Newspaper & Mailroom

La Voz de Galicia Doubles its Plate Production with Three KODAK GENERATION NEWS Platesetters

Wednesday 05. January 2011 - La Voz de Galicia has doubled its plate production after installing three KODAK GENERATION NEWS Platesetters as part of a complete overhaul of its entire print operation.

The publication is one of the Galician community’s most widely read and respected daily newspapers, with run lengths of up to 160,000 copies. However, with production at capacity, the newspaper’s management team decided to embark on the first step of modernizing its print infrastructure by replacing its four green and violet laser platesetter systems with the KODAK Systems.
This step was essential preparation for the installation of two MANROLAND Web Printers in place of two KBA Web Printers, which would enable La Voz de Galicia to upgrade its current 32-page colour production to 96 full-colour pages on each web printer by the end of next year.
La Voz de Galicia’s Technical and Systems Director, Severino Santirso, explains what prompted the upgrade: “The market wants more colour, and there was no doubt in our minds that this is the way to go. It was imperative that we prepared accordingly, otherwise we could lose our competitive edge. We’ve taken a risk by installing the first newspaper platesetter in Spain – but we believe that investing in the latest technology pays off in the long term.”
La Voz’s Deputy Technical Director, José Ángel Cabezón, says that the company opted for thermal CTP Technology because the process is more stable and less complex than violet laser CTP: “The KODAK Systems offer a number of key advantages. The quality of the plate imaging is better, the process is more reliable with KODAKSQUARESPOT Imaging Technology, the production process is safer as it cuts chemical consumption, and the full-surface plate imaging process is more stable.”
The KODAK GENERATION NEWS Platesetters will increase production from 4,500 to 9,000 plates a week, and bring in more colour. Cabezón underlines the importance of automating the production line: “One of the reasons we invested in the KODAK Platesetters is because they offer a crucial advantage that rival systems don’t – you can constantly change plate sizes without slowing down production. Each platesetter has four cassettes for different plate sizes. They’re the ideal systems ahead of changing our web printers, as it means we can maintain our production levels.”
Improving quality
Cabezón believes there is a gulf in quality between green and violet laser and thermal technology: “With the violet laser, we had up to 4% mis-registration between the screen reproduction on one side of the plate and the other, and we couldn’t adjust it. Now we have the exact screen percentage rates we need, everywhere on the plate. And Kodak incorporates SQUARESPOT Technology as standard, which brings many other advantages.”
Diego Herrero, Account Manager Newspapers at Kodak, explains the details: “The underlying principle involves generating pixels as squares to form dots. This makes images much clearer and more stable. When you use violet technology, those pixels are more like drops of water. It’s much harder to control this at the printing stage. You end up with dot gain and lower definition. Essentially, the advantage of the square-point principle is that it draws clearer images. When you combine that with the FM stochastic screens, you get dots you can measure in microns. SQUARESPOT Technology imaging is far better than violet because the dots are so much smaller.”
La Voz de Galicia is using KODAK THERMALNEWS GOLD Digital Plates on its KODAK GENERATION NEWS Platesetters to guarantee flawless plate production. Herrero explains why this is important: “This combination is the perfect way to integrate the CTP Technology and SQUARESPOT Technology with plates and processing. It makes the entire process more stable. And we can also include KODAK STACCATO or FM Screening Technology. Combining SQUARESPOT Technology and THERMALNEWS GOLD Plates also ensures much faster preheating, which in turn means that we can guarantee total point stability, end to end, over the entire plate. Violet technology takes longer to preheat the plates, which impacts the whole process. And it can’t guarantee the same point stability, which means users have to calibrate the CTP System more often to avoid differences.”
Another upside to thermal technology is that it is cleaner than Violet technology.
It uses substantially less chemistry, and therefore less chemical waste and associated costs, when compared to similar Violet systems – This can be up to 50% dependant on processor size and customer volume usage. Developer usage is comparable to that claimed with “low-chemical” Violet laser technology.
Boosting productivity, saving time
Santirso believes La Voz de Galicia’s decision to install KODAK Platesetters was a very positive move: “The quality is higher, we are producing more and saving time on CTP-specific maintenance and calibration – we used to have to do it every day, now Kodak takes care of it periodically.
“We no longer worry about the type of plate that’s fed into the web printer because this is now automatic. This is vital for us, as web printing involves very fast plate changes. We’re delighted that we’ve automated this task.”
Cabezón is also happy with the change: “Our previous machines were old and had outlived their life expectancy, which meant regular maintenance work. The switch is actually a huge technological leap forward – the KODAK Systems have delivered exactly what we were looking for.”