CTP Technology Saving Money

Polyester plates are helping many in-plants bring computer-to-plate technology into their shops, saving them time and money.

The addition of computer-to-plate (CTP) technology is saving in-plants money. It eliminates the expense of outsourcing film or plates, a savings that is passed on to customers. In addition, in-plant employees are learning a more advanced way to go to the press, furthering their skills and increasing their value to the organization.

At St. John Health Systems' in-plant, located in Warren, Mich., polyester plates are produced using an imagesetter, saving the shop money over outsourcing to a service bureau, as it did until two years ago. According to Chuck Jackson, manager of the in-plant, which fulfills the printing needs of nine hospitals, a Heidelberg Prepress Linotronic Mark 20EX was brought in specifically to produce plates.

"We weren't outputting film; we installed it primarily for plates," Jackson recalls. The cost savings the shop has seen has helped it to grow from a two-person operation into a nine-employee shop, which moved into a new, larger facility two months ago.

Bob Strickler, supervisor of printing and mailing services at Dentsply International, in York, Pa., was also looking to cut costs on outsourcing film and plates. So three years ago, Strickler made the decision to bring platemaking capabilities in-house, and purchased a Xanté 8200 platemaker.

Since then, Dentsply's five-employee shop has been outputting polyester plates directly from its Power Macs. The plates are then sent to an A.B.Dick 9850 press for printing runs that average 200 to 1,000 impressions.

West Virginia University Printing Services has made metal plates in-house for years, but was looking for a faster and cheaper way to image plates for its smaller offset presses. Last year the shop added a Xanté Platemaker 3, and it has been outputting polyester plates ever since for runs of up to 15,000—with no image deterioration. But the most important advantage the shop has gained has been in time, says Joyce McMinn, supervisor of prepress and imaging.

"Now we can do business cards, letterhead and envelopes in five minutes and get it to press," she notes. The shop still makes metal plates for its larger presses, but McMinn feels the poly plates are a good fit for the two-color work the in-plant produces.

Peach Of A Platemaker

Just south of Atlanta, at the in-plant for the Clayton County Public School System, an A.B.Dick Digital Plate Maker 2000 was recently added. The 9,000-square-foot shop acquired it to help produce jobs such as student handbooks and newsletters for the 45,000 students at its 48 schools, plus the 16 other related agencies it serves.

"The DPM 2000 CPS has transformed our in-plant operation from top to bottom," raves Greg Lawrence, director of printing services. "It saves us time, labor and costs, and freed us from what I call the service bureau hostage factor."

Lawrence says the in-plant experienced an immediate impact after installing the new unit. A typical newsletter was taking the shop three to four days to complete when it outsourced for metal plates. Now the shop makes its own poly plates, cutting turnaround times to just one day. Costs have also been slashed, reportedly from $30,000, which the shop was paying in outsourcing costs, to less than $4,000 to make its own plates.

"A CTP device should be in anyone's shop that wants to cut material costs, labor costs and increase productivity," explains Stu Gallup product manager of digital prepress systems for A.B. Dick. "Moving to a direct-to-plate workflow eliminates the need for outputting to film, assembling the film and burning a plate. It also eliminates the materials associated with those steps."

When looking to bring CTP technology in-house, managers have some thinking to do about their current and future needs. This is an important decision, according to Richard Ferranti, director of marketing for Mitsubishi Imaging, Graphic Arts Materials Division, the manufacturer of the DPX Genesis platemaking system. He suggests looking at your current applications and determining if the workflow warrants the equipment upgrade.

Managers should also make sure their shops are technologically advanced enough to support the CTP process. Shops that are outputting plate-ready films have a shorter road to travel than those that are currently producing single-page films. According to Steve Musselman, senior marketing manager for Agfa, shops moving to CTP devices should already have a digital workflow in place.

"Installing the CTP platemaking system should be the last step toward implementing a digital workflow, requiring little more than adding the platesetter to the existing configuration," Musselman contends.

Metal Machines

Although many in-plants would benefit from using poly plates for most jobs, some of the giants of the in-plant world will need metal CTP devices.

"There are in-plants that have looked and purchased metal CTP machines. If they do a high level of four-color or six-color printing on 30˝ presses, then we strongly recommend they look at a metal machine," says Ferranti of Mitsubishi Imaging. "The typical smaller in-plants that are doing no bigger than GTO-sized plates can easily exist and satisfy everything they need to do with polyester plates."

As for the poly plates themselves, vendors say today's plates provide improved water receptiveness and response, excellent resolution, sharper images and greater ink compatibility. Runs of up to 50,000 impressions are now expected out of poly plates, notes Gallup of A.B.Dick. Some plates, like the Silver DigiPlate from Mitsubishi Imaging, have a backing layer that retards light penetration, improving daylight loading capabilities.

Musselman, of Agfa, sees a widespread adoption of all-digital workflows utilizing CTP to make plates for offset presses within the next five years. Yet he says the impact of the CTP process will go far beyond simply the production of plates.

"With digital technologies transforming every facet of the communications industries, computer-to-plate will be an important tool used by printers to maintain the vitality of print communications while facilitating its use with other media," predicts Musselman.

Quick Look

• Polyester plates are an inexpensive way to bring CTP in-house, eliminating costly outsourcing.

• Costs at one in-plant were slashed from $30,000 for outsourcing plates to $4,000 to make its own poly plates.

• Runs of up to 50,000 impressions are now expected out of poly plates.

• Poly plates are a good fit for the two-color work many in-plants produce.

• Today's poly plates offer improved water receptiveness, excellent resolution and greater ink compatibility.