Anatomy of a CTP Buy

WHEN SOUTHERN Illinois University Printing/Duplicating Service installed a new Screen FT 3050 imagesetter in 1998, it was a big step forward. Gone were the days of shooting film.

After nine years, though, time took its toll on the FT 3050.

“It was a good machine. We were happy with it,” remarks Dennis Maze, superintendent of the 22-employee operation, in Carbondale, Ill. “But we had some problems with it a little over a year ago.”

Error messages and the need for parts left the machine out of commission for days at a time—once for a full week.

“So that’s when we decided to start looking into doing something different,” Maze says. He knew a computer-to-plate (CTP) device was the answer—in-plants all over the country were going direct to plate. But with so many CTP products out there, how could the shop narrow it down?

First Requirement: No Chemistry

“One thing we decided early on was that we were going to go thermal on the CTP so that we could be chemistry free,” says Maze, who is about to retire after 32 years at the in-plant. “It’s one less thing you have to purchase, and it’s better environmentally.”

Plate size was another prerequisite.

“We had to be eight-up, since we have a large Heidelberg press,” he says. Specifically, a one-color, eight-up, 35? Heidelberg SORD. Joining it on the pressroom floor are a four-color, 14x20? Heidelberg GTO, a two-color Hamada A252, an AM Multigraphics press with a T-head and a Chief.

With these CTP requirements to guide them, Maze and his team visited other in-plants for ideas, walked the exhibit floor at Graph Expo and monitored a listserv for university in-plants.

“There were a lot of them that we could be happy with,” Maze says of the variety of CTP units available.

First Setback: Too Many Requirements

The in-plant held a pre-bid meeting for vendors, then opened the bid. It wasn’t long before Maze and his staff realized they had a problem. Because their bid specified automatic punching, several otherwise good platesetters were left out

“There’s a lot of good machines out there, and we didn’t want to eliminate any of those machines by requiring something that we didn’t need, like automatic punching,” he says, reasoning that the prepress process would be much faster anyway without the need for film and stripping, so auto punching would be of negligible benefit.

So the bid was closed and the in-plant put out a completely new bid.

“We saved probably $15-$20,000 by doing it again, so it was worth starting over and waiting a little while longer,” Maze says.

In the end, Kodak won the bid with its Trendsetter 800 III. Before it could be installed, though, the in-plant had some preparations to make.

With no need for a dark room any more, the in-plant had it dismantled and used that space for its CTP area. The camera was already gone but a sink had to be removed and new electrical lines had to be put in. Because the Trendsetter requires clean, dry air, an additional air filter had to be installed.

“Anybody should plan on several thousand dollars in preparing a spot for the CTP,” Maze offers.

Installation went without a hitch, Maze says. Kodak trained three of his employees, then it was show time.

One of the first jobs to use plates from the Trendsetter was a rerun of a women’s basketball media guide. Maze compared the final product with one printed in the pre-CTP days. The color was better on the new pieces and the screens were crisper.

When the shop made plates from film, he continues, a definite line was visible where a graduated screen faded away. Not so with CTP.

“This is just smooth, like it’s supposed to be,” he describes.

The platemaking process is as fast as expected. Operators average eight to 12 plates an hour, with a current speed record of 3.5 minutes for a plate.

The eight-up size proved a wise choice.

“Now we’re not limited on the size poster that we can do,” Maze says.

Minor Setback

One slight problem the in-plant encountered was the unexpected light sensitivity of the Kodak ThermalDirect plates.

“If they’re out more than an hour in white light then it takes longer for it to clean up on press,” Maze notes—i.e. the press has to run more sheets while waiting for the ink to clear up. This light sensitivity is only an issue between the time plates are burned and when they go on the press, he adds.

The in-plant has addressed this by installing yellow lights in the prepress area and placing finished plates immediately into jackets.

“It’s a little bit of adjustment...but it’s not that bad,” says Maze.

Included in the CTP bid was an HP 5500PS UV wide-format printer for proofing. The in-plant plans to put the 42? printer to work creating banners and posters. The added income will help pay for the platesetter, Maze says.

Overall, he concludes, though the buying process was long, the results make it all worthwhile.

“Everybody’s really happy with it,” he says. IPG