There's one thing newspapers can count on when it comes to inserting pre-prints: The insert you miss will be the one that should have gone to the store manager.
The repair of misses and doubles--the bane of newspapers and advertisers alike--requires a combination of technological skill, ingenuity and patience. But the major inserting-machine vendors say they are up to the task by offering either state-of-the-art systems or creative solutions for older machines.
Sheridan Systems [now Heidelberg Finishing Systems Inc.] of Dayton, Ohio, claims that since the 1960s it has had the only true automatic repair system, which detects, tracks, recycles and repairs a faulty product.
Using photoelectric sensors, the ICON Inserter Control Node knows which insert is missed in which hopper. Being a circular or closed-loop system, it can then automatically send the jacket around again for proper insertion.
A Sheridan system also recognizes when there has been a double or multiple insertion. It tracks the product and can take it to a reject station for repackaging or simply allow it to go out as a double. (Many newspapers would rather accept a certain percentage of doubles than slow down the inserting process for that type of repair.)
GMA Inc., based in Allentown, Pa., has inserters that can accept or reject a double and can also be set to reject a triple, says President and Chief Executive Officer Randy R. Seidel. He also says this is not a major problem because their new inserters produce doubles less than 0.1 percent of the time.
GMA's newest straightline machine, the SLS-2000, has the ability to repair all misses, bringing the product back to the position of error, says Seidel. "The software tracks and follows every single copy."
In addition, another feature enables backup feeders, which allow a repair without having to cycle back. If one feeder misses, the backup simply makes the feed. This repair feature is standard on the SLS-2000 and an option on the SLS-1000.
Ferag Inc. of Bristol, Pa., boasts the fastest inserting system but lacks the ability to recycle its product for automatic repair because it does not loop back around. However, the company is currently working with Syracuse Newspapers to update its basic system, which kicks out an incomplete copy for manual repair. Having to sort through papers by hand to find missing inserts is time-consuming and expensive, acknowledges Mike Stern, Syracuse's production manager.
Ferag's fix: If one position is missing in the feeder chain, the inserter will kick out the corresponding jacket, which will skip all further inserts. The jacket can then go through the process again, without manual sorting.
Judy Grande is a free-lance writer in Great Falls, Va. E-mail, RockyRun91@aol.com; phone, (703) 759-0276.
©1997 Newspaper Association of America. All rights reserved.