NewsWay Manages 'Wenatchee World' Workflow

By: E&P Staff The Wenatchee (Wash.) World is fully automating its computer-to-plate workflow with NewsWay from New ProImage, an Agfa company based in Or Akiva, Israel, with offices in Princeton, N.J., and London.

Having recently installed Creo Trendsetter thermal platesetting equipment, the World sought to optimize production, from prepress through press, with a digital workflow solution.

"No other product reviewed by the World offered a full featured cross-platform capability; we will be one of the first installations to fully use NewsWay on a Mac," said Production and Strategic Initiatives Director Stephen Schroeder. "Since NewsWay is browser-based," he added, "we are not forced to purchase individual licenses and install specific applications on each workstation.

After installing NewsWay, Schroeder said, the editorial department will switch from using older versions of QuarkXPress and saving completed pages as PostScript files to using Adobe InDesign and automatically creating PDF files.

Creating edition plans from data provided by the World's Ad Layout System from Managing Editor Inc., NewsWay will track edition plans, manage job priorities and scheduling, collate editorial and ads as PDFs, and provide imposition, page pairing, and soft proofing. NewsWay's generic planning tool will be used for commercial work. The company's commercial print customers all supply press-ready PDFs, which will streamline file handling and reduce labor.

NewsWay will automate the entire process after customers place completed PDFs on an FTP server. Some customers will be able to view and authorize RIPed plates entirely online. Approved plates will be imaged on the Creo devices without operator intervention. With NewsWay installed, the World plans to staff the plate room only for maintenance.

With the World's KBA Comet able to print 32 color pages in full color at a remote plant, NewsWay will improve page tracking and pairing. The system also will enable the staff to attach useful annotations, automatically alert to any events, load-balance the RIPs, and automatically burn text and furniture onto plates. It then will pass CIP3 data to KBA's Logtronics ink-control system.

NewsWay will report specific jobs tracked against deadline, total plates used by job, day, and month, plates wasted, and so on, providing information to further optimize production and reduce waste.