29.09.11 - At a time when many printers are deferring capital expenditures because of the economy, Tribune Publishing Co. in Columbia, Mo., is making a major investment to improve print quality and grow its commercial printing business.
Tribune Publishing Co. announced the addition of two Krause LS-Jet 250 platesetters with two Glunz & Jensen Interplater 85HDX processors to the company’s plate processing line. FUJIFILM North America Corp., Graphic Systems Division, provided the equipment as it operates as the Krause Dealer in North America.

"When we began to plan to replace our existing platesetters we had three goals," said Andy Waters, Tribune Publishing president and general manager. "We wanted to
increase productivity, improve quality, and grow our business."

The upgrade replaced equipment that was reaching the end of its life cycle and nearly doubled plate throughput for each line. The increased throughput has enabled Tribune Publishing’s prepress operators to save valuable time in the production cycle for each job. The new equipment also has resulted in lower maintenance costs. Additional cost savings have come from switching from YAG technology to modern violet lasers and plates. "We’re getting more impressions from each plate before it starts to wear and has to be replaced," Waters said. "That results in lower production costs for us and, ultimately, our customers."

At the same time, the new technology has dramatically improved print quality. "With the addition of the Krause LS-Jet platesetters and Fujifilm LP-NNV violet plates, we have better control over dot gain resulting from the plate being near linear," Waters said. In addition, the design of the LS-Jet and the repeatability of image placement on plate has reduced plate remakes and press downtime for quality issues. "The investment in our plateroom has kept us ahead of our competition in terms of
quality and cost control," Tribune publisher Vicki Russell said, "and that’s never been
more important for our customers than it is now."