Shaftless KBA Press for N.C.
Lest you think shaftless-press technology is only for the largest of metros, consider the 69,757-circulation Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times, which this spring inked an order for a shaftless Colora press from KBA-Motter Corp. of York, Pa., as part of a $30 million press-and-packaging capital project.
"The press industry experienced a historic technological change with the advent of shaftless printing," says Anthony G. Chavonne, the paper's general manager. "We benefited from this change in the selection of our new press equipment."
The oldest newspaper company in North Carolina, Fayetteville Publishing Co. selected the Colora press following a nine-month selection process. Among the company's goals: "Generate a substantial volume of commercial printing business within the region and state," Chavonne says.
With full-color capacity of 48 pages, the open-fountain press will feature six four-high printing towers and be capable of running at speeds of 70,000 pieces per hour. Installation is slated to be completed by fall 1999.
Kruger Wins Supplier Award
Montreal-based Kruger Inc. won Gannett Supply Corp.'s 1997 Newsprint Supplier of the Year and 1997 Quality Supplier of the Year awards. "Kruger has won this award for 11 of the 17 years we've been conducting our survey," says Karen Moreno, president of Gannett Supply, the centralized purchasing organization responsible for the procurement of all of Gannett's newsprint, capital equipment and other company-wide commodities. "The quality of its product and service to Gannett newspapers is second to none. It is no coincidence that Kruger is Gannett's largest supplier of newsprint." All 87 Gannett newspapers participate in the annual survey, based on newsprint companies' performance in all areas of quality and service. Previous winners include Donohue Inc., Alberta Newsprint Co. and Weyerhaeuser.
Plastic Belts Celebrate 25th
Intralox Inc. is celebrating the 25th anniversary of modular plastic conveyor belting, which began its life in shrimperies but has since expanded to dozens of industries--including newspaper publishing. The configuration of the first plastic belt, designed by Intralox founder J.M. Lapeyre to eliminate corrosion, sanitation and tracking problems, remains the basis of today's belts. Today the New Orleans company manufactures more than 150 different combinations of the modular belting, as well as dozens of accessories.
Vendor Y2K Moves
Among recent newspaper-system vendor announcements about Year 2000 issues:
- Atex Media Solutions of Bedford, Mass., announced that its Year 2000-compliant Atex-11 editorial and advertising systems have been installed at two beta sites, the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., and Newsday of Melville, N.Y. The Courier-Journal was selected by Gannett Co. to be its primary Y2K beta site for Atex software and, following testing that began last December, went live with editorial and advertising systems one month ahead of schedule.
- Baseview Products Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich., says every program it has ever released is ready for 2000. It credits the Macintosh operating system and programmer foresight for its readiness. "We store all dates in the specified Macintosh date format, which is the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1904," says Jack Rosenzweig, Baseview's editorial product manager. "We never store the year as a two-digit field. Because we knew the Mac way was safe, we didn't have to worry about [the Y2K bug]." Baseview offers one caveat: Its circulation and older advertising programs are written in FoxBase, which requires a patch to be Year 2000 compliant. Baseview supplies this patch free of charge to customers. All advertising products since October 1995 have been written in FoxPro, which is fully Year 2000 compliant.
- Geac Publishing Systems, Tampa, says that Y2K concerns prompted four publishers--The Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier, The Daily Nation in Barbados, The Galveston County (Tex.) Daily News and Creative Loafing, an Atlanta-based weekly group--to forgo proprietary systems for its client-server advertising solutions. n
Heidelberg Consolidates N.A. Operations
German megavendor Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has formed a new holding company to oversee its North American Operations. Heidelberg Americas Inc., inaugurated in April, oversees operations in the United States, Canada and the company's new sales, service and support operations in Mexico. Heidelberger Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn will serve as chairman of the new company. Holger Reichardt, a member of the parent company's executive board and its marketing director, is vice chairman.
"The new company provides a focal point within the North American Free Trade Area for the financial and investment communities," says Hans Peetz-Larsen, who serves as president and chief executive officer of the strategic organization while continuing as CEO of Heidelberg USA Inc. "Heidelberg Americas will also promote teamwork and achieve synergies among the individual operating units located in NAFTA."
