Boone Newsmedia

Boone Newsmedia Inc. (BNI) anticipated changes in the newspaper segment early on and expanded through strategic mergers and acquisitions. The company 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, BNI today operates printing facilities in Natchez, MS, Clanton, AL, and Alexander City, AL. Efficient and reliable platemaking operations at all three printing sites are essential for the company.

Boone Newsmedia recognized the need to streamline and speed up its platemaking process. For many years, the company had relied on CTCP (computer-to-conventional-plate) flatbed platesetters to expose traditional UV-sensitive processed plates. The plateroom staff had to manually load the plates into the imagers one at a time. Imaging and processing of the plates were labor-intensive and time-consuming overall.

In addition, BNI aimed to pursue a process-free approach to get rid of the plate processing equipment and the associated consumption of water, chemicals, and electricity. This move also promised to save labor associated with the regular manual cleaning and maintenance of the processing equipment, further streamlining operations in the plateroom.

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.

Impressed by the operational reliability of the Kodak platesetter and KODAK SQUARESPOT Thermal Imaging Technology with its precise dot reproduction and accurate registration, the BNI management team 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 put processless plates from several suppliers through their paces. After encountering problems on press with plates 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 Kodak’s 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," adds K.O. Bennett.