The Japan Newspaper Advertising Platemaking Association is a national organization of platemaking companies specializing in newspaper advertising. Maintaining analog equipment and technology in order to provide reliable technology, security, and safe workflows that adapt to the digital age, with the basic principle of newspaper advertising being "faster, more reliable, safer, and more beautiful." We will proactively make capital investment and human resources investment in line with development and the digital age, and hope to be useful in the new era with a perfect system. Now that digital plate making and digital manuscript transmission are rapidly becoming popular, plate making companies specializing in newspaper advertisements are entering a period of great change. The digitization of the production environment has brought about a major shift in each work content of the plate making process, and is changing the role of the plate making company. We are expected to play an important role in the new transmission flow of newspaper companies. In May 2003, the Japan Newspaper Advertising Platemaking Association was certified as "Digital Send Creative Partners" by Digital Send Co., Ltd. In line with these dramatic changes, the member companies of the Japan Newspaper Advertising Plate Making Association systematized "cost items and work contents" related to digital plate making and manuscripts in October 2002, and based on this system, digital plate making processes and manuscripts were sent. We have created a price list that can handle data operation management. Please contact each member company for specific prices. ■ The role of plate-making companies in the digital age Over the last decade, the newspaper advertising industry has rapidly digitized. In plate making, many processes have now been technically converted to digital, starting with the partial digitization of work processes. On the other hand, however, the spread of DTP has made digital technology familiar, and there is a misunderstanding that the entire process up to printing can be easily created on the desktop. While digitization of plate making has more rational and simplified processes than in the analog era, new processes that require advanced technology and management have been added to simplify all operations and reduce work time. The current situation is that the amount of work is increasing rather than being done. For example, in proofreading work, we have evolved from proofreading with a flatbed printing press to newspaper publication simulation with DDCP (Direct Digital Color Proof). This digital proofing work requires advanced customization work according to the printing characteristics of each newspaper company, and requires more time and effort than ever before. Regarding submission, new work such as checking, tuning, and maintenance of the data structure in accordance with the guidelines of each newspaper company was required to realize safe and reliable digital submission. In addition to various materials and manuscript data, we will handle various customer information such as new product information, new service information and media information, and plate making companies will also be able to protect information security and privacy in the digital age. Active efforts are needed. In this way, new roles such as reliable color management, operation management of submitted data, and information management have been added to the important operations of plate-making companies in the digital age. Japan Newspaper Advertising Platemaking Association Secretariat 5-8-13 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 Tel 03-3431-4071 Fax 03-3436-6024