Waterless Update

In its current incarnation, waterless printing has been around for nearly a decade, but has gone largely overlooked by publishers until recently. The perception seemed to be that waterless was just for short-run, high-end products such as corporate image brochures, annual reports and product brochures—and indeed those types of projects make up the bulk of waterless work. However, developments in the last year or two, including longer runs made possible on web offset presses and the success of computer-to-waterless-plate, have made publishers large and small sit up and take notice. Even publishing giant Time Inc., New York City, is pursuing the process. Len Cuprynski, director of materials quality, is anxious to explore the benefits of waterless printing: enhanced and more consistent quality compared with conventional printing; reduction in paper makeready and running waste; elimination of the printing variables associated with ink/water balance; and the environmental advantages of the waterless process. Cuprynski feels that the more simplified and efficient printing process of waterless can ultimately lead to cost savings for the publisher. What is this process that has sparked such interest? Waterless printing is offset printing without fountain solution, rendering the age-old lithographic principles of oil and water irrelevant. It requires a silicone-rubber-coated plate, special ink and a means of temperature control on press.The plate surface is intaglio, which means that it has recessed image areas and can reproduce extremely high screen rulings of 275- to 600-line screens, although the standard for waterless printers is a 300-line screen. These plate characteristics yield higher ink densities and a broader color spectrum than conventional printing processes.Any print job requiring a high degree of reproduction accuracy and detail will benefit from printing waterless.Nothing but the bestEaston, MD-based Cadmus Journal Services, a division of Cadmus Communications, has been printing waterless for more than two years now, on two six-unit, full-size, double-web Hantscho Mark XVIs and a two-unit, 38˝ sheetfed press. According to Senior Vice President Richard Samuels, Cadmus invested in waterless because "it's the best image reproduction method available.""We do a lot of life sciences work, with images of photomicrographs and x-rays, where all the lines, shadows and specific shading have enormous meaning," he explains. "Our objective is to reproduce the images as accurately as possible." Samuels acknowledges that there are some options on press that will enhance a commercial product to make it cleaner, brighter, sharper. "(But) you don't have those options with this product line," he stresses. "You're never sure where you're dealing with aesthetics and where you're dealing with science." Keller Kaufman-Fox, managing editor of the Journal of Neurosurgery, published by Park Ridge, IL-based American Association of Neurological Surgeons, couldn't agree more. The monthly journal, which is printed waterless web offset at Cadmus, averages about 180 pages, with lots of photomicrographs (slides that have been stained with dyes showing single cells and multiple cells for a given disease process) and neuroimages, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CAT scan). Whether in four-color or black-and-white, Kaufman-Fox stresses the importance of both color precision and detail. "You're looking at each disease or lesion of the brain or spinal cord, and diagnoses are based on these scans and photomicrographs," she points out. "It's extremely important to be able to reproduce them accurately."Kaufman-Fox had heard of the Toray waterless plate, which is the original waterless plate, and asked Cadmus to prepare a presentation on waterless printing and its own experience with the process. Cadmus complied and, within two months, the Journal of Neurosurgery made the switch. Now, more than a year later, Kaufman-Fox notes that waterless clearly improved the color quality and detail rendering of the journal, which prints about 13,000 copies on 55# Somerset semi-gloss body and 80# Mead Offset Enamel cover.From sheetfed to waterless webThe American Society of Investigative Pathology (ASIP) has been taking advantage of Cadmus' waterless web offset printing capabilities for over two years. The American Journal of Pathology's print run is about 4,500 copies monthly on 55# Somerset, averaging 350 pages. The publication had been printing sheetfed at Cadmus but when ASIP wanted to switch to web offset to reduce its paper costs, the printer recommended waterless. About half of the figures in the journal are four-color. According to Managing Editor Priscilla Smith, color quality and detail are huge issues for the journal's readership and authors, since the substance of the color figures usually cannot be reproduced in black-and-white and there is such minutia to the figures. Smith and her staff have been very satisfied with the waterless results.R. R. Donnelley & Sons has been printing magazine covers waterless on its Heidelberg Harris M-90 web offset press in Mendota, IL, for almost three years, with average run lengths of 40,000, and is testing the process on eight-unit equipment with lightweight No. 5 coated papers. At the Waterless Printing Association's (WPA) HOT Waterless Forum held in Chicago last September, Donnelley's Ed Weinberger opined that, if waterless progresses as he expects, 50 percent of Donnelley's print volume could be waterless within five years.Another trend in the waterless industry, and the one that has had the biggest impact on the accelerated growth of waterless printing, according to WPA Executive Director Arthur LeFebvre, is computer-to-waterless-plate (CTWP), made possible by the convergence of thermal imaging and Presstek's PEARLdry thermal ablative plates.A natural evolution of its direct-to-press PEARL imaging technology first seen on Heidelberg's GTO-DI presses in 1993, Presstek's PEARLdry plates are constructed of a dimensionally stable aluminum base, with a thermal-reactive image forming middle layer which reacts to the energy of the laser as it generates a dot. The image area is formed by removing (ablating) the top ink-repellent silicone layer. PEARLdry plates are being imaged in thermal platesetters from Creo, Gerber, Presstek and others, with remarkable results.Presstek's PEARL imaging plate material is still used on GTO-DIs and other direct imaging presses: Heidelberg's Quickmaster DI, the Omni-Adast 705C-DI series and the recently developed Scitex/KBA Planeta 74 Karat. These presses comprise yet another faction of waterless printing.Polychrome (now Kodak Polychrome Graphics) announced its Quantum NAW non-ablative thermal waterless plate at WPA's HOT Waterless conference. The new plate, said to image almost five times faster than any other waterless plate, should be in beta testing at this time. Other thermally sensitive waterless plates are expected from Toray and Kodak Polychrome Graphics, and are being developed by other major plate vendors.Some printers—including waterless pioneer Cedar Graphics, based in Ronkonkoma, NY—are not content to offer just a single waterless option to their customers. Serving a commercial customer base that includes the fashion and cosmetics industry, Cedar prints at least 75 percent of its work waterless on one of three six-color sheetfed presses or its Quickmaster DI. In December 1996, Cedar became one of the first waterless printers to run Presstek's eight-page PEARLdry plates, exposed in a Creo Trendsetter. Cedar also anticipates adding a Creo VLF (very-large-format) series platesetter for work on its 51˝ and planned 56˝ presses.Mike Clark, Cedar's vice president and past president of the WPA, notes that everything Cedar buys new is waterless and he hopes that the plant will be 100 percent waterless someday. But for now, the Creo platesetters offer Cedar the flexibility of imaging waterless plates, conventional plates and even film.If you're looking for better overall quality—regardless of what screening method you use or what paper you print on, for runs of 100 to 100,000 or more—check out waterless printing. With more than 300 waterless printing presses installed in this country alone, plus almost another 300 waterless direct imaging presses, there's bound to be a printer that can accommodate your needs. -Kathy ReillyKathy Reilly is a Milwaukee-based production consultant and former contributing editor to this magazine. She is associate director of the Waterless Printing Association and associate editor of Waterless Currents, and recently authored WPA's white paper on Computer-to-Waterless-Plate.

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