DUSSELDORF, Germany--May 8, 2004-- Creo Inc. has enabled commercial and publication printers since drupa 1995 to achieve greater profitability, increase efficiency and reduce operating costs by leveraging cutting-edge Creo technologies, services and support. Today Creo demonstrates the new Magnus(TM) very large format platesetter for commercial and publication printers at drupa 2004, the largest international trade show for print media production. This market-leading device offers a new standard of speed, automated flexibility and renowned Creo thermal imaging in a smaller footprint. This brand new design builds on the success of the market-leading Creo Trendsetter VLF imaging device with quality, consistency and reliability enjoyed by over 1,000 VLF customers today. New Creo Magnus Saves Operating Costs Transcontinental Printing, a $37 million printing plant near Vancouver, Canada, recently installed the new Magnus VLF computer-to-plate (CTP) system to produce an average of 6,000 plates per month. "Because it's a purely automatic machine, we've been able to reallocate our prepress staff to other profitable projects," explained John Walsh, prepress manager of Transcontinental. "In prepress, our annual labor savings is about $59,000. The Magnus VLF has also increased our output. With our old CTP system, the presses sometimes had to wait for plates. We don't have those bottlenecks anymore." A 97 percent reduction in remakes is another benefit of thermal imaging for Transcontinental. "Four-color base plates can go for two million copies or more," explained Mr. Walsh. "The thermal plates imaged on the Magnus VLF last two or three times longer than our old plates. We used to average 300 remakes a month due to wear-now it's down to less than ten." Fast, Quality Imaging on Market's Largest Drum with Enhanced Automation The Magnus VLF CTP is available in four format sizes and can image plates ranging from 50.8 x 39.4 cm (20 x 15.5 in.) up to 160 x 210.8 cm (63 x 83 in.). The Magnus VLF CTP is the fastest, full-size, fully automated very large format CTP device on the market-imaging fifteen 2,050 x 1,510 mm (80.7 x 59.4 in.) plates per hour at 2400 dpi. When smaller plates are loaded two at a time, the Magnus VLF device can image thirty 8-up plates per hour at 2400 dpi. Creo is showing two models of the Magnus VLF device at drupa - one with a continuous load option that allows the operator to load one plate and queue the next plate on the load table, and the other with multi-cassette automation operating with four cassettes of 75 plates per cassette. Trendsetter ContinuousLoad Aids in Productivity Creo is also demonstrating the new ContinuousLoad automation option for the 4up and 8up Trendsetter computer-to-plate systems. The ContinuousLoad option includes a new load table on which a plate can be pre-staged for loading while another plate is imaging, and a fully automatic unload table which delivers imaged plates directly to an in-line processor. "We have been using the Trendsetter ContinuousLoad feature for half a year now," explained Stephen Peters, prepress manager of Quebecor World, Vancouver, Canada. "It provides rock solid consistency, and has greatly increased the throughput capacity of my department. Its online support has been exceptional. The ContinuousLoad option allows my operators the freedom to perform other value-added tasks while the plates are imaged, adding to the value we have realized from our investment. The speed and reliability of this device makes it a very profitable, highly-productive investment for any medium to high volume printer." See all of the Creo solutions for large commercial and publication printers at drupa in the Creo booth in Hall 4, stand B10. Every four years, drupa transforms the city of Dusseldorf into the print media capital of the world. From May 6 to 19, more than 1,900 exhibitors, including Creo, from 49 countries are presenting the most comprehensive overview of print media production in the graphic arts industry. More than 375,000 visitors from 170 countries are expected to attend. Images available at www.creo.com/imagebank.