INSTALLATION ROUNDUP
REVEALS COMMON ISSUES

During the first half of a two-part Press & Materials session on printing issues and answers, a slew of production executives, some present and some represented via e-mail, shared tales of press installations. Individual experiences varied, but some common themes emerged as executives looked back at headaches suffered and lessons learned:

o Squeezing new iron into existing buildings can unleash an array of bewildering headaches, ranging from costly asbestos removal and tight fits to simply figuring out the best way to get equipment inside.

o Several speakers acknowledged that jumping from old presses to new proved more difficult than expected, particularly when leapfrogging from 30-plus year-old letterpresses to highly computerized offset technology.

o Goss Graphic Systems of Westmont, Ill., was mentioned early and often, a testament to both its market-leading position and its financial crises over the last several years. Speakers acknowledged that those woes, which culminated in last year’s prepackaged bankruptcy filing and restructuring, caused problems big and small. But they also generally credited Goss management for working to resolve problems. (Goss announced during the SuperConference that Phoenix Newspapers Inc. will purchase a 22-unit Universal press to print the national edition of The New York Times.)

o When dealing with foreign press manufacturers, language barriers and parts issues can both cause problems unless adequate preparations are made. “You really don’t understand what that is until you put Germans with French cajuns,” Tom Shafer, Thomson Newspapers’ director of print technologies, recalled of a MAN Roland Inc. press installation in Lafayette, La.

o European and Japanese press manufacturers often overlook differences in ink and fountain solutions between their domestic customers and U.S. prospects, several speakers charged. The problem comes to a head in keyless installations, where executives said they had to play catch-up devising special ink formulations after their presses were up and running. “They need to invest time and effort up front to help us maximize our use of consumables,” said Mike Monscour of The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y.

Now on to the individual installations:

o Lafayette, La., was the first of several Thomson strategic-market groups slated to receive MAN Roland Uniset 70 presses. And were it not for Gannett Co.’s fast-track schedule to get a Uniset up and running in Minneapolis, it would have been the first installation of the press anywhere.

“Thank goodness, because they got the software issues,” quipped Shafer. On the minus side, Gannett’s fast-track installation also got what Shafer called the supplier’s “A team.”

Because the press was so new, Shafer also reported “infant mortality” issues with some parts, a problem aggravated by the fact that replacements had to be flown in from Germany. MAN Roland has since committed to ensuring every single part for the press is warehoused in the U.S., ensuring 6-hour availability in emergencies.

o Earlier in the week, Stan Richmond, vice president of operations for Cox Ohio Publishing in Dayton, had wowed attendees with a computer-animated tour of the company’s new Print Technology Center. Delving into the installation of the facility’s KBA Kolora double-width keyless-offset press, he noted that construction of the table-top foundation supporting it required careful coordination. “Masons build table tops, machinists build presses,” he said. “They don’t have the same tolerances. If you have to make an alteration, it’s not just expensive, it’s real expensive.”

One drawback of the presses’ shaftless-control system: everything had to be shut down to make software changes, he added. Richmond also reported having to formulate special inks to accommodate the presses’ short-train anilox inking system. “They cost a little more but yield much better mileage,” he said.

o John L. Walker, director of manufacturing for The San Diego Union-Tribune, discussed an add-on project initially scheduled to be completed last August. The additional Goss units are now all installed, “but not operating at full potential,” he said. That’s now supposed to happen by May.

In the meantime, the paper is on its third Goss project manager, and continues operating on three of its four presses, resulting in late deliveries, collapsed zones and turned-down revenue opportunities, Walker said. Raising the ceiling to accommodate new tower configurations also led to a costly asbestos-removal problem.

o Gazette Communications of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, decided in 1997 to purchase a single-width Goss Universal 70 press, move printing operations to Goss’ old factory in town, and then run them like a commercial printer -- with The Gazette just one of its clients.

“Suffice to say, after the spinoff of Goss, the replacement of top management, the strike at Reading and into the bankruptcy, that didn’t make for the most expedient and pleasant experience,” President and Publisher Joe Hladky relayed via an e-mail read aloud by Shafer. Control systems were not developed prior to the installation, and while other components had been proven in other facilities, they had never been combined into a press of the Gazette’s complexity. Press-alignment problems also arose, and several shafts required retooling. On top of all that, it took time and effort to ensure the skill level of the Gazette’s staff could be raised to handle a “complex, computer-run machine,” he said.

