Consumables
Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service Delivers Significant Cost Savings and Image Enhancements to 12 Newspapers Owned by Lee Enterprises
Friday 29. May 2009 - Lee Enterprises efforts to increase efficiency and reduce costs received a big boost with the installation of Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service at 12 of its daily newspapers. Since adding the capability over the last several months, the newspapers report reductions in ink expenses between 20 percent and 25 percent.
Newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises in Rapid City, S.D.; Casper, Wyo.; Sioux City, Iowa; Munster, Ind.; Twin Falls, Idaho; Bismarck, N.D. St. Louis, Mo.; Missoula, Mont; Billings, Mont.; Davenport, Iowa; Bloomington, Ill.; and Escondido, Calif., utilize Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service.
With the KODAK Ink Optimizing Service, Kodak provides customers with an ICC DeviceLink profile that gets plugged into the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow. Based on the ICC DeviceLink profile, separated image files go through a gray component removal (GCR) process that reduces ink usage by replacing CMY inks with less expensive black ink, while limiting the Total Area Coverage to a predefined level.
GCR lowers ink consumption by up to 25 percent, depending on image content. Using KODAK STACCATO Screening makes additional ink savings possible. In addition to lowering ink consumption, Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service reduces waste and makeready time, enhances reproduction fidelity, and improves stability on press.
“We evaluated a number of competitive solutions at our newspaper in Billings, Montana, to determine which one would provide the greatest cost benefits,” said Brian Kardell, Vice President of Production and Chief Information Officer, Lee Enterprises Inc. “Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service, because of its integration with our existing KODAK PRINERGY EVO Workflow, was the clear choice. Ink savings have met our expectations and we also see enhancements to the quality of photos.”
Kodaks Ink Optimizing Service represents the latest in a series of solutions from Kodak that Lee Enterprises has installed at newspapers around the country. Last year, Lee Enterprises added KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 50 Thermal Platesetters, along with KODAK PF-N Non Process Plates, the PRINERGY EVO Workflow System, KODAK PREPS Imposition Software and KODAK STACCATO Screening.
Lee Enterprises is a premier provider of local news, information and advertising in primarily midsize markets, with 49 daily newspapers and a joint interest in four others, online sites, and more than 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 23 states. Lees markets include St. Louis, Mo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Madison, Wis.; Davenport, Iowa; Billings, Mont.; Bloomington, Ill.; and Tucson, Ariz. Lee stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE.