The seminar, sponsored by News & Tech and moderated by Editor-in-Chief Chuck Moozakis, featured Austin Ryan, vice president of operations, U.S. Community Publishing, Gannett; Bill May, vice president of production at The Dallas Morning News; Paul Lynch, manager of commercial sales and logistics/quality at the Chicago Tribune and John Jenkins, operations director at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va.
"Technology and automation can really help us grow our business and to build closer relationships with customers," Lynch said, detailing the Tribune's efforts to anchor its production around computer-integrated manufacturing and the launch of new digital platforms like the Chicago Now blog.
Lynch also talked about the Tribune's recently released Display Ad Self Serve portal, which allows advertisers to book ads across the paper’s various publications online. The portal, underpinned by software from Mediaspectrum, "gives us the chance to remain competitive," Lynch said.
Ryan underscored the important roles newspapers continue to play in their local communities, adding that the publisher's deployment of prepress and customer service technology helped streamline and standardize operations across its various newspapers. He also detailed some of the plans supporting Gannett's forthcoming consolidation of ad production operations in two sites, in Des Moines and Indianapolis, and the efficiencies that initiative will bring.
May, meantime, listed the steps The Morning News has taken to expand its printing business, attracting commercial clients that range from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to newspapers printed by local colleges and high schools. He said commercial printing is now generating as much as 15 percent of the paper's top-line revenues, from less than 2 percent just three years ago.
Finally, Jenkins discussed the debut of The Free Lance-Star's 90,000-square-foot production plant, anchored by a Goss International FPS heatset/coldset press. The publisher is rebranding the production arm of the company as Print Innovators as it moves to attract additional printing customers, Jenkins said. Simply, he said, "It's print, or be printed."
Some 200 people attended the 90-minute session. Graphic Arts Show Co., which sponsors Print 09 and Graph Expo, said it intends to make newspaper production a core part of future shows, with events and activities specifically tailored to the newspaper industry, beginning with the 2010 Graph Expo show.
In other Print 09 developments:
•Océ unveiled a program designed to allow direct marketers to bring quick-response codes into print applications. Océ showed applications using COPI’s CodeZ QR subroutine for personalized interaction. Web-enabled phones with specific reader software can scan QR codes and launch a Web browser to a specific URL containing information, thereby driving increased print revenue, Océ said.
CodeZ QR generates one-to-one or personalized QR codes, called QRPurlZ.
“This immediate response, print-to-Web approach is the nest step in the evolution of personal communications,” said Sheryl Patteck, vice president of marketing services, production printing systems division for Océ North America. “Personalized URLs alone are not response ready. The time and effort to enter a personal URL from a cell phone or a PC significantly increase the likelihood they won’t even try.”
Attendees to Print 09 were able to see full-color Océ CS130T Tandem printers printing CodeZ QR symbols embedded in ads in personalized editions of Chicago Where magazine.
•Nela rolled out Nela Plate Inspector. The plate inspection tool uses an overhead scanning system to automatically detect plate defects as small as 0.1 mm at speeds of up to 450 plates per hour.
•IMC America said it is distributing a postpress collator that can be used to gather inserts for polybagging. The system, called the XYZ, is manufactured by Quebec-based Feuiltault Solution Systems and is capable of processing as much as 30,000 copies per hour, IMC said. It uses a single sucker to pull down a circular or insert and move it in a linear fashion along the raceway. It relies on mechanical components that ensure fewer misfeeds due to doubles or misses, the firm said.
•CC1 rolled out a new smart camera, equipped with digital signal processing, which eliminates the need for a host computer to reside in the pressroom. The new camera can be installed on any existing press equipped with CC1's eXaminer registration technology.
•Burgess Industries Inc. said it added remote monitoring capabilities to its plate bending equipment. Software will monitor the performance of the equipment on-site and send alerts to users' mobile phones in the event any problems are detected.
•Chromaticity said it’s merged with FineEye Color Solutions, a company with which the color management vendor partnered earlier this year to market FineEye’s ICESaver application. The combined entity will be called FineEye Color Solutions and will be headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“The merger with FineEye is the logical conclusion to Chromaticity’s long-term strategy to become a manufacturer,” said Peder Nelson, who serves as president of the new entity.
Meantime, FineEye rolled out 20/20, color separation software that the firm said will provide a 20 percent increase in gamut while reducing ink consumption by 20 percent. The software is integrated into a user's existing PDF workflow.
•AVT/GMI introduced the new ColorQuick/Clarios automated closed-loop color control app, and Microcolor/Mercury remote ink control app for commercial presses.
•Absolute and BEK Technology combined forces to market the Ink Tracker fountain filling system. The system tracks across a press' fountain and applies ink where required. Software also tracks ink consumption to enable operators to monitor the system's performance.
•EPG introduced enhancements to its KeyColor color measurement system, including ColorInSpec, which reads an entire color bar on every impression and can identify and trend print defects. EPG also showed its Adelphi presetting and Adelphi scanner interface technology for enhanced closed-loop color-control.
Look for more coverage of Print 09 in the October issue of News & Tech.
