How many CTP’s you are aware of running for about 2 decades?
CTP – 20 years & Still in Great Form
20 years ago – that’s in 2002 first CTP by CREO was installed in India @ Pragati Offset. Throughput was 10 plates per hour for 40inch wide plates. That power horse is still running, imaging high-definition screenings of 20 microns and > 200 LPI, day in and out at maximum upgradable speed of 28 plates of 40 inch wide per hour.
There was no doubt about the innovative external drum Laser head architecture by CREO. The difficult part was workflow selection. That was transition era between postscript and PDF. A 4-day onsite demo of Scitex Brisque workflow by this author clinched the deal in favour of CREO SCITEX. Director of IT / Prepress Mr. Ram Kodali was instrumental in workflow selection and successful implementation.
Next two years were filled with ecstasy for a support engineer like me implementing 20 micron staccato, experimenting with different screen rulings like 280 LPI Spekta by SCREEN, Monet FM screening by Esko. Printing High definition screening by offset consistently is a challenge. And we accomplished this.
In few years Brisque was end-of-life. It was replaced with Prinergy by Kodak. Pragati’s tech savvy and futuristic owners replaced Brisque with legendary Esko workflow which met their diversified business of packaging and labels.
The next generation owner, a graduate with Highest Honours from Rochester Institute of Technology, continued the journey of innovation. In 2012 Imp software became common platform for layout planning of packaging, labels and commercial jobs.
In 2017 Estimation module in SAP was replaced by InSoft’s estimation module. Harsha says, “Imp is single software that does layout planning & estimation for our entire job range – commercial, packaging, rigid boxes, and labels. We have 50 users in layout planning and sales team at ten locations using Imp software. It certainly helped enhance our margins.”
Back to our topic- How many Computer to Plate (CTP) engines are running continuously for 20 years plus?
