The Big Spraydown
by Steve Ostrofsky
At The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., the pressure was on.
The new total-market-coverage insert product was coming online, requiring precise carrier delivery to finer microzones. At the same time, advertisers unwilling to provide reams of extra inserts were demanding greater quality control.
The News Tribune addressed these issues by turning to inkjet printing. Operations Director Jeff Stalcup believed that printing a code on each insert jacket would simplify the job of sorting and delivering similar-looking TMC packages to microzone targets. Since the codes would also be printed on many daily news sections, they could also serve as a quality-control reference when readers complain about missing sections or inserts.
Two years ago, The News Tribune installed Domino Amjet Inc. inkjet printers on several inserting lines. Unlike many newspapers, however, they did not configure the inkjets to spray ink upwards onto the bundle bottom wrap. Instead, they were positioned directly over the conveyer belt that carries the product from the inserter grippers to the stacking equipment, enabling the inkjet heads to spray down onto the top of each individual package or product.
According to Stalcup, downward printing was chosen so that anyone needing to check the printed code would not have to turn the product over-a key for carriers trying to manage packages in a moving car, or packaging staff verifying codes on a fast-moving insert conveyor. Spraying down also has the advantage of being cleaner and more easily maintained, since dust and debris do not fall onto the print heads.
Unlike spraying onto the bottom of a bundle or package, however, maintaining the correct distance between the print heads and products of different thickness posed problems. Weighing its options, The News Tribune discovered weight itself was the solution: staffers simply hinged one end of the conveyor segment under the inkjet head so it could pivot, and suspended the other end with carefully selected springs so that tension could "float" packages of different weights up or down.
The code itself is sprayed along the product's vertical spine. The News Tribune is currently using a string of up to 30 characters, automatically derived from GMA's packaging-system management software. The code contains both zoning information used by the direct-delivery department's carrier force, and quality-control information used by operations management.
For example, the code 406ETOCE8 - 04 - 0 consists of the following elements:
| 406 | zip code designator: 98406 | |
| E | product name designator: "Extra" | |
| TO | delivery designator: Tuesday only nonsubscribers | |
| CE | edition designator: Central Edition | |
| 8 | ad-packet content designator | |
| 04 | insert line designator: which line produced package | |
| 0 | package completion/quality status: no missing inserts |
Tanyalee Erwin, direct-delivery department manager, says her carriers "love" the inkjet labels, noting speed and accuracy have improved-a sentiment echoed by Stalcup.
While many newspapers have considered inkjetting, a number are only beginning to work through the technical and operational issues involved in bringing it online. The News Tribune is now reaping the rewards of stretching the boundaries of the new technology.
Steve Ostrofsky is president of Publishing Productivity Systems Inc., Bremerton, Wash. E-mail, stevevelo@silverlink.net; phone (360) 308-0121.