Journal Register Co. is rolling out violet computer-to-plate technology throughout its newspapers, choosing ECRM Imaging Systems to supply Newsmatic units at 15 of those sites.

According to Allen Mailman, JRC’s senior vice president of technology, four sites, InterPrint Inc. (JRC’s commercial newspaper printing facility in Bristol, Pa.), The Herald News in Fall River, Mass., The Herald in New Britain, Conn., and The Register Citizen in Torrington, Conn., have already installed Newsmatic machines, capable of producing up to 120 plates per hour.

Prior to committing to violet CTP, JRC was using a variety of imagers from a handful of vendors - Autologic (Agfa), Kodak, alfaQuest and ECRM.

“We don’t need four vendors, so we’ve essentially reduced the field to two,” Mailman said. JRC will install alfaQuest Technologies’ violet units at its 12 additional sites.

Mailman said JRC plans to have all of its 27 dailies converted to ECRM and alfaQuest by 2008.

InterPrint gets first Newsmatic

InterPrint was the first JRC site to install the ECRM Newsmatic, closely followed by The Herald News.

“They went in kind of simultaneously,” Mailman said. “InterPrint was the more complicated as a commercial printer - we’ve got three units into two optical punchers and because of the various press sizes we have there, it’s a little more complicated than just having a single newspaper press with a single spec.”

Mailman said the InterPrint install took close to 90 days, while the other newspaper sites have averaged 30-day install periods.

The Record in Troy, N.Y., is the next newspaper scheduled to go live on the Newsmatic and Mailman said JRC has pending orders for The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio, and The Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

“We expect to have a couple more next year as well so we should have four sites installed next year to complement these four that are already installed,” he said.

Achieving necessary throughput

JRC first migrated to CTP in 2001, when it added CTP equipment at Journal Register Offset in suburban Philadelphia, which produces six dailies.

“We put in Autologic there because we wanted high-end throughput and quality and reliability,” Mailman said. “The experience I’ve gotten over the last five years is that we can get the same reliability with ECRM, the engineering is first-class, reliability is comparable and the operating cost is comparable - and now that they’ve installed the 120-plate-per-hour units, the throughout can do any paper we have.”

JRC’s longstanding relationship with ECRM distributor Foley, Torregiani & Associates Inc. also played a large role in the publisher’s commitment to ECRM, Mailman said. “They have impeccable credentials and integrity and it’s a great relationship between FTA and ECRM.”

JRC uses Agfa’s YAG plates and Kodak violet plates.

Meantime, ECRM and Konica Minolta this month will announce a partnership in which Konica Minolta will promote ECRM platesetters to the newspaper market.