Press operations manager Jeremy Blake told ProPrint the regional publisher installed the N92V VCF system last Monday, and it was handling live plates by Wednesday afternoon.

The Daily, which is based in Mildura, had been using a manual process with Agfa Analogue plate technology ever since it converted to a tabloid size in 2007.

“Basically, everyone in the newspaper industry uses CTP now,” Blake said. “We’ve been holding off, waiting for the unit that’s right for us. The advantage of this unit is it’s the right size for us, so it just suited us down to the ground.”

“It’s an ideal system for a small regional daily newspaper,” he added.

Blake also cited the environmental and cost benefits of the chemistry-free system as motivations behind choosing the Agfa system, pointing to the absence of fixer and developer as particular benefits.

Blake estimated the company runs through about 500 plates per week at its printing site in Mildura, which also houses a three-high Goss Community press and a Goss UOP unit.

The newspaper is published from Monday to Saturday and has a readership of 35,000 throughout the Sunraysia region.

Earlier this month, South Australia’s The Murray Pioneer also upgraded to the N92 VCF system for its printing site in Renmark.

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