Mr. B. Kent Raistrick, the company’s chief operating officer, believes that the company had not previously chosen CTP because the technology was not mature at the time and it was not cost-effective, so there was no investment in this immature technology.
Winchester Printing Company's latest CTP device Raistrick recalls: Winchester company introduced its first Apple computer (only 32 MB of memory) 20 years ago, and 8 years later, the company bought a 7300 with a scanner. Then the company also has Appletalk, which can be networked: this machine can store a large amount of company's job content faster.
Raistrick said: In 2000, the company installed a G3-powered Saangelo Dolev 450 imagesetter. Last fall, the introduction of ECRM News4 was the time to introduce CTP. The price of CTP is very competitive, which saves us time and improves printing quality. News4 was installed in March this year and I feel very satisfied.
10 times faster than a film
Bill Calvert and the Glasgow brothers (Ed and Dave) are shareholders of the Calvert & Glasgow Printing Company in northeast Philadelphia. Ed Glasgow said that they no longer want to spend the days of producing four-color plates with 19 films.
In December last year, this four-employee, 2,400-square-foot printing plant entered the digital age with the help of a Heidelberg direct platemaking machine. They chose CTP because they bought a new 5-color Speedmaster 52 double-sided press. This system is perfect. Registration and prepress preparation are fast—10 times faster than film printing. CTP is indeed worth the money.
Platesetters, printers and a Epson 7500 with color-calibrating devices are part of Calvert & Glasgow’s strategic goals of enhancing corporate image and carrying out large volumes of complex printing. Glasgow said their company will also provide plate-making services to small print shops that do not yet have CTPs.
Calvert & Glasgow's Hamada press currently uses plates printed on negative-tone metal plates and platesetters. But Glasgow said that such time will not be too long, within a year, they will eliminate old equipment and printing system. They no longer need to output old-fashioned plates for the SM52.
Not CTP, LTP
Tim Trower, owner of White Star Services, said his company is still using the Linotype-to-plate (LTP) system, a cast-replacement system. Trower's letterpress printing factory mainly serves the area around Springfield, MO. He said: "We have two Linotypes (Lynn's entire line cast machine) and a Ludlow (Lardrow cast machine), in addition, we have never used any other typesetting system."
Trower's father took him into the world of relief and inspired his love of such a career. He said: "I have been my father's printing assistant since I was 13 years old - I used the Ludlow he owned."
Today, Guy, an 81-year-old old man from Trower, often helps the company. Although the old Trower was reluctant to learn metal foil embossing or embossing techniques, Tim Trower admitted that his father was a veteran of his typesetting system.
Guy Trower and his caster
The company's main business includes: imprinting, counting, foil stamping, die cutting and punching. Although Trower is very addicted to the traditional plate-making world, he still pays attention to the current development trend and equipment.
Trower said: "I insist on doing this because it can communicate well with my customers. We don't have a big customer who is using HP Indigo and Kodak Digimaster."