Lee reporting ink savings with Kodak app

Lee Enterprises is reporting ink savings of 20 percent to 25 percent since implementing Kodak’s Ink Optimizing Service software at 12 of its daily newspapers, Kodak said.
Kodak’s Ink Optimizing Service, which Lee first tested at the Billings (Mont.) Gazette, provides customers with an ICC DeviceLink profile that plugs into Kodak’s Prinergy workflow app.
Based on the that profile, separated image files go through a gray component replacement process that reduces ink usage by replacing CMY inks with less-expensive black ink, while limiting the Total Area Coverage to a predefined level.
“Ink savings have met our expectations and we also see enhancements to the quality of photos,” said Brian Kardell, vice president of production and chief information officer at Lee.
In addition to the Gazette, Lee rolled out the service to the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune; the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal; the Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune; the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal; the Times in Munster, Ind.; the Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.; the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa; the Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill.; and the North County Times in Escondido, Calif.