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- Newspapers should establish an early and strong connection with the project manager for the vendor installing the production-control systems. Doing so provides a stronger bond between the paper's workers and vendor so that the chaotic times of testing, training and changeover will be smoother.
- Newspapers should begin gathering data about production challenges and needs so that when they choose to go to the technology of such controls they can provide a good picture of their needs to the vendor. "Gather a copy of all reports and forms, get end users involved," said Rounsville. Everyone from sales reps to press operators should be involved so that a full picture of the challenges can be painted for the vendor.
- Begin training early and if possible, hold the training away from the worksite. Production workers must have time set aside so that daily production needs don't interfere with training.
Several newspapers are changing how they work with preprints, packaging and distribution by using software and equipment linking and controlling everything from conveyors to presses.
El Paso Times Production Director Gary Hughes said his company dove into GMA's SAM System long before the newspaper needed to change its current operating procdures. The system is online but running parallel with the paper's old packaging-control systems. Acquiring the system now meant El Paso was better prepared for the new century, he told those attending the Post-Press Segment's production-control systems panel. "Being proactive instead of reactive is the only way we can keep our customers happy," he said.
He was joined by Jack Rounsville, packaging center preprint coordinator at The Spokesman Review in Spokane, Wash., who talked about Heidelberg Finishing's Prima II System; Patrick Burton, senior systems consultant for The Washington Post, who reviewed ShivaSoft's Finite Capacity Scheduling System; and Miami Herald Publishing Co.'s Press Project Manager Peter Birdsall, who reviewed work with the Ferag Integrated Control System. The speakers said all their newspapers were at various stages of implementing the new systems but had learned universally that:
All four said their newspapers were weathering the confusion caused by changeovers but also had seen impressive results.
The system at the Post, although only seven of 10 conveyor systems have been installed, has yielded a 50 percent reduction in reorders and leftovers, said Burton.
Added Rounsville: "We now plan Sunday inserts in about five minutes and are able to check it in about 15 minutes." The Spokesman Review left behind a handwritten planning system that took hours to compile and check and was riddled with errors.
While post-press execs may consider such huge equipment and technology investments only suitable for large papers, Hughes said smaller papers stand even more to gain because they "have the same issues and fewer people to handle them."
--by Bob Sims