Consumables

Brillia PRO-VN takes centre stage at the Arena in Verona

Wednesday 31. October 2012 - Fujifilm 'lo-chem' plate helps to reduce environmental footprint and enhance efficiency at historic newspaper printer

It is simply known as the Arena – an historic newspaper distributed in the Verona area and founded in 1866. However, behind this well-known brand is an impressive publishing house comprising of different business units, known as the Athesis Group, which operates in the Verona, Vicenza, Brescia and Mantua areas and is in charge of the publication of “L’Arena” and “Il Giornale di Vicenza” newspapers. The Group also has two subsidiaries, Edizioni Brescia, which publishes the newspaper “BresciaOggi”, and Nuova Editoriale, which produces three different editions of a free-paper called “In Città”.
The Group delivers a daily press run of over 160,000 copies, supplemented by internet and smart phone media, together with the publication of books by a sister company, Neri Pozza. Athesis Group boasts about 400 employees, 40 of which work in the Società Editrice Arena’s plant located in Caselle di Sommacampagna (VR).
Built in 2005, the plant began its operations the following year with the installation of a Manroland Regioman web offset press to produce copies of ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’ ? the leading Italian financial daily newspaper ? specifically for the North Eastern regions (Triveneto). In 2007, two additional Manroland Colorman web offset machines were installed to print full colour newspapers.
Two years ago, Società Editrice Arena embarked on a project to upgrade its CTP department, searching for plates with a lower environmental impact to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Following in-depth analysis, the company decided to introduce the Fujifilm Brillia PRO-VN plate.
The installation of five processors within the plant, where the company produces a monthly average of about 23,000 plates, was completed in August 2012. “The experience that ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’ had with Fujifilm a few years ago has been pivotal to our decision making process,” explains Paolo Ciapetti, Production Manager at Società Editrice Arena. “Thanks to the introduction of Brillia PRO-VN, today we can carry out the maintenance of the developer bath after imaging and producing 2,000 m2 of plates, whereas before we had to perform it every 400 m2. What’s more, the use of a less chemistry has had a positive impact on the entire working environment,” he adds.
Brillia PRO-VN is one of the most advanced Fujifilm low-chemistry violet plates designed to simplify the pre-press process within the newspaper market and drastically reduce chemistry usage. Utilising Fujifilm’s ‘high sensitivity polymerisation’ technology, Brillia PRO-VN enables newspaper printers to achieve the same levels of productivity and results as those achieved with conventional processed violet CTP plates. Brillia PRO-VN can produce up to 200.000 copies and benefits from Fujifilm’s patented MultiGrain technology, which ensures optimum ink/water balance and advanced handling performance.
The next steps for Società Editrice Arena will be to look for a new waste disposal process and ensure consistent quality across all three production lines. Società Editrice Arena is working closely with Fujifilm to further improve consistency and gain predictable results. The company is keen to achieve an efficient workflow and offer accurate prints to stay competitive.
Ciapetti concludes: “Today every company is asked to optimise costs to ensure efficiency and profitability. We are now able to combine this objective with a lower environmental impact, so we think that we are on the right track.”