Kehl, Germany - Dalim Software, a global leader in the design and development of innovative and automated professional production workflow software for prepress, print, packaging, advertising and publishing, announces that Continental Web Press has received approval from Time Inc. to utilize DALiM DiALOGUE's monitor-based proofing as a basis for all its press proofs. Founded in 1973 with just a single press, CWP modestly describes itself as a high quality heatset web offset printer. Yet, after more than 30 years of growth, sales have grown to over $75 million per year. The company employs over 500 people in its two plants in Itasca, Illinois and Walton, Kentucky, and has nine large web offset presses. Time Inc., one of CWP's customers, has had an initiative in place to completely move to monitor-based proofs by 2007, but it has been working so well that it is ahead of schedule. CWP's position was that it was only a matter of time that they would be asked to become compliant, too. So, to be proactive, they became early adopters, and decided to get into virtual proofing with DALiM DiALOGUE, a monitor-based proofing system. With DALiM DiALOGUE, publishers can view color-accurate virtual proofs, including color simulations of the paper stock on which jobs will be printed. Although the process is still in its beginning stages, DALiM DiALOGUE is working on three of CWP's presses. At both plants, DALiM DiALOGUE is installed in the prepress department to check incoming files as part of the workflow. At the moment, two presses in Kentucky have dual 30" Apple Cinema Displays running on an Apple Macintosh G5- almost a full imposition view-for press checks. They also have installed a unit inside a portable light booth to move between different presses in Illinois. As the technology is accepted for more applications, CWP expects to purchase more systems. "We have installed monitors on our presses that are color corrected on the SWOP standard. The closed loop system on our presses makes it seamless. What you see on the monitor is exactly what you see on the printed sheet," says Bill Scarpaci, CWP chief operating officer. About two weeks before the final approval process, Time Inc. representatives visited CWP to look at the virtual proofing system and validate the profile on the monitor. Phase 2 required a live test and printed samples to be sent back to Time Inc. When they received the samples, they approved the SWOP system internally at Continental Web. "We did so much preparation work that when the trigger was pulled, it was flawless. We went to press with our monitors set up, and it was totally seamless in the transition from hard proofs to softproofing," observes Peter Wieczorek, CWP vice president, sales. "The press people were trained and prepared for what to expect. It went beautifully. We sent the printed sheets to Time Inc., and they validated the system. The process works." Because of the open systems architecture of DALiM DiALOGUE, it is completely integrated into CWP's DALiM MiSTRAL workflow. Time Inc. sends pre-approved, preflighted qualified pages to CWP through the DALiM MiSTRAL server. Once the pages are processed, Time Inc. reviews and approves the imposition through DALiM MiSTRAL's web-based viewer. The only thing they check is the imposition. Now that the DALiM DiALOGUE system has been certified by Time Inc., they have complete confidence that it is ready to print. When CWP receives job approval, they go to press and use the DALiM DiALOGUE softproof on the monitor to check for color. "The success was nice because we used a Time Inc. job for our first live production run. Proofs were supplied, and the monitor produced a truer color rendition to the color piece than the proofs," comments Ed Zepernick, Continental Web director of technology. "The hard proofs we used for comparison were created on a bright white substrate, but we print on a #5 stock for Time Inc. It's a bit more yellow-gray. Paper was changed just prior to print, so we just switched from a #5 to #3 substrate on the monitor, and the match was there." "This was truly a joint venture. The people at Time Inc.-in particular Kin Wah Lam-helped us to get to the level where we are. Our employees actually embraced it because it was a timesaver. Time is money," remarks Scarpaci. "The benefit is that we will not have to wait for proofs, which is extremely important to what has become 'just-in-time' printing. It eliminates trafficking of proofs, keeping an updated inventory of approved sheets, and all of the other ancillary charges," notes Wieczorek.. "As far as we are concerned, the test with Time Inc. was very successful. We are ready and eager to go forward." "We have always invested heavily in new technology that benefits not only CWP, but also our customers. DALiM DiALOGUE has been a wonderful addition and a real time saver to our workflow process," summarizes Ken Field, CWP president.