Visit Publishers Press (2)

Development and Status Quo

1. Learning Phase Since mid-March last year, PPI has used the Colorsetter XLP to make plates. According to Hensen, the hardest part of the learning process is mastering the use of Xpress and Preps groupware. For example, their employees have difficulty learning how to correctly position an image on a media. Because the rollers on the XLP do not match the size of their press and plate configuration. PPI currently uses larger-sized plates that must be manually cut. The PPI will use a new Optronics drum to alleviate this problem.

During the initial phase of installing XLP, PPI spent a long time testing, calibrating colors, and matching colors between imaging machines, plates, and printers.

2. Current Status PPI The first production of "International Sports Car" using CTP technology was in May 1994. One month later, they used XLP to make every other magazine. So far there have been 10 magazines.

The printing cycle has also been slightly improved. Today, the production of an 84-page magazine takes one and a half weeks, and Henson points out that if all the text pages and advertisement inserts can be reached at the same time, they can complete the production of one magazine in one shift within three days.

The PPI stated that they usually produce a board containing eight pages (two of which are advertising pages) in 17 minutes and 42 seconds. (Advertisement pages use longer raster processing times, and the engine's imaging speed is constant). On the day we visited, Optronics was installing an upgraded version of the SGI RIP processor inside XLP, expecting to increase the overall production rate. For this upgrade, Henson's production goal is to complete the production of a printing plate in a little more than 10 minutes (not including the time of plate installation and uninstallation).

3. Results According to Mr. Simon, the employees who participated in the CTP project were satisfied with the results, especially the results obtained in such a short period of time.

XLP platesetters rarely cause other problems. PPI calibrates XLP platesetters using a method of correcting imagesetters. Mr. Simon said that the equipment is very reliable and there is little maintenance time. Backup is another important issue because there is only one such machine. However, with the development of the project, the problem of backup will be solved. With the expansion of the CTP project, PPI is very likely to purchase other plate-making machines.

PPI believes that the XLP platesetter has very good repeatability. In rare cases, when the printing plate is damaged on the printing press, the printing plate and the upper printing plate can be re-created without causing any problems, including registration. In terms of quality, PPI firmly believes that XLP can get very good outlets.

Similarly, DuPont Silverlith's printing plate also won people's praise. PPI said that the plate is easy to handle, the development process is also very simple, and the roll-up and cleaning quality is also very good. The only factor to be considered for this plate is its own chemical substances and silver recycling, in other words, the environmental aspects of the process. PPI has tested other plates. They use Fuji materials and corresponding developing machines, but they will not consider changing materials in the near future.

4. Customer Response According to PPI, customers responded well to the "International Sports Car" and other publications. For the PPI-printed publications, the "International Sports Car" in November won the first place in overall quality.

Existing difficulties. Facts have proved that imaging on the plate is only the first step of the PPI project. Once the imaging phase begins, other more complicated problems will follow.

Data management issues may be an urgent problem for PPI. PPI currently uses direct imaging technology to produce the only magazine that needs to manage numerous data. Using Eskofot to scan an 8.5 x 11-inch ad page requires 180MB of storage (45MB per color separation film). Due to work schedules, versions, and some intermittent printing requirements, the current state of data management for advertising pages is complicated. In addition, PPI is processing typesetting of text pages, including low-resolution FPO previews and high-resolution scans of corresponding images. As a result, storage, including production and archiving, is particularly important, as is management and job tracking. If CTP technology is used to make 100 magazines, PPI estimates that they need to store and manage 2-2.5 gigabytes of information.

PPI has established another R&D project committee to examine solutions for data management and tracking issues. The committee is investigating existing products on the market, although there is a view that the AS400 computer system is sufficient for internal data management and problem tracking. Combining the AS400 system with PPI's own data management capabilities will result in a solution that is compatible and integrated with existing management software.

Further improvement. According to Simon, apart from data management, PPI also hopes to solve some other problems for the industry. One of them is the recognition and development of the industry's advertising data transmission standards. At present, only a small part of the advertisements are transmitted in the form of data, and the format of the transmission varies depending on the customer or agent. Dataization and transmission are an important issue because it eliminates the scanning process of the color separations and thus integrates into a fully data-based workflow. In addition, the data transmission can also avoid the management of the huge related data files of the advertisement page. However, not only Simon, but also the staff of the R$D project believe that it is impossible to achieve a wide range of data-based advertising transmissions in recent years.

Imaging speed and throughput are also areas for improvement in CTP technology. Simon's ultimate goal is to complete the imaging of a plate in four minutes, which does not include a 30-second upper plate release time (that is, about 13 plates per hour). For now, there is still a long way to reach this goal. The huge file of scanned color separations is a limiting factor. The imaging time of the plate including the Eskofot scanned image is approximately twice the imaging time of the plate containing only the text page. At present, it takes an average of 14 minutes to output each plate (more than 60 plates contain ad pages and text pages, including a 30-second plate-up and unload time for each plate). In addition, Simon believes that RIP speed and network speed in CTP environment should also be improved. He also hopes that the industry will generally be able to use an accurate plate density meter.

ROI (Return on investment) investment recovery rate Although the problem of investment recovery rate must be solved before the industry can use CTP technology to a large extent, PPI relied on related projects and plans as early as in 1995, using CTP process to increase other types of Publications.
So far, this process has shown many advantages. For customers, the biggest advantage is that the schedule is compressed so that the PPI can process ad inserts later and transfer the ad files closer to printing. In addition, the process also showed many advantages when dealing with single-source suppliers. Magazine editors and production departments no longer need to spend a lot of time dealing with the volatile PS language, and they do not have to waste time identifying samples repeatedly.

For PPI, there are more advantages to prove the superiority of the process. As the process steps are reduced, the error rate is also reduced, and the work cycle is also shortened. Since the Opticopy system is not used, the number of output pages is reduced, thus saving a lot of consumables. At the same time, by reducing dust, blemishes, fingerprints, scratches, not only improve the quality but also reduce the chance of re-production. Save labor.

However, contrary to the advantages, the use of CTP process plates and plate making costs has been increased compared to film-based systems.

Unfortunately, Simon is unwilling to disclose time, labor, consumables, and other aspects of saving money. It is these aspects that solve the problem of investment recovery. According to Simon, as the CTP project progresses, the problem of investment recovery rate will naturally become clear. The upgraded PIR processor Optronics will increase production efficiency, producing nearly five plates per hour, and the first magazine “International Motors” produced using direct platemaking technology (especially printed with advertising pages). Version) takes 2.5 hours.

Overall, the results are very exciting. Simon hopes to maximize the productivity of the XLP platesetter within six months (three shifts), so he is considering how to use other extra equipment.