Shedding 
A ‘Negative’ Attitude

The 22-employee IDS team had relied on a Xanté platemaker, which for years had suited its needs. Longer runs, however, required the ordering of negatives through an outside vendor, and film—not inexpensive and getting harder to find—made for an inefficient process. IDS had actually used a computer-to-plate (CTP) system 15 years earlier, but it had become antiquated and unable to handle software upgrades, so it gave way to the Xanté platemaker. Now it was time for a return to CTP.