Chesapeake Publishing’s Cecil Whig in Elkton, Md., last month began installation and training on its new computer-to-plate workflow, replacing two machines on which the paper previously imaged film. The conversion includes one Agfa manual-load Advantage DL unit with an online VSP85 processor, and Agfa’s Arkitex workflow and Intellitune color-correction apps. The daily plans to add Sublima screening to its lineup in the future, according to Prepress Manager Shawn Powell.

The Cecil Whig is following in the footsteps of sister Chesapeake daily The Star Democrat in Easton, which converted to CTP and Arkitex two years ago. The Star Democrat just recently added one of Agfa’s smaller Advantage Xs platesetters to its workflow as a backup.

“The workflow software was part of the entire CTP deal for us,” Powell said. “We had looked at workflow management in the past but decided it made sense to do this all at once.”

The Cecil Whig’s production staff, from left, Butch Anderson, building maintenance; Kathy Lubking, dayshift supervisor; Shawn Powell, prepress manager; Patty Hutton, general manger, printing; and Deborah Gates, night shift supervisor.
Photo: Cecil Whig
 

Arkitex was brought in three weeks ahead of the CTP unit with on-site training, Powell said. Because of its small prepress staff, the Whig took the train-the-trainer approach.

“With our small staff and training being done on site during production hours, I trained on it and I’ll be doling that out to probably two or three employees,” he said.

The Whig also decided to train the trainer on the CTP units, and Powell in January traveled to Agfa’s Wilmington, Mass., facility to learn the ins and outs of the Advantage unit.

The workflow and CTP are being rolled out job by job, Powell said, and should be completely rolled out early this month. In addition to its own titles, Chesapeake prints several other dailies. The Star Democrat’s site in Easton also runs some finesheet commercial work, Powell said, but those operations are not run through the Arkitex workflow app.

“We hope to be using our workflow to entirely control our CTP by the end of February or early March,” Powell said.

The Whig anticipates an output of about 1,000 plates per week on the new units, Powell said, with the bulk of that occurring Sunday through Thursday.

The biggest benefit for the daily is eliminating the film stage of its prepress operations.

 “It just seems that no matter how you do it, no matter how you think you’ve perfected it over the years, there’s too much room for human error,” Powell said. “We’re looking to get rid of that messy film stage and all the problems that come with it.”

The Cecil Whig will image Agfa’s N91v violet photopolymer plates.