Eagle Tribune Publishing Company (Newpaper Printer)

Technology Helps Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company Soar to New Heights

More than 200,000 New Englanders read a newspaper published by The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company each day. Some are interested in football statistics, while others are focused on business trends. Regardless of their interests, readers can depend on Eagle-Tribune newspaper to deliver important information on time. That's because at The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company headquarters there is a never-ending production cycle of editorial deadlines, advertising inserts, page layouts, proofing, filmsetting, plate production, printing, folding, finishing and shipping - all under the watchful eye of a dedicated staff, ensuring that the news will be in the hands of readers again the next day.

The cycle has continued for more than 100 years at The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company, based in North Andover, Massachusetts(USA), which produces four daily newspapers and six weekly journals that reach 212,000 readers in 52 communities throughout New Hampshireand Massachusetts. The publications are important to readers and have been recognised repeatedly for excellence in journalism. The Eagle-Tribune recently won a second Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for breaking news coverage of the tragic drowning of four young boys in the Merrimack River.

The staff is as dedicated to the production of the paper as they are the content. At any given point, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company's ten publications are in different stages of production. With each paper on a tight deadline, it's hard to even consider changing the workflow. But, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company examined the benefits of CtP for newspapers and decided to take the chance.

The CtP Decision

Dennis Turmel, vice president of operations at The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company, looked at numerous vendors to explore and compare CtP devices. He needed a reliable machine that would fit easily into the workflow and produce a high volume of quality plates in a short time.

He saw a variety of devices, including thermal and CTcP platesetters from many different vendors, but decided that violet laser technology was the best choice for his newspapers. The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company also opted against the smooth finish of Flexo, deciding that there was more control with offset printing. Having been a long-time Agfa film and :Avantra imagesetter user, Turmel decided to continue his partnership with the company that had proved to be stable and responsive to his needs. Agfa's solution also clearly provided the lowest total cost of ownership.

"You never know who is going to be around tomorrow in this market," he explained. "The Agfa name comes with stability."

A Violet Solution at the End of the Rainbow

Turmel first saw Agfa's :Advantage DL3850 violet-laser CtP system when it was launched at NEXPO 2003. It was a different kind of platesetter than he was used to seeing. He expected to see a huge machine with hundreds of moving parts, but instead was pleased to encounter a smaller and much simpler device that he perceived would be easy to operate, easy to fix and easy for his employees to learn.

Turmel liked the :Advantage's violet-diode because of its accuracy and reliability. He had also heard horror stories about costly laser replacements and short life span with other laser technologies. He already knew violet-diodes had an exceptionally long life, but was further impressed when he learned that in the more than 1,000 installations, no violet laser had failed. Not one.

"The economics really work when you look at the :Advantage. We did a full ROI and cost of ownership model, and the :Advantage was way ahead of any of their competitors," said Turmel, "We especially liked that the durable violet laser system would last much longer. With violet, I am back to the same conditions as with my imagesetters, when I never had to worry about laser cost or replacements. They just don't fail."

A Perfect Fit

Shortly after Nexpo, in August 2003, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company installed the :Advantage DL3850, becoming the first user in the world. The operation didn't miss a single beat. Amazingly, the :Advantage was turning out plates the day after installation, surprising the entire staff.

The :Advantage DL3850 saved time in prepress instantly. Using filmsetters, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company could produce 80 plates an hour. With the :Advantage, that number rose to 100 plates an hour. The time saved in prepress was added to other areas of the operation. Previously, editorial deadlines were about 26 minutes to press. With the new system, deadlines were extended to 10 minutes. The shorter start-up times meant that later-breaking stories could make it into the paper and reach readers.

"Before, it would take us 12 minutes to make a plate. Now we're soft proofing pages and producing plates in less than a minute," Turmel said.

The :Advantage DL3850 helped productivity so much at The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company, that shortly after purchasing the first system, they bought another!

The Eagle Adds Agfa Workflow and Finishing

The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company also transitioned to Agfa's :Arkitex workflow, which they beta-tested. :Arkitex is a specialised system for newspapers that tracks and manages processes from the front-end all the way to the pressroom; it provides automatic feedback on the status and actions required. It allows users to track details, obtain proofs and receive approvals from authorised users before making film, plates or transmitting data to print sites.

:Arkitex added greater efficiency for The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company, by providing the platform for a fully automated workflow; from page layout, to proofing, to imaging. The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company can push editorial deadlines back even further, and reduce human error by shipping only the approved pages to be imaged by the platesetter.

"Not only does :Arkitex provide automation of our workflow now, it's scalable, so it will be able to accommodate our future needs," said Turmel. "The system was easy to learn, and my staff is extremely comfortable working with it. Software can be tricky - if it is too cumbersome, it could do more harm than good. With :Arkitex, I have solid workflow and peace of mind "

In addition to the two :Advantage DL3850 systems and :Arkitex workflow, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company also added Agfa's :OptiBend System, a versatile plate punching and bending system. Its unique flexibility allows it to handle both multiple punches and bend configurations with different plate cut-off lengths during a single production run. Built for high-speed throughput of up to 240 broadsheet plates per hour, the :OptiBend System punches and bends one plate while positioning the next plate. :OptiBend is online to both :Advantage DL3850's ensuring continuous, seamless production and double the plate output.

Bringing Values of the Past into the Future

The Eagle-Tribune is one of the few local, family-owned newspapers still publishing in Americaand its owners continue to believe that readers are better served by neighbours than by corporate policy.

Today, the Rogers family still owns the Eagle-Tribune's ten publications which include: The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass), The Salem News, (Salem, Mass) The Daily News (Newburyport Mass) and The Gloucester Daily Times (Gloucester, Mass), Derry News (Derry, NH), Weekender (Derry, NH) Andover Townsmen (Andover, Mass), The Haverhill Gazette (Haverhill, MA), Carriage Towne News (Kingston, NH) and Town Crossings (North Andover & Boxford, Mass). The family also is involved with Eagle Communications, a graphic-arts company in Haverhill, Mass.

With tight community ties and a rich history that predates modern newspaper printing methods, The Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company understands not only where it's been, but where it is headed - and what it has to do to get there to keep churning out the pages that document history.