The trend in the newspaper industry has been narrower and lighter weight newsprint. Today, the majority of newspapers in North America run either 48" or 50" web widths, with several newspapers going to 46', 44" or Berliner formats. Newsprint weight is also getting lighter; in 2008, the balance between 45 gram and 48 gram newsprint shifted. Today, 45g. newsprint is the majority of newsprint (by weight) consumed by North American newspapers. Though the economics make the decision clear; running the light-weight newsprint could require more diligence.
There are two elements to running 45g. or lighter newsprint: Runability on press and Print Quality.
Runability is all about web tension and a properly set & maintained press.
1. Verify web tension, reels and trolleys are set correctly. Trolley pressure and tension is consistent and set to the proper pressure.
2. Agressive press maintenance and cleaning plan - tram and clean rollers, verify proper roller and cylinders are set properly, clean rollers, units and angle bars.
3. Blanket height is critical to accurate nip pressure.
4. Verify basis wt. of your newsprint - both between suppliers and over time.
5. Use sharp slitters!
6. Adjust press ink/water ramps and start-up curves to reduce the chance for angle bar web breaks.
Print Quality can be optimized by adjusting settings to limit showthrough and set-off.
1. Lower total ink coverage to 200 or 220 TAC based on site specific use of GCR or ink saving software.
2. Increase use of GCR to limit saturated shadow areas.
3. Check ink strength and adjust ink film thickness if necessary.
4. Use SNAP ICC Newspaper profile or create custom ICC profile for your press.
5. Work with the color editor or set automatic color editing softward in your workflow to miximize contrast and color profiles to achieve the best photo reproduction settings. Keys to color reproduction on light-weight newsprint: Unsharp Masking in Photoshop (sharpen the photo!), reduce TAC and increase contrast in photos.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Can I be a commercial printer?
OK, I couldn't close out the week without a discussion about quality. When operating budgets get tight, which has been the case in the newspaper industry for several years, two things are the first to see the cost cutting knife - travel and consumables. Consumables? Yes, consumable because that is an operating cost and there is generally a relationship between a product's cost and quality. That is why premium gasoline is more expensive than regular and there are different grades of paper. So newspapers have been reducing their operating cost by using less expensive products.
So fast-forward to 2008, travel budgets are all but gone and newspapers have made decisions to use less expensive materials in their printing process. But is this a good idea. Newspapers have to meet customer and advertiser expectations by printing a quality product and generally that benchmark is met. (I'll talk about color gamut, ICC and ink density on another day) Now consider the trend in the newspaper industry: commercial printing. Commercial printing of either newsprint products or cold-set printing on E-Brite stock. This is where a newspaper might run into quality problems. If your press, consumables and quality systems are not dialed to the highest quality product you need to print, you'll have a very difficult time stretching your process capabilities to meet a higher print standard. So before you look at less expensive consumables, consider the impact of the new products on your capabilities and future business plans.
An example, a small market newspaper in Colorado added a UV printing tower to their press for covers and inside DT advertising. The strategy was to offer higher quality printing options to customers who left for heat-set products. The advantage to the newspaper is the ability to offer a later ad close (closer to the publication date), premier ad position and higher quality printing to customers looking to stand-out from ROP advertising. But to offer advertisers coated stock with the normal ROP schedule -- now that's an advantage! Advertisers are no longer required to contract commercial printing 6-8 weeks before the publication date. Now they can close an ad a few days, or even hours, before the press run. Getting back to my point about consumables, the consumable cost for UV printing is higher than cold-set news; but the advertiser is paying a premium for the higher quality.
So don't be too quick to cut consumable costs without comparing product performance. The higher price product might be achiving better performance or mileage; allowing you to produce a quality products in a broader range of print conditions.
So fast-forward to 2008, travel budgets are all but gone and newspapers have made decisions to use less expensive materials in their printing process. But is this a good idea. Newspapers have to meet customer and advertiser expectations by printing a quality product and generally that benchmark is met. (I'll talk about color gamut, ICC and ink density on another day) Now consider the trend in the newspaper industry: commercial printing. Commercial printing of either newsprint products or cold-set printing on E-Brite stock. This is where a newspaper might run into quality problems. If your press, consumables and quality systems are not dialed to the highest quality product you need to print, you'll have a very difficult time stretching your process capabilities to meet a higher print standard. So before you look at less expensive consumables, consider the impact of the new products on your capabilities and future business plans.
An example, a small market newspaper in Colorado added a UV printing tower to their press for covers and inside DT advertising. The strategy was to offer higher quality printing options to customers who left for heat-set products. The advantage to the newspaper is the ability to offer a later ad close (closer to the publication date), premier ad position and higher quality printing to customers looking to stand-out from ROP advertising. But to offer advertisers coated stock with the normal ROP schedule -- now that's an advantage! Advertisers are no longer required to contract commercial printing 6-8 weeks before the publication date. Now they can close an ad a few days, or even hours, before the press run. Getting back to my point about consumables, the consumable cost for UV printing is higher than cold-set news; but the advertiser is paying a premium for the higher quality.
