We'll Show Those Commerical Printers

A symbiotic relationship between packaging prepress professionals and their customers can lead to the right prepress environment.

TREND OFFSET PRINTING is a full-service, commercial and publication printing company headquartered in Los Alamitos, Calif. The company—innovative in its approach—offers a clear snapshot into the technological movements impacting the offset CTP environment at this time.

For example, let's take a look at some of Trend Offset Printing's recent technology upgrades:

• To handle an increasing volume of new customers, it has purchased Creo's Trendsetter AL complete with V-head, and has initiated plans to double the capacity of its existing Creo Trendsetter with the addition of a Thermal II V-head.

• It has completed installation of an in-line, real-time, on-the-fly system for printing color to the numbers, a system developed by QTI.

• It uses Creo's automated prepress workflow, Prinergy, to provide an automated PDF workflow for Trend Graphics, Trend CTP, and its clients.

Clearly, Trend Offset Printing is receptive to technology investments and expansion. The company employs a digital prepress workflow, and actively invests in CTP devices, color management upgrades, and a variety of digital technology to accelerate and elevate its existing processes.

You are not alone

Investments in CTP for today's offset package-printing community are critical, particularly since commercial printers are all too happy to target packaging applications. And why shouldn't they? Commercial printers are more technologically progressive than their package-printing counterparts, aren't they? Haven't they been embracing CTP technologies for some time now? Don't they have those latest digital prepress workflows wrapped around their fingers.

What? You don't agree? Well, then, good for you—we'll show those commercial printers a thing or two about CTP investments and progressive prepress workflows. And the supplier community is all too happy to assist, as the recent drupa 2004 reflected. The array of digital workflow, platesetting, and proofing devices targeting today's package-printing world clearly signal an increasingly more automated and integrated offset packaging environment.

What's out there today?

Whether you produce corrugated, folding cartons, point-of-purchase displays, or labels, Agfa has a wide selection of durable plates to accommodate a variety of run-lengths and resolution needs. Agfa's plates for offset prepress include the thermal :Thermostar, :Thermolite, and :Thermolite Plus. Violet options include :Lithostar, :N91v Photopolymer, and, for imagesetters, :Setprint.

Thermostar, with no preheating required, supports run lengths of 150,000 impressions without baking, while optional post-baking enables run lengths of more than a million. Thermolite plates are processless plates designed for on-press imaging of shorter runs. Violet CTP is a strong focus at Agfa, with the Violet CTP :Palladio and large-format violet CTP :Galileo.

Creo offers its complete line of printing plates including the Mirus PN, a negative-working thermal plate ideal for commercial and package printers, and the Clarus WL waterless plate for direct imaging presses. Creo also offers the Clarus PL processless plates in a technology demonstration.

As for Creo platesetters targeting packaging today, the new name is Magnus, a very large format (VLF) CTP imaging device that can image 15 2,050 x 1,510 mm (80.7 x 59.4 in.) plates per hour at 2,400 dpi. When smaller plates are loaded two at a time, the Magnus VLF device images 31 B1 (707 x 1,000 mm, 28 x 39.3 in.) plates per hour at 2,400 dpi.

"Creo has developed this next generation VLF CTP to provide more functionality and increased speed for the larger commercial and packaging printer while maintaining the quality, consistency, and reliability enjoyed by over 1,000 VLF customers today," reports Colin Evans, VLF product manager, Creo. "We will also continue producing the Trendsetter VLF, as this best-selling device satisfies the needs of many printers."

During drupa, Heidelberg introduced Suprasetter, a new generation of thermal external-drum platesetters. It supports all Heidelberg plate formats for sheetfed and web offset, is available in 4-page and 8-page formats, and is equipped with a new Heidelberg laser imaging system, with five speeds and various automation settings.

"Even with Heidelberg's addition of a new thermal CTP device, we are seeing a real increase in the demand for violet-based technology, as demand for our violet Prosetter device continues to grow," reports Ray Cassino, marketing director, Heidelberg. "Interest in the Prosetter has been huge, and is gaining."

At drupa, Heidelberg expanded Prosetter's automation with a multiple-cassette loader capable of handling up to four cassettes on line, each of which can process 150

6-mm, or 100 12-mm plates. Heidelberg also featured its Plate-on-Demand concept, designed to integrate the Prosetter and Suprasetter directly with the pressroom. Using Heidelberg's Prinect CP2000 Center and the new MetaDimension 5.0, a press operator can select a job or plate on the touch screen and start plate imaging. A Prosetter with full automation then allows the plate to be fed, slipsheet removed, then imaged, punched, and processed.

When asked about workflow trends targeting the package-printing environment—and offset CTP—Cassino says there is strong interest in production automation, interconnectivity to the print buyer via Internet tools and services, and increased integration downstream to press and postpress and upstream to MIS. "The vehicle for providing this interconnectivity and automation will be JDF and PDF with the production content format putting the final nail in the coffin of proprietary page formats," he reports.

Cassino also notes that improved capture of vital production statistics and production audit information for better cost analysis will be needed as printers need to understand where and how they are making—or losing—money. "Better tools for planning and scheduling production to increase profitability will also be a trend in the overall workflow, as well as common workflow approach to support both offset, flexo, digital, and gravure printing," he contends.

At drupa, Agfa and Esko-Graphics showed the results of their close cooperation to link Esko-Graphics' Scope packaging pre-production tools with Agfa's production automation servers through PDF and JDF. Both companies strongly promote the use of industry standards to allow their customers to build multi-vendor workflow solutions.

The mixed workflows demonstrate the power of PDF as the preferred data carrier for graphics. In their mutual commitment to the CIP4 standards organization, Agfa and Esko-Graphics also cooperate to drive the appropriate developments of JDF capabilities to better support packaging workflows. Sample configurations using DeskPack (for one-up creation) and Plato (for step-and-repeat) on the creation side, and then driving :ApogeeX for output were demonstrated on Agfa's drupa stand.

"With this cooperation and the joint demonstrations, we want to highlight that Agfa systems seamlessly integrate through industry standards with dedicated tools for the packaging industry," reports Kris Vangeel, Agfa's packaging business director.

"Agfa is not directing its development of packaging solutions towards creative tools, but rather strives to integrate its products with those from market leaders in packaging design solutions," Vangeel reports. "Combining Esko-Graphics' DeskPack and Plato with Agfa's :ApogeeX proves that the respective solutions can seamlessly be integrated with best-in-class packaging front-end applications. This allows packaging prepress professionals to build their prepress configuration completely according to their specific needs, combining the components of their choice."

by Marie Alonso

PrePress Editor