was the first paper to install basysPrint Inc.’s UV-Setter 57 system, introduced in late 2000.

Foundation for CIM

Regardless of the approach, CTP’s biggest benefit, speakers said, is automation. That, in turn, could pave the path to computer-integrated manufacturing, a popular strategy used in many industries to control costs and provide consistent output.

“They key is automation,” said Rosemarie Monaco, chief executive officer of Group M Inc., a marketing communications consulting firm that specializes in the graphic arts industry.

Mechanical output will enable newspapers to corral functions such as image processing, preflighting, proofing and quality control.

These operations are “task oriented now,” Monaco said. “What’s needed is a manufacturing process, from editorial to packaging, that’s automatic. Every other industry is doing that. We need the same thing for newspapers.”