Ten Newspaper Printers Turn to KODAK Solutions for Thermal Platesetters, Digital Plates, Workflow, Screening and Digital Solutions

Printers in nine states and one Canadian province have become the latest to select KODAK solutions to meet the deadline challenges and productivity demands of the newspaper environment.

Chicago Tribune purchased seven KODAK VERSAMARK DS5120 Printing Systems to handle addressing and labeling for its Total Market Coverage (TMC) and zoned newspaper products.

“The KODAK VERSAMARK equipment is simple to integrate with our inserting equipment, and it is ecologically and employee friendly. We were attracted to these continuous inkjet units for labeling our products because they are relatively low maintenance and feature self cleaning heads,” said Larry Rutherford, Senior Project Manager with Chicago Tribune. “With the VERSAMARK units, we’re now going to label our insert packages, which will expand traceability and accountability. We will be able to more easily audit our distribution centers, which will further enhance our quality controls.”

Steve Hoffman, Director of Printing at The Columbus Dispatch in Columbus, Ohio, said, “We evaluated the technology options on the market and made the decision on the KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS thermal CTP device because of the stability of the process, accuracy of the reproduction, and price of consumables. We evaluated five different vendors and they were all good firms and highly professional in their presentations. Our experience with Kodak has been excellent from the beginning. The Kodak reps have been very knowledgeable about their products and prompt in responding to our questions.”

The Columbus Dispatch ordered three KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 200 Platesetters and KODAK THERMALNEWS GOLD Digital Plates. The company publishes 230,000 copies on weekdays; 300,000 on Saturdays; and 360,000 on Sundays of its flagship daily, along with 22 community weeklies, a Hispanic weekly, the Columbus Alive alternative weekly and a variety of commercial projects.

“The main reason we went with the KODAK thermal CTP devices and digital plates is that they are the best fit for our operation,” said Bart Wade, Production Director of the Ogden Publishing Corp. in Ogden, Utah. “A really important part of our decision making process was the fact that we had purchased KODAK PRINERGY EVO and KODAK NEWSMANAGER Workflow Systems last year. Now we have total integration across our prepress operation.”

Ogden Publishing, a member of the PAGE Co-op, prints the Standard Examiner, a 60,000 copy daily and 68,000 copy Sunday paper, along with commercial jobs. The company purchased two KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 70 Platesetters, KODAK Thermal Digital Plates and KODAK STACCATO Screening.

Other newspaper printers across North America adding KODAK solutions include:

-Orange County Register in Anaheim, Calif., purchased three VERSAMARK DS5120 Printing Systems, two of which are integrated with Goss inserters, to add flexibility in addressing micro zoned publications.

-Pacific Newspaper Group, a CanWest company in Surrey, British Columbia, purchased three KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 150 Platesetters to print The Vancouver Sun and The Province.

-The Austin American-Statesman in Austin, Texas, a Cox Texas Newspapers company, purchased three
TRENDSETTER NEWS 150 Platesetters to handle production of their daily, a regional edition of The New York Times and commercial products.

-The Missourian Publishing Co. of Washington, Mo., purchased a KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 100 Thermal CTP Device, KODAK Thermal Digital Plates, STACCATO Screening, PRINERGY EVO Workflow System and KODAK PREPS Imposition Software. The company prints The Washington Missourian, Union Missourian and St. Clair Missourian, as well as commercial products. It is a member of the PAGE Co-op.

-Pacific Press Corp. of San Jose, Calif., purchased a KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 50 Platesetter. The company prints the VietNam Daily News, the largest Vietnamese newspaper in Northern California.

-The Lewiston Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine, a PAGE Co-op member, purchased a TRENDSETTER NEWS 100 Platesetter to print the daily paper, seven weekly papers that they own and commercial projects.

-Carolina Classifieds in Monroe, N.C., purchased two TRENDSETTER NEWS 70 Platesetters, KODAK Digital Plates, STACCATO Screening, and PRINERGY EVO Workflow System, PREPS and KODAK INSITE Software to print the Carolina Money Saver and other products.

