'3 Ms' GENERATE BUZZ

Post-press managers and suppliers shared simple ideas for solving complex problems at Wednesday morning's Buzz Breakfast. Ideas covered three areas deemed critical to mailroom success: materials, manning and methods.

Peter R. Tassinari, director of newspaper technical sales for Heidelberg Web Systems, suggested that managers determine quality standards for preprints.

"The quality of products coming from commercial printers and other sources are just not good," he said. He believes setting and sticking to specifications -- how pallets are loaded, for example -- can eliminate problems before they arrive on the mailroom floor. And one way to ensure customers are not upset by quality "demands" is to involve them in the discussion, he said. Salespeople can be given information about types of paper, sizes of inserts and other parameters so customers can make informed decisions about what will work best for them. The goal is to deliver the product information in great condition on the doorsteps of readers.

"Guidelines given by salespeople focus people on putting products together the way you need them," Tassinari said. Likewise, managers should insist their own pressrooms meet the standards set for outside preprint jobs, he said.

Buzz participants emphasized training as key to keeping operations up to speed and for retaining workers. Several newspapers have eliminated live production training and instead spend several shifts training workers on everything from what’s expected to machine maintenance.

Richard Hawes, assistant to the vice president of production at The Washington Post, discussed another way to keep good workers -- flexible scheduling. Machine operators spend a few hours on Mondays and Tuesdays setting up and testing equipment, then work very long days Wednesdays and Thursdays building advance packages. The workers get a three-day weekend and the paper gets to keep experienced employees who know the idiosyncrasies of their machines.

Tassinari suggested managers and employees first audit their work. "Sit back and watch," he said. "What’s stopping the process?" Doing so helps identify problems with both people and machinery, he said. Tassinari also urged continuous testing and evaluation of equipment, including training operators to change settings for the particulars of each job.

Darrel E. Pav, director of technology at GMA Inc. in Bethlehem, Pa., echoed that theme in his discussion of methods. A mailroom manager should write a standard for each kind of work, including regular weekly insert jobs, he argued. This gives at a glance the the machinery settings and other processes for that particular customer’s needs.

A manager can request a sample of about 300 inserts to use in a test run. The test can help machine operators write set-up sheets, which can then be used as reference for proven machine settings and to alert operators to past problems with the job.

The commitment of time is minimal for the returns, Pav said.

-Bob Sims