Fill Your Own Plates

Don't send your plates out to be imaged; do it yourself. Find out how—and why—to invest in computer-to-plate technology.

For Manager Pat McCord, going computer-to-plate (CTP) was an option that made sense.

Before purchasing an A.B.Dick DPM 2000, his in-plant at Asgrow Seed Co., in Parkersburg, Ind., outsourced its negatives to make paper plates at $16 to $18 a pop—a pretty hefty price for a shop with only two full-time employees.

By comparison, the DPM 2000 produces poly plates at $2 each, McCord says. And instead of sending out 200 to 300 negatives—and risking quality problems and decreased cycle time—the in-plant can now manage everything internally.

"It has given us higher quality by replacing our generation-loss problems of sending the negatives out," says McCord, manager of the print shop/mail center. He points out that since he became manager three years ago, business has increased by 300 percent. This year, the in-plant will do $600,000 in profit—up from $150,000 in 1995. Investment in CTP was a primary factor in the increase, McCord claims.

Elsewhere, the buzz words "faster workflow" are at top of the CTP benefits list for Richard Cozier, graphic arts manager for Perko, a marine hardware supplier in Miami.

Since purchasing a digital PantherPlate 34P from PrePRESS Solutions, the in-plant doesn't have to spend the better part of the day shooting volumes of plates on a dual processor camera—its previous method.

But though platesetters provide ease of use, increased quality and reliability, there are other issues to look at before taking the direct-to-plate road. One danger, notes Hal Hinderliter, director of the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), is that customers and in-plant employees may expect too much of the platesetter.

"Customers may envision a system that allows for last-minute delivery of files with impossibly short deadlines; salespeople may long for lightning-fast AA plate remakes and even faster press makereadies; and your finance people may expect instant savings in consumables and manpower," he says. "The smart manager will manage expectations to allow some start-up time for working out the kinks."

Bottom line: Pace yourself. Know your system inside and out before making any promises or projections.

"Most customers will be looking for new systems to include integrated trapping and imposition, as well as a tightly integrated large-format imposition proofing solution," Hinderliter notes. This flexibility allows the lower-resolution proof data and the higher-resolution plate data to be generated from the same imposed document, eliminating the need to print twice from the desktop publishing workstation.

Hinderliter says this workflow provides the assurance that digital proofs will carry identical images, since the data can be processed once and then output as either a proof or plate. When choosing a system, he adds, look not only at the hardware, but also at the RIP, plates, chemistry and workflow.

"Potential buyers of today's systems are looking for reassurance that the consumables needed to operate their CTP equipment are readily available at a reasonable cost," he observes. "You may find yourself sold on a particular platesetter, only to find that your preferred plate vendor does not offer a compatible product. Make sure the vendor provides you with names and numbers of others who are using the product."

12 Steps To CTP Success

Howie Fenton and Hal Hinderliter of the Graphics Arts Technical Foundation offer this 12-Step Guide for adopting an optimal direct-to-plate workflow.

1 Do your homework by comparing the features and prices of the available CTP systems, and calculating the return on investment (ROI) for the devices. Make certain that CTP is the appropriate response to your immediate needs—if you have workflow problems that CTP won't fix, address them first.

2 Implement color management and quality control procedures throughout your scanning, color correction, proofing, output and press areas.

3Become proficient at preflighting all your files to catch mistakes.

4 Learn to do all trapping electronically. Acquire trapping software, if necessary.

5 Output imposed film using imposition software.

6 Acquire an electronic proofing system for full-color page proofs. Build customer confidence by continuing to output random scans to film with photomechanical proofs; during the transition, show both types of proofs to your customer.

7 Upgrade your network to at least 10BaseT and preferably to 100BaseTX.

8 Install an image server with queue management, OPI functions and Color Management capabilities.

9 Upgrade your archiving procedures, and make sure that you have the means to archive terabytes of data.

10 Buy a CTP platesetter and RIP. Start by imaging fully imposed film (if your device allows), and continue to use photomechanical proofing during the steepest part of the learning curve.

11 Buy a roll-fed wide ink-jet plotter for imposed proofs.

12 Analyze the effectiveness of your digital workflow. Look for unanticipated problems.