How many times have you got this… despite aiming to a very different result?

I bet it’s happened so often you’ve lost count. You’ve grown accustomed to it, to such an extent you’re not even surprised any more.

You get the film from your old photounit and put it into the exposure unit. At the end of exposure everything looks fine, so the plate goes straight through washing and drying. You can’t wait to finish so that you can move on, but suddenly you realize… that the plate is a total mess.

 Of course, I mean, not until you have gone through the whole production process and think it’s finally over do you find out that the results are so poor they might as well go begging around in the street. Letters and screens are blurred and guess who’s going to start from scratch?…
You clench your fist around the screwdriver and for a brief moment you feel the urge to stab your processor right in the middle of the control panel!

A whole lot of time and plates wasted, and you’re back at the beginning.
In the meantime, work piles up… And thus it was that a mild vegan turned into Hannibal Lecter.

At first you think that the problem might lie in the photounit and you call for technical support. Considering their handsome fees, the least they can do is come and fix it.

But the technician tells you that the photounit is blameless. And you say to yourself: “Thank goodness it’s still healthy enough” (you cross your fingers and “long live the old bugger!”). And that is lucky indeed: these days, spare parts are expensive as hell and practically impossible to find. 

So you set aside this hypothesis and call your plate supplier for comfort. But he knows everything already. “Blame it on your films!“, he says. All he has to do to prove it is carry out a test with a different negative and guess what? The plate comes out perfect at first attempt.

At this point you are completely puzzled. “I’ve been using the same film since forever, the code is the same… How is this possible??”. Truth be told, films are now impossible to find, incredibly expensive and even their production is no longer constant.
They are the ones that turn the process into a Russian roulette, but who can afford to do the same job over and over again until it comes out decent enough to be shown in public? 

 Who’s got all that time and material to throw away?

If you were born with saintly patience, you may think it’s normal to waste time, money and material to do the same plate a hundred times before it comes out as you want it.
But let me tell you. These are the signs of an impending catastrophe: the extinction of the analogue system.
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know this.
Think about it. It’s been 20 years since the advent of the digital system. As it usually happens, the more advanced technology is going to completely replace the older one.
 It’s only a matter of time, but there is no denying this: if you stick to the analogue, you’ll soon get to a dead end.

I’m not exaggerating! The films you’ve always worked with are going to disappear.

That’s right: DISAPPEAR.
I’m talking about proper matted films, the ones that allow for perfect vacuum when matched to the photopolymer and reach up to over 4.0 density value in the black. 
Like tape recorders, telex and black-and-white televisions, it won’t be long before these films turn into a must-have for vintage items collectors.
 You’ll soon find yourself unable to find your films, or someone to supply them to you.
And until then, you’ll have to face a steady rise in the price of films that get less constant every day. Because when the availability of a product falls, its cost rises accordingly and manufacturers are forced to save money, even on the materials they use… that’s why you get so many faulty films.

It doesn’t matter if you produce your own films or buy them from trade shops – you’re sitting on a clockwork bomb with the countdown on!

I know, thinking about the future in this way is far from heart-warming, but you have to face the truth if you want to have a chance to survive.

Let me add something. The present is not all sunshine and rainbows either. I’ll name three words and I bet you’ll instantly agree with me: photounit, chemicals, vacuum.

Use and disposal of chemicals, maintenance, spare parts. The acid needs changing at least once a week if you want to have proper black and not fifty shades of gray. And don’t even get me started on the vacuum. No printer on earth is able to keep cool at hearing this word. You break into cold sweat as you tiptoe towards the exposure drawer, balancing the plate in your hands. You try hard not to loose your temper as you assemble every single piece of film like a puzzle, but almost rave mad as the vacuum keeps sabotaging your good intentions – you unroll it slowly so that the films don’t move on the plate, but there’s always at least one that does, so you have to roll and unroll the vacuum a whole bunch of times. Then you carefully push the air bubbles out, and the vacuum lifts along the edges, and on you go rolling and unrolling. Enough to prompt cursewords out of a nun’s mouth.

Please don’t panic just yet, it’s not too late to do something about this. But time is ticking on, and you need to take action before you find yourself unable to supply your customers. 

If you print with narrow web band flexo or letterpress plates
If sometimes you don’t have enough jobs to fill an entire plate
If you also need to work on small sizes

… THE RIGHT SOLUTION FOR YOU NOW EXISTS!

A CTP system designed for you…

           … needing to cut costs [photounit!]
                 … wanting to raise not only your revenue [printing like crazy] but also your INCOMES
                      [with quality labels]
            … being sick and tired of quotations for CTPs where the sky is the limit [while software and maintenance costs are not even covered]  

… and not knowing where to turn.

Not quite convinced yet? Please do not hesitate to contact me by writing to me at customercare@ditom.it and I’ll be glad to share some further readings with you.

Stay tuned!