Newspaper's CTP System Generates Major Savings

ECRM Imaging Systems has installed a Newsmatic SSR CTP system at the Trinidad Express.

ECRM Imaging Systems has installed a Newsmatic SSR CTP system at the Trinidad Express.

The Trinidad Express (TE) is the largest of three newspapers serving the island of Trinidad and has a daily circulation of over 85,000.

After just over a year of operation, TE is reporting quality improvements, cost savings, and increased throughput.

The island newspaper reports ink savings of seven per cent to 12 per cent (US$30,000 and US$50,000 per year), labour reallocations of 33 per cent of its pre-press force, overall cost savings of 16 per cent and a 100 per cent increase in plate throughput using the ECRM CTP system with stochastic screening.

Michael Wead, service and sales manager for Intergraph, a Florida (USA) provider, which also serves the Caribbean nations, commented: "We began installing an ECRM Newsmatic SSR CTP on a Saturday and by Sunday night the company was up and running live." He added: "Feeling very comfortable with the immediate success the company had had with violet CTP, the Express' team decided that the next step was obvious.

On the following Wednesday, we implemented Harlequin's HDS stochastic screening in to its production workflow.

By Thursday night, the company was fully operational with the FM algorithm." The Express added that before introducing CTP and FM screening, the company took specific steps to ensure that its pre-press and printing equipment and personnel were fully prepared.

The Express has now seen a benefit to the implementation of violet CTP with the stochastic screening.

There has been a noticeable quality increase and by working with Flint, the Express introduced high-strength inks that, combined with a mild acid fountain solution, produced vivid colour images its paper.

The Express now produces about 200 plates a day [about 4,500 per month] using Agfa's Lithostar plates running at 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) and a 84 micron spot on press.

It has also eliminated moires and improved registration.

The newspaper has also benefited from cost savings in many aspects of production, including the seven per cent to 12 per cent saving in monthly ink usage.

Spending about US$36,000 a month, the company is currently saving between US$2,500 and US$4,300 per month on ink alone.

And in terms of labour costs, it has been able to reduce pre-press personnel by one-third [from 15 to 10].

Overall, the Express has cut total costs per finished page by one-sixth, whilst plate throughput has doubled.

The Express's operations manager further explained that although the installation was quick and the company was up and running within days, continuing training and maintenance skills were required of his staff, whilst calibration and equipment maintenance are also continuing.

"We have trained our people on maintaining proper ink and water balance and using densitometry for accurate ink density and we need to regularly calibrate the plates to our Goss Urbanite press.

We also register our press bi-annually and conduct finger printing exercises at the same time," added the spokesman.

The Trinidad Express is the largest of three daily newspapers on the island.

With a daily circulation of over 85,000, and the responsibility for printing eight other weekly papers, the Express's team faces the same issues of quality, costs and deadlines as every other newspaper.

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