With NewsWayX, Yuma Sun brings maximum workflow efficiency

Princeton, NJ – Horizon Publications’ Yuma, Arizona Sun has a long history with ProImage. The publisher has been managing all local newspapers and issues with the NewsWay workflow software since 2005.

At that time the newspaper belonged to the newspaper conglomerate Freedom Communications. The paper is now part of Horizon’s Rhode Island Suburban Newspaper Group.

The Sun has made various NewsWay upgrades over the past 15 years to include edition scheduling, page tracking, leveling RIPs for load balancing, page imposing, plate softproofing, customizing images for fan-out and to manage the output on your two CTP devices.

“When Freedom switched its newspapers to CTP, we implemented NewsWay Lite,” said David Fornof, director of operations. “We did this for as long as we could. When it came time to upgrade, we stayed with NewsWay – and I’m really glad we did. “

In 2018, The Sun switched to NewsWayX, ProImage’s next-generation newspaper production workflow. Pitstop Server has also been added to preflight PDF pages to reduce errors. NewsWayX is based on HTML-5 and offers a single user interface for more transparency in planning and the status of the edition.

“NewsWayX has a lot of bells and whistles and we’ve added a lot of options,” said Fornof.

Use the remote functions of NewsWayX
This functionality led Horizon to add remote workflow management for its California newspapers – the Santa Maria Times, Appeal Democrat in Marysville, and Antelope Valley Press in Palmdale – as well as the Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Each location accesses Yuma’s centralized NewsWayX system via a secure login. The production workers on any paper can view and manage their own pages and plates, eliminating the need for local servers at these locations.

“If they have a press, we think of it as a site, and then each of those sites also has multiple locations that send pages to them,” Fornof said. “We now have five different presses across the country from the east coast to the west coast using our servers.”

The pages for each publication are uploaded, ripped, imposed, and soft-checked using the Yuma systems. Each publication approves its own plates and TIFF files are sent to their local CTP units for output.

“These can be tailored to the needs of these papers,” Fornof said. “Some sites have remote access to share pages themselves, and some send pages to our site and we share them.”

Optimize image toning and maximize ink savings
In late 2020, Sun added ProImage’s OnColor image tone software and OnColor ECO ink optimization for all locations. OnColor automates both processes to improve the input of images from various sources and file types, increase throughput, and reduce ink consumption.

The “intelligent” functions of OnColor improve images while increasing throughput. The software is based on a multi-dimensional technology that automates the analysis of sound, color and spatial properties in each image. The necessary corrections are then calculated and applied for optimal reproduction.

OnColor ECO ink optimization software automatically analyzes PDF files and intelligently applies Gray Component Replacement (GCR) to replace the correct amount of cyan, magenta and yellow inks for black ink components. This will reduce ink consumption while maintaining the highest print quality and sharpness. According to Rick Shafranek, Vice President Sales & Marketing at ProImage, all locations have been able to reduce their ink spend by around 20 percent using the centralized OnColor ECO module on Yuma’s system.

“Photo tinting and ink optimization have been a welcome addition to our other technologies as they improve quality and reduce production costs,” said Fornof.

Optimization of multiple outputs
In addition to creating regular issue pages for the press issue, NewsWayX enables Sun and its remote Horizon partners to create digital issue pages, including Town News, PressReader, and Newspaper Archives.

“When a page comes in, there are several paths it has to go through,” said Fornof. “Once the pages are published, we also automated the uploading of PDFs to our digital edition partners.”

According to Fornof, the benefits of the long-standing ProImage partnership have been significant, allowing the publisher to expand its capabilities as technology advances.

“ProImage is a simple group of people to work with,” he said. “I just can’t say enough that you really understand the newspaper world.”

The vendor’s deep understanding of newspaper production needs has been instrumental in helping Sun maximize the benefits of its centralized workflow system.

“They respect that their products are used until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.,” Fornof added. “Whenever we have a problem, we have a call within 15 minutes – even at half past twelve.”

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