The Post-Searchlight and Bainbridge Media is being featured as a success story by Kodak after a recent visit by company representatives who inquired about productivity provided by a cutting-edge piece of machinery in use in the newspaper’s press operations.

In October 2008, Bainbridge Media purchased a Kodak Trendsetter 70 News platesetter—used in pre-press operations, creating the plates containing the information on each page of newsprint. The upgrade to the new technology was made in efforts to improve quality, cut costs and increase production time.

General Manager Mark Pope explained the significance of the new machine and its capabilities.

“We still had a horizontal camera and two single page-width image setters,” Pope said. “Moving to the new Trendsetter 70, we are saving significant production time.”

Creating a color plate that a few months ago would have taken nearly 45 minutes to produce is now ready for the press in under 10 minutes—an increase in production of more than 400 percent, he said. The machine also eliminated the need for a number of antiquated pre-press tools such as image setters, film strippers and plate burners as well as eliminating the need for a number of chemicals.

Bainbridge Media prints roughly 35 million pages per month and is the largest print facility within Boone Newspapers Inc.

Publisher Jeff Findley is quoted in Kodak’s promotional materials, “Our press operators love the new plates. Jobs come up to registration a lot faster. Our start-up waste has decreased by about 200 copies per run, and we’ve had no problems with washing the plates.”

Findley said, “Our pre-press area now consists of the Trendsetter Platesetter and two computers. That’s all we need. When the plates come out of the platesetter, we punch them, bend them and mount them on the press. It’s that easy.”

With the success and increased productivity brought by the Kodak Trendsetter, Bainbridge Media is being used as a focal point in a Kodak campaign to promote the company’s new technology.