Boone Newsmedia boosts printing efficiency with Kodak CTP and KODAK SONORA News Process Free Plates

Boone Newsmedia Inc. (formerly Boone Newspapers Inc. until October 2022) anticipated changes in the newspaper segment early on and expanded through strategic mergers and acquisitions. Today, Boone Newsmedia Inc. (BNI), a privately held company based in Tuscaloosa, AL, owns and/or manages 91 newspapers along with websites, shopping guides and magazines in communities in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Following the consolidation of numerous printing locations for newspapers and magazines as a result of the Covid pandemic, BNI now operates printing facilities in Natchez, MS, Clanton, AL, and Alexander City, AL.

"The future belongs to those of us who will reach out to serve, be innovative, and be imaginative," the founder of Boone Newsmedia once said. In line with this motto, the company is promoting the use of innovative practices in its three printing centers that help increase efficiency and quality and reduce costs. Accordingly, BNI has streamlined and accelerated its prepress and printing operations with the help of Kodak CTP and plate technology.

For many years, the company had relied on CTCP (computer-to-conventional-plate) flatbed platesetters to expose traditional UV-sensitive plates. "The CTCP machines occupied a lot of space and were not particularly fast. Additionally, we had to manually load the plates into the imagers one at a time," explains K.O. Bennett, Production Manager in Natchez. "The imaging and processing of the plates were labor-intensive and time-consuming. That's why we aimed to improve efficiency, save time and money, and achieve faster turnarounds."

As a solution, BNI considered switching to thermal plate imaging and opted for the KODAK TRENDSETTER News Platesetter with S speed and optional autoloader (AL), which can hold up to 166 plates for automatic loading. K.O. Bennett highlights the platesetter's productivity and automation, noting, "The TRENDSETTER News Platesetter, with its automation and speed, represents a huge improvement over our previous CTP machines. We're achieving much faster throughput. Once you send your job, you know the TRENDSETTER News just continues back-to-back making the required plates."

Impressed by the operational reliability of the Kodak platesetter and KODAK SQUARESPOT Thermal Imaging Technology with its precise dot reproduction and accurate registration, the management team at Boone Newsmedia decided to invest in additional automated TRENDSETTER News AL platesetters – two in Natchez and one each in Clanton and Alexander City.

With the implementation of Kodak's thermal CTP solution, the technical requirements for switching from traditional processed plates to process-free plates were met. BNI wanted to embark on the process-free path to get rid of the plate processing equipment and the associated consumption of water, chemicals and electricity. In addition, this move promised to save labor associated with the regular cleaning and maintenance of the processing equipment.

BNI put processless plates from several suppliers through their paces. After encountering problems on press with plate products from two manufacturers, KODAK SONORA News Process Free Plates were tried. Initially, the BNI team was concerned that SONORA News Plates would compromise print quality due to their lower image contrast compared to processed plates. However, the print trials revealed that this assumption was incorrect.

All three BNI printing sites unanimously endorsed SONORA News Process Free Plates as the ideal solution for their operations. A key factor in the decision was Kodak's status as the sole remaining manufacturer of lithographic printing plates in the United States, providing BNI with confidence in a stable, domestic supply chain. The transition to SONORA News Plates was seamless, reinforcing the strength of the choice.

The combination of Kodak's CTP systems and process-free plates has enabled BNI to significantly streamline the print preparation process, save time, and reduce the number of personnel required for platemaking by 50%. "We can produce more plates faster and therefore get to press more quickly," comments K.O. Bennett.

The advantages continue in the pressroom. Thanks to the use of innovative Kodak technologies, according to the production manager, "color registration and print quality have improved significantly." A major advantage of production with SONORA News Plates is much faster press makereadies. This helps save a lot of time and money, especially given the numerous shorter runs that BNI’s printing sites produce.

"Before we switched to process-free technology, it took between 200 and 300 copies for the plates to run clean. Now, with SONORA News Plates, we only generate about 100 waste copies during press makeready. This has reduced our makeready paper and ink waste by two-thirds, allowing us to start production runs more quickly," says K.O. Bennett, who is very pleased not only with the prepress and plate technology but also with the service and support provided by Kodak. "Kodak's customer service is exceptional. Whenever an issue arises, a service specialist is on hand in no time to resolve it immediately. We also appreciate that Kodak’s sales team goes above and beyond to assist us. This is true partnership in action."

"We seek to produce the highest quality product the economics of the community served can support. And then, by ingenuity and imagination, we strive for a higher quality in an effort to serve and build that community," BNI founder James B. Boone, Jr., once outlined the company's philosophy. Kodak's advanced CTP and plate technology helps Boone Newsmedia deliver on this promise every day.

^{KODAK, SONORA, TRENDSETTER and SQUARESPOT are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.}