GATF, PIA Consolidate
Following nearly four years of discussion, the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation and the Printing Industries of America agreed to merge in late April. The merger will create the Print and Graphics Associations International Inc., an umbrella corporation to oversee common functions such as accounting, marketing, meeting planning and related areas. Since 1994, the 2,500-member GATF and 14,000-member PIA have shared environmental services, held two joint annual meetings and most recently distributed a joint publications catalog. "For some time now, both organizations have recognized the vast benefits of consolidation," says Mark Jorgensen, GATF chairman of the board and Chief Executive Officer of Impressions Inc. "What could be better than joining two of the most talented staffs in the printing industry?"
Print Quality Winners
Among recent winners in state, regional and national print-quality competitions:
- The Chicago Tribune became the first newspaper to win
best-in-show awards in both the black-and-white and color divisions
of the 1998 Inland Print Quality Competition. Inland called the
accomplishment "unprecedented." The Tribune had won
best-in-show for color reproduction twice before, in 1997 and 1994;
this year's award was its first black-and-white honor.
"We are honored to receive these awards," says Dick Malone, the paper's vice president and director of manufacturing and distribution. "We place great importance on the visual quality of the Tribune and these awards validate our efforts to provide the best newspaper reproduction possible."
- The St. Petersburg Times took second place in the
color-reproduction competition in Inland's over-50,000 circulation
category. It chose to create an ad promoting its commitment to
quality reproduction and telling readers the purpose of the
competition. Times departments involved in the process were internal
services (creating the ad), imaging (producing color separations and
making the plates) and press (printing the paper).
A record 145 U.S. and Canadian newspapers participated in the Inland Press Association's 1998 competition.
- Two Media General newspapers, The Tampa Tribune and Winston-Salem
(N.C.) Journal, took honors in the 1998 Southern Newspapers
Publishers Association Print Quality Contest.
The Tampa Tribune placed first in overall quality among newspapers with circulations over l00,000 and the Winston-Salem Journal placed third in overall quality in the 50,000-to-100,000 circulation category. Winston-Salem also received a second-place award in its circulation group for best black-and-white halftones.
- The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., took best of show in the second annual Print Quality Contest presented at the America-East Newspaper Operations & Technology Conference held this March in Hershey, Pa. The contest, launched last year, is the first of its kind in the Northeast.
Winners included:
- Under 25,000 circulation: Troy (Ohio) Daily News, first; The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass, second; The Indiana Gazette and The Press Enterprise, Bloomsburg (Pa.), third-place tie.
- 25,000-to-50,000 circulation: The Post-Star, Glens Falls, N.Y., first; The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.; second; Herald-Standard, Uniontown, Pa., third.
- 50,000-to-100,000 circulation: The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., first; The Eagle Tribune, North Andover, Mass., second; The Capital, Annapolis, Md., third.
- Over 100,000 circulation: The Record, Bergen, N.J., first; Philadelphia Daily News, second; The Sun, Baltimore, and The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, third-place tie.
- Letterpress: The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa., first; Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, Pa., second.
Some 56 newspapers competed in the America-East contest.
SII Supplies Reuters
Sacramento-based System Integrators Inc. will supply a worldwide editorial system for Reuters. The system marks the introduction of SII's new product line based on ServerNet computers from Compaq subsidiary Tandem Computers. Using Windows NT and open-client technology, SII's new Coyote/3 systems will be installed at Reuters news operations worldwide. "Our primary requirement is for a dependable editing system," explains Reuters Editor-in-Chief Mark Wood. "This agreement with SII leads us towards a single, high-quality system that will make technical upgrades and training much simpler." SII Chief Executive Frank Washington says the company "looks forward to working closely with Reuters in developing the next stage of its editorial-system strategy."
Dynaric Introduces Strapper
Dynaric Inc. of Teaneck, N.J., has introduced its NP-3 high-speed newspaper strapper. Capable of applying 54 straps per minute, the NP-3 is equipped with an external operator interface featuring a four-line, easy-to-read display. The NP-3 creates more-uniform bundles by using a low-bundle sensor, soft-clamp compression, a wider tension range and a bundle-conditioning system. User features include removable panels, an end-of-strap sensor, quick-change dispenser and external adjustable tension control.