Number of CTP installation for newspaper printing has been grown rapidly either in Japan and the world. According to the IFRA (INCA-FIEJ Research Association) investigation, the installation number over the world increased and amounted to 2, 189 sets on October 2000 by about 3.5 times more compared with the year 2000. Also in Japan, the installation number on April 2005 amounted to about 157 sets, and has grown rapidly about 13 times more compared with the year 2002. In conjunction with "screening technology" and "workflow system" newspaper CTP has development from the conventional "direct plate making equipment" to the "Total CPT system" and the "high-value-added CPT system." Especially, Asahi Shimbun did production run of advertisements 8 times more by using CTP and FM screening technology from August 2004 to the end of June 2005, and attracts many attentions from the advertiser, the advertising agency, and the allied industry people. Moreover, the Yomiuri Shimbun put into practical use the first thermal CPT for newspaper in Japan, installed 68 sets of CTP as 16 factories produced about 60% of all jobs by CTP from December 2002 until now, and has got high evaluation on laborsaving workflow system. In this paper, I want to introduce as follows "it is entitled the present condition of the newspaper CTP", "An environment to surround newspaper CTP", "The latest trend of the newspaper CTP", "The present condition of the newspaper CTP in Japan" and "the challenging cases of the main newspaper companies."

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Newspaper printing is different in comparison with commercial print in many respects. The adoption of CTP in newspaper print has been delayed by special circumstances of newspaper print. In 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun introduced CTP system using thermal plates at Koto Plant, and now we adopt CTP system in 16 printing plants among 29 domestic plants. We describe advantages and disadvantages of CTP system in comparison with computer-to-film system.

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CTP for newspapers has begun to spread rapidly in Japan. In the plate production section, the workflow by conventional film plotter and PS plate-maker is shifting to the CTP workflow by which outputs the plate directly. In such plate production environment, the effective correspondence with each system relates to CTP, the workflow and the demands on printing quality has been changing recently. Increasingly, demands for functions and expectations for CTP are increasing, beyond the prediction of the trade. The sequence of events about the CTP product development and expectations in the future will be reported as a CTP manufacturer, considering the change in newspaper production system, the expansion of CTP-ization and the positioning of future's CTP systems all together.

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A highly sensitive photopolymerization system by using violet laser (405nm) was investigated. The photopolymerization composition which contains an initiator and a high fluorescent dye shows efficient sensitization of the system. The photosensitization mechanism seems to be a singlet energy transfer process. The higher photosensitization efficiency based on a repression of thermal relaxation from the excitation state was obtained from newly designed dye material. The photopolymerization system was applied to the computer to plate (CTP) technology, a digital printing plate, to develop Fuji Film i-Presso P-NV for the violet laser. This CTP plate system reveals the advantages of high productivity on plate making and also handling under a brighter safelight compared to a current first generation system using a conventional FD-YAG laser (532nm).

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The curing behavior of acrylate was examined by using an ultra low energy electron beam irradiation device with 40-60keV which was developed in recent years. The cured film was formed with the high conversion rate and the shrinkage was little. Moreover, physical properties of the cured film were studied by using the SAICAS method. As a result, it was confirmed that strong film was formed, in which hardness is high in the vicinity of the surface and low inside the film. The deterioration behavior of the form under the ultra low energy electron beam irradiation was also clarified. It is concluded that the curing process by using the ultra low energy electron beam is useful in the print field.

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