Newspaper & Mailroom

Kodak Demonstrates Efficient and Cost-Effective Newspaper Production at WAN-IFRA World Publishing Expo 2012

Tuesday 16. October 2012 - New-to-market solutions deliver competitive benefits and address key sector challenges

Kodak’s newspaper expertise will focus on production quality and efficiencies on stand 210 at WAN-IFRA’s World Publishing Expo 2012, Frankfurt, Germany, from October 29 to 31.
Kodak will present a host of new-to-market systems and solutions to help newspaper and semi-commercial newspaper printers achieve high-quality results, efficiently and cost effectively. Technologies presented for discerning visitor review include the introduction of a new no-preheat newspaper plate, the new KODAK SONORA NEWS Process Free Plate, the new KODAK Intelligent Prepress Manager 2.0, the KODAK PROSPER S30 Imprinting System and Kodak’s continually evolving CTP capabilities.
Visitors will see how these easy-to-use, latest-generation systems offer minimum operator effort, monitoring and intervention to help increase efficiencies to improve productivity and capital costs.
Thermal developments heating up
As part of this ethos Kodak’s R&D has focused on the advantages of thermal over violet technology, with the former addressing environmental issues as well as enhanced sustainability through low chemistry and true process-free production. Leading the way in this is the new KODAK SONORA NEWS Process Free Plate.
The KODAK SONORA NEWS Process Free Plate for newspapers enables the complete elimination of plate processing equipment and processing chemistry. The only process-free plates specifically designed for newspaper applications, they help save time and money and reduce environmental impact compared to violet plates and even “chemistry-free” plates. While violet plates require a pre-heat step, some sort of processing equipment and chemistry, and have special plate handling conditions, press-ready technology enables SONORA NEWS Plates to remove all these sources of potential variability, so printers can count on more stable, consistent plates for reliable quality. Running on the GENERATION NEWS Platesetter, SONORA NEWS Plates image at up to 240 plates per hour, fast enough for some of the larger newspaper operations. Working well in both manual and highly automated platemaking environments, SONORA NEWS Plates enable newspaper printers to get their jobs to press fast by eliminating the time needed for traditional processing. In addition, SONORA NEWS Plates can be used with vision punch benders from a variety of vendors, including NELA, Glunz & Jensen, and Burgess. Finally, because there is no chemistry to buy, store, and dispose of, printers are able to reduce costs and environmental impact.
“Getting to press fast is critical in the newspaper publishing industry, and because SONORA NEWS Plates remove the processing step, newspapers can reduce that time by simply imaging and punch/bending the plate and going quickly to press,” says Philip Cullimore, Managing Director, Consumer and Commercial Businesses EAMER and Chairman Eastman Kodak Sarl. He adds: “These plates are the next logical step in improving newspaper production.”
At the show, Kodak will also introduce a new plate that lets newspaper printers eliminate preheat and prewash from processing, so they can significantly reduce their energy usage and costs. Alternatively, printers can process the plate with preheat to increase run length significantly for extremely long runs.
CTP innovations
The plates are ideally suited for KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS and KODAK GENERATION NEWS Platesetters. The Third Party Device Interface (TPDI) option, introduced last year for the GENERATION NEWS Platesetter, is now available for the TRENDSETTER NEWS Platesetter. The TPDI enables functionality in XPO software to provide job and device status information upstream to a third-party workflow in XML format, and it can also be customized according to the specified workflow.
In addition, the KODAK Intelligent Prepress Manager 2.0 (iPM 2.0) will be available for both the GENERATION NEWS and TRENDSETTER NEWS Platesetters at the end of October.
Suite solutions for monitoring
Designed to help customers achieve the next level of performance and efficiency, the KODAK Intelligent Prepress Manager 2.0 (iPM 2.0) monitoring solution provides flexibility and control to manage prepress operations from anywhere, driving improved efficiency and profitability. It gives users more control over their CTP and plate line systems for added productivity, monitoring and faster problem resolution. Equipment monitoring and reporting enables more proactive, data-driven decisions, while smart alerts help achieve and maintain peak quality at all times, while optimizing overall operational efficiency. Mobile functionality allows users to take advantage of 24/7 access to their prepress system, allowing for the ultimate flexibility of managing production and monitoring performance from anywhere at any time. Interruptions are minimized and critical operations safeguarded with a business continuity module.
Olivier Claude, Commercial Business and Regional Business Manager, Kodak EAMER, says: “Having the ability to access, monitor and really take control of your prepress system can easily help a company increase its profitability. With the KODAK Intelligent Prepress Manager 2.0, users can truly harness productivity to achieve greater success.”
Workflow partnership delivers global support
Kodak’s global support of its customers has been underlined with its agreement with wobe-team’s WNEWSNET Workflow to complement its industry-leading KODAK CTP newspaper publishing portfolio. Expo visitors will see how the WNEWSNET Integrated Solution for managing digital production data in a newspaper prepress department enables the automation of plate production, data control and data processing.
Specifically designed to address newspaper requirements and support the complete prepress life cycle, the software is scalable and can grow as customers grow. It offers a comprehensive newspaper workflow solution, including PDF management tools with preflight and correct functionality, color-consistent soft proofing tools, ink-saving benefits with the PDF-InkAdjust feature, and third-party integration capabilities to deliver a fully automatic production system.
Maximizing variable data capabilities
The ability to apply variable data ensures printer versatility. At WAN-Ifra, Kodak will highlight the newest addition – the KODAK PROSPER S30 Imprinting System. Offering the highest speed in the industry at 3000 fpm (900 mpm), it delivers 600 x 200 dpi output and gives customers a higher-performance choice for hybrid printing applications such as direct mail, inserts, gaming, advertising, package labeling, and more.
As an example, the Axel Springer newspaper printing plant in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, Germany, utilizes the KODAK PROSPER S30 Imprinting System to increase circulation and provide new variable data advertising services. Axel Springer owns one of Germany’s largest newspapers, Bild. The PROSPER S30 System is mounted on Axel Springer’s MANROLAND Offset Press to imprint variable components, such as consecutive lottery numbers, variable QR codes, and changing artwork, across a width of up to 10.56cm at full production speed. These PROSPER S30 Systems create gaming products that are integrated into the newspaper.
The PROSPER S-Series Imprinting Systems produce laser-like quality for imprinting at a range of speeds and resolutions, bringing high-quality versioning and personalization to offset print jobs. As such, print providers are able to leverage their capital investments in offset presses and bridge the gap to digital in a one-step, inline process.
“Now with the PROSPER S-Series, newspaper printers can print different versions of content without stopping the press to change black plates,” says Mr Claude. “Our new PROSPER S30 can even imprint personalized information such as gaming and lottery numbers, inline at the speed of the newspaper press.”