ECRM Introduces WorkMates News Open Workflow

By: E&P Staff ECRM, Tewksbury, Mass., is introducing WorkMates News, designed to be a complete, open newspaper workflow for processing PDF, PostScript, TIFF, PDF/X-1A, PDF/X-3, EPS, DCS, or DCS2 files and compatibility with standard prepress equipment.

Working through hot folders or printing directly from a Mac or PC, production managers can ROOM (RIP once, output
many) while creating, capturing, and outputting pages to a platesetter or imagesetter.

WorkMates News "enables production managers to automate defined tasks, accelerate productivity, and instantly become compatible with desired file formats," ECRM Product Manager John Marzec said in a statement announcing the solution. Unlike traditional workfow, he continued, WorkMates News will enable newspapers to capture a file as a PDF, impose, RIP, and proof, and preview it before imaging so that files on the RIP may be repurposed at a later date, valuable time near deadline.

The prepress solution has a Web browser interface for publication planning, template creation, page monitoring, viewing and proofing. "Pixel-on-demand" soft-proofing of ROOMed files allows content verification and greater certainty that proofs match plates. The graphical browser allows use by multiple operators "without paying for more client licenses," ECRM said.

Built-in preflighting finds and fixes problems, while JPEG files printed in separations can be output in CMYK and RGB files are either easily converted to CMYK using preset parameters or filtered out and reported as errors. Users also may separate spot colors into CMYK or output as spot separations.