Prepress

ProImage streamlines production at the Times-Union, Albany, NY.

Monday 16. July 2012 - - Facilitating change from letterpress to web offset - Provides ink presets for KBA press control system

As part of the Albany Times-Union (circ. 140,000 Sunday; 75,000 daily) new KBA press project New ProImage America, Inc. has today announced that it has won the contract to upgrade their NewsWay workflow automation and production control system.
“Despite pessimism about printed newspapers in many parts of the world ProImage continues to clock-up sales – and publishers continue to invest in the technologies that provide proven efficiency and cost reduction,” says Rick Shafranek, VP sales and marketing, New ProImage America, Inc..
NewsWay has been successfully managing the page flow and production at the Times-Union since 2008, including creating impositions, generating soft page proofs, tracking production and load balancing and driving it’s Rips and filmsetters. The newspaper is now changing to web-offset printing.
“We have had a wonderful relationship with ProImage since 2008,” says Dan Couto, Director of Operations and Facilities Planning, Times-Union. “NewsWay manages basic output now for our letterpress. With our new web-offset press we will utilize new Harlequin RIPs in a RIP-once-output-many scenario that allows onscreen proofing of RIPed page and/or plate files. We will institute color management both for page modification and for ink coverage specification. We will establish unique workflows for internal and commercial jobs, integrating many of the separate systems that are currently maintained (preflight, color proofing, archiving). Also, integration with press controls will allow bar coding of plates for sortation, tracking and reporting.
“The product reliability is exceptional and the support has been uniformly excellent from pre-sale through daily use. We’re dealing with the same ProImage staff in 2012 as we did in 2008!”
The NewsWay workflow automation and control system is now being upgraded to provide significant further automation. It already integrates various systems from DTI, ClassPag and Asura and the press. New modules will streamline processes and will integrate new CTP equipment and KBA press and controls.
ProImage will provide a bi-directional interface to KBA press controls allowing the plan created within NewsWay to be imported into the KBA system. KBA will supply press location information to the plan so that NewsWay can burn a barcode as well as text as to where each plate goes on the press. The ProImage system will also provide ink presets to the KBA press control system, load balance new RIPs and CTP devices, schedule and manage production, ink optimize the pages to reduce color ink usage, and track production through to output locking color sets to a particular device.
“NewsWay will provide integration of RIPs which will enable new proofing workflows; ink optimization, as well as provide ink control information to the press,” states Sandi Costello, Publishing Integration Manager, Times-Union. “Production advantages will also include approval at page and plate level, on-screen proofing, barcode tracking, multiple plate configurations and new archive workflow.
“The system has a comprehensive suite of modules, good (and often two-way) connectivity to other systems, and a customizable interface that is entirely browser based. The ability of our installing engineer to support us for years after the installation is a bonus.”