Fall 2004

take a week to get them proofs. If there was a problem, we had to wait another week for new proofs."

And in the rare instance when a customer catches a mistake with a job that is on the press? "We can have new plates on the line in an hour," says Ms. Hirsh.

An additional benefit of CTP systems is better image quality. Because plates are imaged directly from digital files, CTP systems do not result in the generation loss experienced with films. Combine this with superior registration, and plates produced by CTP systems allow sharper dots than do film-produced plates. As a result, press-related dot gains are reduced, allowing press operators to lay down greater ink densities and run jobs with finer line screens.

"The quality improvement is significant, especially when you're printing faces, food items, or other high quality graphics," notes Jan Steiner.

CTP systems are also supposed to reduce costs, although results can be mixed. They eliminate expenditures on consumables such as films and the chemicals required to produce them. They also require much greater automation of the printing workflow, thus reducing labor costs and human error. "Since we installed our CTP system, we've virtually eliminated plate remakes" comments Erik Peterson, Operations Manager at an ICG company that specializes in packaging for industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotech. This has resulted in significant cost savings. But significant up-front capital costs and on-going maintenance and upgrade expenses can offset these savings. In addition, the cost savings associated with faster make-ready times can be elusive. "We haven't seen a huge difference in make-ready times," says Lisa Hirsh. "We were already good at getting our jobs up-to-speed; our CTP system has helped us more in other ways."

So although CTP systems offer many benefits, cost savings isn't necessarily the biggest one.

The Changing Face of Proofing

Proofing has been one of the biggest challenges associated with CTP systems. Traditional film-based systems provide the opportunity to generate proofs made from the same films used to produce plates. Therefore, packaging buyers know what they see on a proof is what they will get from the printing press.

The absence of films in CTP systems makes generating an accurate proof more challenging. Until recently, digital proofs associated with CTP systems could not match colors with 100% reliability. But that's changing.

"We found the quality of the latest generation of inkjet printers just incredible," says Erik Peterson. Incorporating technology developed for digital photography, today's top-end inkjet proofing systems are able to accurately reproduce not just process but also spot colors. Some inkjet printers can even generate halftone dots, although with today's technology dots are not necessary to match colors.

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