The TRENDSETTER NEWS Thermal CTP Device comes in five models, ranging in speed from 60 to more than 240 plates per hour to suit newspaper printing facilities of all sizes. The TRENDSETTER NEWS Platesetter delivers fast, reliable imaging with a standard file format interface for newspaper production systems. It is available with semi automatic or fully automated plate loading and unloading. The machine to machine accuracy of the KODAK SQUARESPOT Thermal Imaging Heads, combined with the binary nature of thermal imaging, achieves consistent and repeatable halftone dot structures.

THERMALNEWS GOLDDigital Plates meet the rigorous demands of newspaper printing while delivering outstanding resolution for premium newspaper printing and commercial quality printing. THERMALNEWS GOLD Plates offer run lengths of over 200,000 impressions without postbaking. Rapid imaging and processing, faster makeready and plate reliability gives newspapers extra editorial time, and the clean working, low pH, low consumption developer reduces processing costs.

The KODAK VERSAMARK D-Series continuous inkjet solutions for high volume digital printing offer a broad range of printing systems with a comprehensive selection of printing features and functions to print variable information on or offline. The DS5000 family of products series provides print areas from 1“ to 2.77”. KODAK VERSAMARK D-Series Printing Systems can be placed inline with mailroom or press equipment for addressing newspapers, TMC and other direct mail pieces for individual copy delivery. The reliability, flexibility, and ease of use of these printers make them an ideal solution for addressing and personalization within the newspaper production process.

KODAK NEWSMANAGER Workflow System, a powerful PDF workflow management tool for high performance newspaper prepress, enables a flexible, automated workflow from edition plan to plate production. Based on open standards, it easily integrates into existing systems. The NEWSMANAGER Workflow System is scaleable to meet all needs, from contract printers to metropolitan, national and international newspapers with multiple print sites.

The KODAK PRINERGY EVO Workflow System helps newspapers deal with last minute changes easily, without causing delays. Based on the latest standards and proven PRINERGY technology, PRINERGY EVO Software delivers exceptional PDF processing capabilities. A flexible PDF workflow featuring proven color management, late stage editing and imposition, and advanced screening options to optimize output on TRENDSETTER NEWS CTP devices, PRINERGY EVO Systems help deliver the end to end automation, speed, control, and flexibility that newspapers need to accommodate tight editorial and ad deadlines and output large numbers of pages more quickly.

KODAK INSITE Software is a web portal into the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System. It streamlines job submission, job status tracking, and remote content proofing or approval. INSITE Software extends the reach of business operations and improves responsiveness to customer needs, while reducing job cycle times and material costs.

KODAK PREPS Imposition Software supports POSTSCRIPT, PDF, EPS, DCS and TIFF source files. It works with all KODAK and many major third party workflow systems. PREPS Imposition Software helps prepress professionals remove even more manual steps from their preferred workflow by providing digital imposition. PREPS Software enhances production efficiency by integrating more thoroughly with various workflows and accepting more than 200 types of file inputs. PREPS Imposition Software also enhances prepress efficiency and enables greater postpress reliability by automatically generating bar codes that can be read by WST and Muller Martini and Muller Martini bar code readers.

STACCATO Screening produces high fidelity, artifact free images that exhibit fine detail and more impactful color in newspapers. STACCATO Screening creates images without halftone rosettes, screening moiré, gray level limitations, or abrupt jumps in tone — with no impact on RIPing or rendering time. SQUARESPOT Thermal Imaging Technology enables the fine dot structure of STACCATO Screening to be a reliable and practical solution for newspaper printing and an effective competitive edge for publishers.

KODAK products are backed by KODAK Service and Support. Named Best Support Organization at the 2006 International Business Awards, KODAK Service and Support includes more than 3,000 professionals in 120 countries. These professionals are fully qualified to help customers control costs, maximize productivity, and minimize business risk.

About Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator. With sales of $13.3 billion in 2006, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak’s system of digital and traditional products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; Businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using KODAK solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; Creative Professionals rely on KODAK technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images; and leading Healthcare organizations rely on Kodak’s innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within and across their enterprise. More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at http://www.kodak.com.

For more information about Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, visit http://www.graphics.kodak.com. For downloading photos from Kodak’s image library, visit: http://www.kodak.com/go/gcg_image.