Newspapers these days are looking to increase profits from commercial work and the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star is no different. The newspaper in late 2005 embarked on a $30 million plant expansion and technology upgrades that included new workflow software, a conversion to computer-to-plate and the installation of a new press (see related articles, Newspapers & Technology, November 2005 and April 2006).

As predicted, the new technology helped the daily give its commercial profits a boost - to the tune of 200 percent in 2006.

Last year, the Register Star (daily, 59,105; Sunday, 70,942) installed variable web-width formers on its new KBA Colora press and further updated its EAE wNewsNet workflow app, lending to the paper’s ability to handle a variety of commercial jobs, according to Production Manager Carey Sydow.

Commercial strength

“Our commercial load has grown very, very strong over the past six months,” Sydow said. “In conjunction with the formers on the press, EAE was able to update our workflow and program variable web widths to allow us to quickly impose quarterfolds and tabloids on pretty much any paper size quite easily inside the workflow software.”

EAE also updated the workflow to include a densitometer that allows the production staff to view dot sizes and determine how much ink is being laid down on pages.

The newspaper also integrated the wNewsNet workflow app with its commercially dedicated Screen PlateRite 4100 thermal CTP unit and 8-color Didde web press. That equipment handles about one-third of the daily’s commercial load, while the daily and the remainder of commercial jobs are produced on two thermal Kodak Newsetters and the Colora press.

“We ended the year with $1.13 million in commercial printing revenue,” said Production Director Kris Smith. “We didn’t do any commercial printing so to speak on our old Hoe letterpress, but we did sell some commercial printing off of our little Didde press, so the increase there is really a result of the Colora.”

The Register Star’s commercial jobs include the Midwest edition of The Onion, for distribution in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. The newspaper also prints a couple of local publications, and just secured a deal for the monthly publication Chicago Entertainer.

“We’re currently waiting to hear on another big one - a weekly out of Cleveland,” Sydow said. “The variable web-widths are key to this, because people just love all of the different sizes we can do.”

Workflow upgrades key

Rockford’s EAE workflow app was actually put in place at the Register Star when the paper was still imaging film, and has undergone some tweaks since the conversion to CTP.

The app can accept EPS, PDF and PostScript files. PDF files are preflighted, turned into bitmaps and then await approval by the newsroom or advertising department, where they are soft proofed through a Web browser.

“They can accept it or reject it,” Sydow explained. “If they accept it, we see that in prepress and we release it to the Newsetter.”

EPS and PostScript files go through a server version of the workflow that’s embedded in PDF Distiller and a PDF is created. Those then go through the same process.

The workflow is only slightly different for jobs being sent to the Screen platesetter and then to the Didde press.

“Files actually get dropped into a different folder but they are still soft proofed and then they get sent downstairs where our print shop staff can output them on demand,” Sydow said. “The bitmaps just sit there and wait until they need to print a job, which is kind of nice.”

Next upgrade

The newspaper’s next upgrade to the workflow app will take place within the next two months, Sydow said, and will include quite a few changes.

A key upgrade to the latest version is a PDF correction module, which Sydow said will give the Register Star the ability to turn RGB photos into CMYK, rather than requiring staff to redo an RGB photo once it is “caught” by the workflow app - a situation the daily currently encounters several times a week, Sydow said.

The Register Star’s upgrade will also include a PDF ad-stitching module to allow the newspaper to continue to have a full PDF for its e-tearsheet solution.

“We have ad-stitching in with our (Saxopress) editorial now, but we never did go live with it because the e-tearsheet software we installed requires a final PDF and we wouldn’t have had that.”

The GUI for the workflow will also change, Sydow said.

“It’s already very simple and we love it, but to see a page history we have to right click and go up to display information in order to see the whole thing,” she said. “After the upgrade we’ll be able to see it immediately - and while that’s not a huge show stopper, when you’re doing that 40 or 50 times a night to see what’s happening with your pages, the time adds up.”