Talk from the Top Prepress

Computer-to-plate technology has reshaped many of the in-plants on the Top 50.

By Linda Formichelli

New prepress technology has enabled in-plant employees to keep their hands clean by shifting all the dirty work to the digital realm of 1's and 0's. Mastering this technology has been a key element in the success of the in-plants claiming a spot on this year's IPG Top 50.

"We've been streamlining prepress into the digital workflow over the past several years, going from conventional paste-up to eight-up output and now in the past eight months to computer-to-plate (CTP)," says Rick Wise, director of Printing Services at the Columbia-based University of Missouri.

The new Creo Trendsetter 800 II platesetter with a continuous plate loader brought a number of benefits, Wise says.

"In addition to upping the line screen and the quality of the half tones, we're using less makeready and creating less waste, which has enabled us to cut prices," he says. "Everything's been positive so far." And that includes the in-plant's standing on the IPG Top 50, where it ranks 28th in the country.

For his part, Rick Salinas, production manager of Ace Hardware's Reprographics division, says his in-plant chose a Screen CTP system with a Trueflow front-end to handle its increased workflow. The shop had previously used an outside company to provide film for four-color work due to low volume, but over the past few years the workload has expanded, and Reprographics has likewise expanded its preflight and database management staff.

This explosion of work, and the manner in which Salinas and his crew have responded to the challenge, has pushed Ace Reprographics to number 20 in the Top 50.

CTP Equals Cash-to-pocket

The California Office of State Publishing, which ranks second on the Top 50, handles huge budget documents topping 3,000 pages. A CTP solution was the only one possible.

"Digital printing wasn't ready for prime time with a document that large," says Marlene Patton, production manager. "We had two Rockwell devices with 70 mm film, but they were no longer supported. Even some of the CTP devices we looked at weren't fast enough."

The state, which boasts the fifth largest economy in the world, finally found a solution with Agfa's Galileo family of violet-laser CTP platesetters.

"We had to have something fast enough to meet our overnight legislative needs," says Patton. After all, you can't upset the folks that hold the purse strings and expect to stay in business long.

Patton has also added a CD replicator to her shop's prepress department and includes a copy of the budget on disk with the printed version. This lets recipients of the budget view the material directly on their computers instead of having to wade through thousands of pages to find the tidbit they need.

Online Outreach

While Rick Wise's offset workings at the University of Missouri have been transformed by CTP, his digital dealings have also been modernized for the 21st century.

"We've updated our Web-based file submission process and have had hundreds of jobs coming in that way in just the past few weeks," he says.

Though the shop created its own online file submission software for offset work, it uses EFI's Digital Storefront for ordering toner jobs.

"Customers really like the ease of sending files that way for digital output," Wise says.

Dan Michalski seconds that opinion.

"The most successful aspect of both our design and prepress services is the ease of the customer interface," says the director of Digital Publishing and Printing Services at the University of Wisconsin, which makes its debut this year in the Top 50's number 36 spot. "With such a diverse customer base on campus, making it easy for customers to get what they need easily and quickly has made our department succeed."

The details of Michalski's online system includes thorough instructions, PDF-based workflows such as EFI's "One Flow," and comprehensive digital proofing.

"Our production capabilities are very design oriented, which provides a good fit for customers who need comprehensive service," he says. "We really leapt ahead with our Mitsubishi CTP system, from ruled paper stripping flats and a flip-top to fully digital overnight. We left analog in the dust and have never looked back."

Old School Overhaul

The Gospel Publishing House, the publishing arm of the Assemblies of God, is just one of many in-plants that have routed their old prepress tools and behaviors and learned the field anew, earning them a spot at number 22 in their first year on the Top 50.

"In the past two to three years, we've gone completely to CTP with Brisque software and two Creo Trendsetters," says Michael J. Murphy, production operations manager. "We can go from one to the other and do three- and four-color digital match prints that go into the same RIP file."

Murphy says the in-house design team falls outside his department, but the parent organization has provided everyone with G5 Mac computers, which means that everything coming from design arrives over FTP servers or on disks.

"We don't do any manual stripping or masking any more," he says. "We still use some film, but we're trying to phase that out as well.

"We've made methodical improvements throughout the plant, based on both customer requests and what's on the market, and every few months we seem to be getting software or updating something in prepress," says Murphy.

No matter how divine your calling, though, you can't expect word of fresh technology to float down from above and give you new direction.

"Each year, we go to the [Graph Expo] trade show in Chicago," says Murphy, "and all the improvements I've made in the past four to five years have come out of contacts or purchases we made there. We won't miss going there because you never know what you'll find." Inspiration is all around, if only you know where to look.