COVERAGE BY SEGMENT:
PRE-PRESS | HEALTH & SAFETY | POST-PRESS | PRESS & MATERIALS

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Spanning six days, the 2000 NAA Newspaper Operations SuperConference brought hundreds of newspaper production executives to the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami Beach, where they participated in four tracks focusing on different production areas: Pre-Press, Health & Safety, Post-Press and Press & Materials. Browse our coverage in each segment, or review selected conference highlights below.

INCISION DECISIONS ACCELERATE

Moves to 50-inch web widths gathered steam in 1999 and will gain even more momentum this year, a panel of newspaper production managers predicted Thursday. "The theory that the pace is accelerating is accurate," says Robert Palermini, manager for publishing technology at the Chicago Tribune, who led the Press & Materials segment panel. "I think in the future we’ll be seeing an increasing number of conversions."

[ More in PRESS & MATERIALS ]

E-INK, E-BOOKS TURN A NEW PAGE

Two professional forward-thinkers displayed projects aimed at capturing the "paper-like reading experience" in electronic form. The surprise was just how far e-book developments have come in a few short years. Also, an Intel developer offered a tantalizing peek at the wired house of the not-so-distant future.

[ More in PRE-PRESS ]

CTP: EARNING RESPECT

Computer-to-plate technology converts reported that they gained quality, cut costs and got promised results from newly installed equipment. "I’m not going to stand here and say it’s been great fun and you can just plug and play," said Jimmy Morton of The Dallas Morning News. Perhaps not, but at newspapers big and small, panelists at a Thursday afternoon session said CTP is slowly but surely proving itself.

[ More in PRESS & MATERIALS ]

TOWARD ASSET SHARING

According to a report on digital-asset management, 1999 was the year of "point solutions," while 2000-2001 will be the years of "asset sharing." Speakers during a Tuesday session discussed how they plan to make that jump by creating integrated DAM solutions.

[ More in PRE-PRESS ]

GIVING VOICE TO RSI SUFFERERS

Financial reporter Diana Henriques is passionate about voice-recognition software because repetitive stress injury took her away from her first love, journalism. Returning an injured employee to work may take as little as a $200 investment in off-the-shelf software, she argued during a Monday session.

[ More in HEALTH & SAFETY ]

ENTERING THE MICROZONE

Bad news for the ill-prepared post-press department: Customers don’t just want sub-ZIP zoning -- they want address-specific delivery. Or, as the Houston Chronicle's Jack Stanley put it: "Full-run is dead. Truck zones are useless -- a way of kidding yourself that you’re doing something that isn’t full-run. ZIP codes don’t cut it. Partial/split ZIPs are for amateurs. Carrier routes are a stopgap." Panelists during a Wednesday session offered advice on how to take the next step toward microzoning, the Holy Grail of distribution.

[ More in POST-PRESS ]

PRESSMAKERS' FUTURE PRESENT

During the first half of a two-part Press & Materials session on printing issues and answers, a slew of production executives shared tales of press installations. Individual experiences varied, but common themes emerged as executives looked back at headaches suffered and lessons learned. Then, representatives of the six companies still active in the U.S. rotary-press market addressed issues raised by the newspaper executives, including project support for installation, parts availability and the shape of the industry. They also detailed plans to demonstrate new technologies this year.

[ More in PRESS & MATERIALS ]

PREVENTING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE:
MORE THAN JUST SECURITY

During a Monday Health & Safety segment session, Judy Kruiswyk, employee development and safety manager at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., recalled a 1996 bombing at the newspaper that was detected moments before explosion. Security measures and other cutting-edge technologies can help prevent incidents of workplace violence, but they only go so far, she cautioned attendees.

[ More in HEALTH & SAFETY ]

MAILROOM VENDORS: HERE AND NOW?

A panel of leading post-press suppliers wrapped up the Post-Press segment of the SuperConference with an Industry Outlook, sharing their perspectives on the issues and trends shaping the future of their businesses as well as the newspaper industry. Rick Ruffino, vice president of technology for The Record in Hackensack, N.J., spoke for many when he repeatedly said he was more interested in what they were doing now.

[ More in POST-PRESS ]

PEOPLE POWER

Personnel issues weighed heavily during each SuperConference segment. During a workshop on retaining mailroom employees, John Disera, vice president of production at Copley Chicago Newspapers/Fox Valley Press Inc.in Plainfield, Ill., described a plan that slashed new-employee turnover 45 percent. Finding, training and keeping good press operators and apprentices also remains one of the industry's biggest headaches. But during the SuperConference's final buzz session Friday morning, the consensus was that extensive training, including some college-level work, was helping keep good people. Pre-press staffers discussed how knowledge management moves staff interaction beyond the watercooler. And one little-discussed way to improve retention should already be a company goal -- namely, safety, speakers during a Tuesday session told attendees, while those in another session discussed how behavioral safety programs both reduce problems and improve relationships between workers and supervisors.

CROTEAU NAMED SENIOR TECH VP

Thomas Croteau, NAA vice president of newspaper services, has been promoted to senior vice president of technology. The announcement was made Tuesday during NAA’s Newspaper Operations SuperConference.

[ MORE ]

BEST PRACTICES RECOGNIZED

Throughout the week, production personnel were honored by TechNews magazine for innovations across a wide variety of production areas. Papers winning Best Practices Awards included Prensa Libre S.A. of Guatemala (press & materials); The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (post-press); The San Diego Union-Tribune (health & safety); The Boston Globe (new media); Cox Newspapers' CoxNet (business); The Providence Journal (pre-press); and Syracuse Newspapers (editorial).

[ SEE ALL WINNERS ]

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE BY SEGMENT:
PRE-PRESS | HEALTH & SAFETY | POST-PRESS | PRESS & MATERIALS