So don't be too quick to cut consumable costs without comparing product performance. The higher price product might be achiving better performance or mileage; allowing you to produce a quality products in a broader range of print conditions.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Planning for the Unexpected - Part 1
Before I get into the print quality and operations topics, the most important issue for a newspaper is the ability to produce the newspaper EVERYDAY. How rebust is your Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) -- your action plan in the case of a disaster or event that affects your ability to produce your daily product.
All newspapers should have a plan for unexpected events that affect operations -- such as a natural disasters; earthquakes, hurricanes, etc., or site emergencies; fires, chemical spills or power outages, or equipment problems; broken parts, network or equipment operating problems. In all cases, a scaleable plan should be ready to continue critical functions during these events.
Not all disasters are forecasted. At NEXPO, a mid-west newspaper described the events and unexpected problems that occured from a simple scheduled maintenance to a main-line electrical switch. The plan was straight forward; power-down press control system and all building power on a Saturday morning, install new switch and restore power. However, during the power up process, errors caused the press systems to fail -- sending error codes for a variety of system components. The IT and Maintenance Crews worked throughout the day chasing error codes and calling vendors - the problem however was phone numbers for vendors were safely stored in a powered-off computer - unaccessable. Cell phone batteries were going dead after hours of use and communition with vendors was difficult on a Saturday. Eventually, systems were restarted and operation was restored.
A few Key Points Learned:
1. Have supplier support for all non-routine maintenance and repairs, no matter how straight forward it might seem, and get vendors involved in planning. In this case, powering off the press and restarting required a systematic restarting procedure - which could have been identified by the OEM, had they been involved in planning.
2. Have printed and accessable copies of SOP's, an established Continuity of Operations Plan, Key contacts, support for employees and their families, and a timeline to empliment the plan.
3. Have systematic restart procedures for equipment and systems.
4. Have a emergency kit with master keys, extra batteries, contacts and business operations plans to transfer critical operations and production to alternate sites.
5. Have a plan for employees to communicate with family and cover non-work committments - picking kids up from school or letting the dog out.
6. Test the Plan: run simulations to test your COOP and make sure your operation is ready to respond to maintain operations and maintain critical business functions.
All newspapers should have a plan for unexpected events that affect operations -- such as a natural disasters; earthquakes, hurricanes, etc., or site emergencies; fires, chemical spills or power outages, or equipment problems; broken parts, network or equipment operating problems. In all cases, a scaleable plan should be ready to continue critical functions during these events.
Not all disasters are forecasted. At NEXPO, a mid-west newspaper described the events and unexpected problems that occured from a simple scheduled maintenance to a main-line electrical switch. The plan was straight forward; power-down press control system and all building power on a Saturday morning, install new switch and restore power. However, during the power up process, errors caused the press systems to fail -- sending error codes for a variety of system components. The IT and Maintenance Crews worked throughout the day chasing error codes and calling vendors - the problem however was phone numbers for vendors were safely stored in a powered-off computer - unaccessable. Cell phone batteries were going dead after hours of use and communition with vendors was difficult on a Saturday. Eventually, systems were restarted and operation was restored.
A few Key Points Learned:
1. Have supplier support for all non-routine maintenance and repairs, no matter how straight forward it might seem, and get vendors involved in planning. In this case, powering off the press and restarting required a systematic restarting procedure - which could have been identified by the OEM, had they been involved in planning.
2. Have printed and accessable copies of SOP's, an established Continuity of Operations Plan, Key contacts, support for employees and their families, and a timeline to empliment the plan.
3. Have systematic restart procedures for equipment and systems.
4. Have a emergency kit with master keys, extra batteries, contacts and business operations plans to transfer critical operations and production to alternate sites.
5. Have a plan for employees to communicate with family and cover non-work committments - picking kids up from school or letting the dog out.
6. Test the Plan: run simulations to test your COOP and make sure your operation is ready to respond to maintain operations and maintain critical business functions.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Day 1
Welcome to Daily Progress.
As I sift through all the session notes, brochures and press releases from NEXPO, NAA's Technology Expo, and the stack of magazines with dog-eared pages highlighting relevant articles, I realized that I had a library of important information that needed to get out to newspaper and printing operations managers and executives. The topics are vast: from pressroom safety, to commercial printing and business continuity, to advances in CTP technology, digital media platforms and communicating best practices in the newspaper industry.
On a weekly basis, there are bits of information and in-depth stories to help the newspaper industry become more efficient, introduce new technology concepts and improve quality to meet advertiser expectations. This blog is the link to that end; communicating operational and technical information to affect the daily progress of our industry.
As I sift through all the session notes, brochures and press releases from NEXPO, NAA's Technology Expo, and the stack of magazines with dog-eared pages highlighting relevant articles, I realized that I had a library of important information that needed to get out to newspaper and printing operations managers and executives. The topics are vast: from pressroom safety, to commercial printing and business continuity, to advances in CTP technology, digital media platforms and communicating best practices in the newspaper industry.
On a weekly basis, there are bits of information and in-depth stories to help the newspaper industry become more efficient, introduce new technology concepts and improve quality to meet advertiser expectations. This blog is the link to that end; communicating operational and technical information to affect the daily progress of our industry.
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