MAILROOM VENDORS:
HERE AND NOW?

A panel of leading post-press suppliers wrapped up the Post-Press segment of the SuperConference Wednesday 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.

"How will you help us get where we want to be?" asked Ruffino, who stepped in as moderator for snowed-in Record President Jonathan Markey. The answers, which detailed some specific product developments, new services and upgrade capabilities, did not seem to satisfy many. Attendees instead sought the Holy Grail of post-press: the ability to build many different targeted packages accurately at high speeds and move them seamlessly to distribution without having to stop the equipment.

From the floor, Kenneth Shelby, vice president of operations for Thomson Ohio, said suppliers needed to look at the adoption of pagination as a model. "This was not done alone," he said, but buyers and sellers, and the sellers themselves, worked cooperatively to build system solutions and make pagination a reality. The same could happen in post-press, he suggested.

The panel acknowledged this as a goal and sympathized with the industry’s frustration, though some more than others. But they also laid some of the blame on newspaper management.

o Doug Gibson, regional vice president of newspaper sales for Heidelberg Web Systems Inc. of Dayton, Ohio, called for agreement on product and procedural specifications. "You need to look at the inserter like [you do] a press."

He also addressed budget priorities. After pre-press, press and new-media needs are met, he said, post-press departments "get what’s left." That means the new press can handle speeds of 80,000 copies per hour while the under-resourced mailroom can only handle 30,000 cph -- with obvious results.

o Randy Seidel, president and CEO of GMA Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa., urged newspapers to develop more applications through commercial work to help justify needed investments in equipment upgrades.

o Anthony Peri, president of Quipp Systems, called for bold thinking, including reconsidering the number of editions produced, as fewer editions could relieve some pressure on post-press.

o Hernan Rincon, president and chief executive officer of Ferag AG of Bristol, Pa., suggested the industry needed to commit to shifting money from labor to technology to achieve the automation it seeks.

o And Robert Davidson, president of industry newcomer EnterNet of Lombard, Ill., said even with the right technological tools, "systems are used not as thoroughbreds, but as carousel horses." Post-press managers, he said, need step up their training of people to maximize new equipment and system opportunities.

-Terence Poltrack