It wasn’t until this past holiday season that the Gazette was able to take “full advantage” of the new press. Still, Hladky credits Goss management for “sticking by him” and working hard to address each and every problem. And he reported the end result: “a much better product than before.”

o The Miami Herald, too, has been mired in a lengthy installation process which will finally come to an end early this spring, when the last of the five Goss Newsliners it ordered in 1995 are converted from keyless to digital inking systems, said Richard Danze, vice president of production.

Squeezing the presses into the Herald’s existing building required unique angle-bar configurations; a subsequent conversion to 50-inch webs also caused folder problems. “We had to change many assumptions we made while running the press at 54 inches,” he said. “Once done, we saw an exponential improvement in the product.”

o The Wentachee (Wash.) World’s pre-press and technology director, Stephen Schroeder, was also unable to attend, though he relayed a Web link to attendees interested in learning more about the paper’s installation of a single-width KBA Comet press (www.wenworld.com/press/index2.html).

In comments relayed by Shafer, Schroeder mentioned that the existing building caused some headaches, as did KBA’s stringent specifications for everything from the foundation and ductwork to electrical systems. The World had also opted to keep an old conveyor system, only to discover it couldn’t keep up with the new press.

Schroeder urged attendees “not to overlook the little things -- coathooks, eyewash stations, operator tools -- that get lost in the cracks.”

o Steve Barlow, press manager for the Tulsa World, reported via prepared comments that the paper is now up and running at 100 percent with its WIFAG press, the first shaftless installation in the country. Installation of a second WIFAG press will begin in March.

Tulsa opted for a 100 percent turnkey installation, which reduced the number of issues managers had to deal with, according to Barlow. Total delays amounted to a year (some software in the reel systems had to be replaced, as did some relays), but Barlow felt they would have been “much longer” had the newspaper handled more of the grunt work.

o Hugh Price, director of production planning at The Washington Post, uttered the magic words every publisher yearns to hear: the paper’s $250 million installation of eight new Mitsubishi Heavy Industries keyless-offset presses concluded in early 1999 “on time and under budget” -- even after the Post's decision to move to 50-inch web shortly after ordering the presses in 1996 bumped back production by two months.

Still, many small modifications were required, as was extensive training for the two-thirds of the Post production staff accustomed to operating letterpresses. Throughout the process, the paper avoided the “temptation to heavily automate everything,” Price said. “We came to the conclusion it made more sense to keep it simple.”

Keyless inking has had “mixed results,” Price said. “It hasn’t turned out to be what we had hoped -- set it and forget it.” Quality, however, is “reasonable,” he added, and Mitsubishi continues working with the paper and its ink suppliers on formulations.

o Another no-show, Kevin Desmond, vice president of operations for The Wichita Eagle, relayed information about a KBA flexo installation intended to replace a series of presses, the newest of which is 36 years old. In a unusual installation timetable beginning in February, construction within the existing pressroom will stretch out over 33 months, with old units gradually removed and new ones brought online -- all without disrupting operations.

o At The Dallas Morning News, staff has already decomissioned one of the presses it obtained following the 1991 closing of the Dallas Times Herald to make room for a shaftless WIFAG press. Unlike Tulsa, Dallas has opted to purchase a flying plate-change unit, allowing zone changes on the fly, said Paul Webb, the paper’s vice president of production.

Though the press and two folders will soon be put in place during a three-week window, preparation has taken much longer -- with much of that time devoted to training, according to Webb. The paper’s pressroom manager spent five months, the entire time of the equipment's construction, at WIFAG’s Swiss headquarters “so he could be there for all issues as they came up,” Webb said. Some 15 craftsmen, including press operators and electricians, were also sent to Switzerland for a minimum of four weeks' training; they later returned for a two-week stint running a similar press at a Swiss publication. The Morning News’ press is expected to enter production by August.

o At The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, four 10-unit TKS presses were installed at the paper’s remote-printing facility with few problems, said Tim Bader, quality-assurance manager. In fact, one of the few issues with the press involves maintenance -- specifically, taller stairs raising safety concerns, he said.

-Mark Toner