Newspaper Workflow Suggestions

[jhbush]

Hi I know this has probably been covered, but I couldn't find what I needed so I figured I would ask.

We are a medium sized newspaper in Florida. We use a web press for all of our jobs. We are currently using Kodak EVO 3.XXX. We are currently looking at Kodak Prinergy, AGFA Apogee, Pro Image Newsway, and Fusion. I worked with Apogee for a many years at other companies that used offset. I am not sure if it would be the right fit for a newspaper. We are making a big leap forward and I want to get the best solution for the situation. We are also looking to incorporate a MIS system. It appears that EPACE and Technique work well with the AGFA and Kodak products. We also currently use Asura if that helps with opinions. Any help or info is most appreciated.

[Printservedigital]

Don't Agfa supply the Arkitex product for CTP workflow? That's probably a good product if you are looking at MIS as well.

As far as I can see apogee is for commercial.


Director and Producer will give you the flow monitoring you need, tracing and tracking ability.

[Printservedigital]

I've used Agfa Director, Producer Grafix RIP & Newsdrive and they've worked well with their CTP

[WiseGuy]

We have many large and small newspaper customers that use Fusion and Dynastrip Automation which were both designed for Newspaper workflows.

In fact, Dynagram, Fusion and Alfaquest are going to have a webinar next month (March 12th) for newspaper customers. But of course, if you would like to see what Dynastrip can do by itself for your workflow, we'd be more than happy to arrange a private demo. Best to just email us at sales@dynagram.com and our guys can help you out.

I hope your search goes well!
Michael Reiher
Director of Sales and Marketing
Dynagram

[Hessel]

We use Arkitex 6 and harlequin RIP, for newspaper this is in my opinion the best solution.
We use it since the launch of the Arkitex product and we are very happy about it. User friendly, easy maintenance..etc....

[eskopdl]

Checking with an EskoArtwork rep may not be a bad idea as well.
With the Integration of FastImpose (Imposition), BackStage (workflow), and a Flexrip (output), a system of automatic page positioning, imposition template selection, individual page approvals, and plate outputs can be setup. We can setup so that once any completed flat of an imposition has been approved for output it is automatically ripped, so you do not have to wait for the rest the imposition before stating to run plates. One Example: if a 2up flat has one page with CMYK and the other is only K, once the CMYK page is approved BackStage will output the plates CMY and wait until the K only page on that flat is approved for output to send the K plate with both pages K on it. Substituting pages at the last minute is a drag and drop operation.

BackStage can query MIS databases for useful information, and send back to MIS systems XML updates for feedback on workflow functions.. BackStage is JDF compatible to aid in Job creation and specifications.

This may help: EskoArtwork Commercial Printing solutions for large volume commercial printers

[Quetu]

PuzzleFlow WebPairer or PuzzleFlow Automator


PuzzleFlow WebPairer was designed from the ground up, to cover all aspects of newspaper production. WebPairer makes complex tasks, become very simple. If you know how to “surf” the internet, 60% of your training is already done !

WebPairer is an automated, native Pdf processing engine that works with all file formats (Postscript, EPS , Tiff, etc…). It can produce print-ready plate files for in-house or remote print site production. It will also automatically deliver other needed formats of your pages (archive Pdf, online Pdf, jpg, gif, tiff, etc..) to anywhere you need them sent.

PuzzleFlow - Prepress Solutions Europe

PuzzleFlow - Prepress Solutions USA

PuzzleFlow - Prepress Solutions Spain

[alfa]

alfaQuest has several workflow solutions which have been designed specifically for newspapers, including our alfa CTP workflow which is Fusion and Dynagram based, along with our own PrintExpress Consolidated Workflow which is designed for mid-size and major metro newspapers. You should check out Welcome to alfaQuest !

[jschrieber]

Hey JH....you sure know how find vendors, huh !?

We're also a mid-sized paper, but in the middle of the country .... just under 200,000 circ. Probably can't be a huge help for you since we've been using PPI (Pape&Partner, Inc) as our planning/output system since we installed a ManRoland Geomann press in 2000/2001. PPI is now owned by ManRoland, so probably not a viable option for your situation.

We do our ripping with Agfa GRAFIXrip ... 2 dedicated to plates for ManRoland, 1 for proofing, and 1 dedicated to our JobShop for commercial work.

ROP is sent back to PPI which sends them to the RIPs for bitmaps, then back to PPI where they're distributed to the appropriate NewsDrive and then Polaris CTP.

The GRAFIXrip replaced Apogees, and are MUCH easier to work with .... configure, etc .... Apogees were a pain, in my mind, but worked fine once set up.

PPI would assemble news blocks with ad blocks, if you want to run that way .... we send completed EPS of each page to PPI, however, preferring to assemble them totally on the front-end system.

Everything here passes through Asura, too .... I'd be a total wreck by now if we hadn't stumbled onto OneVision a few years back! .... running two Asura's with a total of close to 80 channels. The Asura servers are part of a virtual farm environment ... works great but the dongles were a bit of a nuisance.

Probably doesn't help you too much ... just a non-vendor point of reference.

(Sorry I don't have anything to sell you!)
jack

[Printservedigital]

Hey Jack I worked on a similar set up but with 2 x Colorman press.

Do you use the pecom system with your Geoman? How do you find it?