ROCHESTER, N.Y. April 1 -- El Mercurio S.A.P., a leading newspaper publisher in Santiago, Chile, broadened its portfolio of KODAK solutions with the purchase of the KODAK NewsManager 1.1 workflow system to increase automation and flexibility in its production process. “We selected the NewsManager 1.1 system because of a long partnership with Kodak and we trust them to grow our business,” said Claudio Munoz, Production Manager, El Mercurio. “The NewsManager 1.1 system provides us with greater control during plate creation, which is especially important when so much of that work is done on the fly. It also further improves efficiency by reducing the time it takes to copy plates and allowing us to monitor our workflow across multiple sites from one location.” El Mercurio S.A.P. is a 1,600 employee company that publishes three newspapers: El Mercurio, one of the oldest Spanish language newspapers in continuous publication in the world and the largest paper in Chile (35,000 pages published in 2005); La Segunda (16,000 pages in 2005); and Las Ultimas Noticias (17,000 pages in 2005). The NewsManager 1.1 system enables a flexible, automated workflow from edition plan to plate production. The NewsManager 1.1 system is scaleable to meet all needs, from contract printers to metropolitan, national and international newspapers with multiple print sites. The system features an enhanced web user interface, delivering a new generation user experience, including dynamic thumbnail views, new scheduling options, soft proofing, improved security settings and personalized language options. Particularly important to newspapers like El Mercurio, the new user interface in the NewsManager 1.1 system features full language support (including 16 bit character sets), allowing easy modification for local needs, and enabling users to automatically experience the software in their own language. Based on open standards, the NewsManager 1.1 system consists of four principle components: the Edition Planner for defining all attributes of an upcoming edition; the Database Manager for reading edition plans and tracking processing activity; the Production Monitor for tracking the processing status against the edition plan as new content is prepared by the editorial department; and the Global Log Viewer, which allows an operator to view, search and filter the processing history across all sites. “With the KODAK NewsManager system, we will reduce the time variability in our prepress process, which has a direct impact on the entire printing and production process,” said Javier Arrieta, Prepress Production Chief, El Mercurio. “In addition, our internal customers responsible for packaging and distributing the newspapers will benefit from more reliable results and overall savings.” The NewsManager 1.1 system joins a wide range of solutions that El Mercurio uses from Kodak, including KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS CTP platesetters, KODAK THERMALNEWS plates, the KODAK PRINERGY workflow system and the KODAK BRISQUE workflow system. “El Mercurio is one of the most influential newspapers in the region with an estimated weekly circulation of 1 million copies. Its decision to add the KODAK NewsManager 1.1 system is a clear indication of the best in class user experience that this workflow software delivers,” said Harry Paredes, Newspaper Segment, Latin America Region, Kodak. “With the NewsManager 1.1 system helping them to control the production process, El Mercurio will be able to plan better and more efficiently produce each edition of the newspapers it prints, saving time and money along the way.” The NewsManager 1.1 system will be demonstrated at NEXPO, April 1-4 in Chicago, at booth 1062.