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Editor:

As a former newspaper reporter, I know that there are myriad topics you can write about in a column. Thank you for devoting your Editor's Notebook in the January issue to the generous donors involved in the web press installation at the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. This watershed project could not have taken place without the time, talents, and money of these 30 companies and their dedicated employees.

Too often, the members of the printing industries who come forward to volunteer their human and fiscal resources are not given the recognition they so rightfully deserve. Without them, the education of current and future employees in the industry would not be at the high level that is now provided on the national and local levels.

Anita D. Herington, Ph.D., president

PIANKO (Printing Industries Association, Inc. serving Northern Kentucky and Ohio), Westerville, Ohio

Editor:

I read with interest your computer-to-plate report in January ["Processless Plates Eye Center Stage"], and wanted to let your readers know that a new digital waterless plate from Toray has been commercially available in the U.S. for only a few months.

Our thermal RG plate, which we call our fifth-generation CTP plate, features a special primer layer on top of the aluminum base, which prevents reflection, enables measurement of the plate with a densitometer, and permits a wider developing latitude. The RG plate can be imaged at up to 4,000 dots per inch, permitting screen rulings of up to 300 lines per inch.

We have a number of RG users at present, including Copy Craft Printers, Inc., Lubbock, Tex., which images the plate with a Screen platesetter and uses a Toray processor.

By the way, we just started up a factory in Japan dedicated solely to manufacturing waterless CTP plates.

In the U.S., our exclusive distributor for RG digital plates is Pitman Company; for more information, contact Pitman's digital waterless system specialist, Ron Kuhn, at (800) 526-5441, extension 3354.

Kenji Iwaya, director of marketing and graphics

Toray Marketing & Sales, Inc., New York City

Editor:

I enjoyed your "Time Bucks" editorial in the February issue. It is sooo true.

As I'm sure you recall, I stepped down as president of the National Association for Printing Leadership at the end of 2002, and am now operating my own consulting business, specializing in, among other things, time management.

I. Gregg Van Wert

The Haven Group, Oakland, N.J.