San Diego's Expanding Press Lines

The first two color towers arrived in mid-February, and two more arrived May 18; two are scheduled to arrive June 18, and the final two are slotted for mid-September.

The newspaper is keeping all of its vintage 1971 and '72 Goss Metros. On each press line, the mono unit in position 2 will be stacked on top of the unit in position 9. The new towers will then be placed in position 1 and in the resulting hole in position 2 (see diagrams, facing page). Each tower and stacked unit will be fitted with digital page packs. The press lines will be configured so that each reel can feed either of two presses, increasing setup flexibility.

The Union-Tribune, a Copley Newspapers' property, is also raising the ceiling in four places to accommodate one three-high former per press line, enabling the paper to handle more sections at the same time. "We don't want to overload the folder," says Walker. "If our ad reps are able to sell other sections, we want to be able to print them without requiring another run."

In addition, a new state-of-the-art press-registration system prom-ises to improve print quality. "It's like we're trying to print a National Geographic magazine on a newspaper press," says Walker.

Finding a suitable registration system was not easy. Walker felt that all available systems for newspaper presses "ran hot," meaning that the light bulb in the head generated too much heat. To get around the problem, he visited several commercial printing plants and finally settled on a registration system developed by Presstek Inc. That system keeps the hot light away from the press by running fiber-optic cables to the head.

The Union-Tribune is also installing new press controls from EAE Electronics that allow operators to set the ink at ground level. "I'm as excited about the new controls as I am about the presses," says Walker. "You can learn to operate them in three hours. They are so simple, it's unreal."

Walker also appreciates their durability. "Chemicals would get down into my previous control panels," he says. "They would make tunnels that look like termite tunnels. Eventually, the top layer would start peeling away, and the tacks behind the buttons would protrude. It cost $2,500 per console to fix the whole thing."

The Union-Tribune's printing facility does not have a quiet room; all controls are located at the press. "The middle area between the presses will house a quiet room in five-to-seven years," Walker predicts.

A final piece of the press-expansion project involves overhauling the offices in the press area. "Nowadays, everything has to be ergonomically correct," Walker complains. "Designing the offices was almost as difficult as designing the pressroom. The computer has to be on the corner. You have to use ergonomically correct chairs. The cost was unreal."

To make matters more complex, all of the workers had to agree on the colors, patterns and textures of a variety of design elements. "It was just like being married," Walker says.

"The managers will also have their own conference room close to the pressroom," he continues. "Now, when they're asked to attend a meeting in a conference room on another floor, they feel like they have to take a shower before they go."

But Why Didn't They...

	EAE Electronic's press controls (foreground), which resist delamination, allow operators to set the ink at ground level.

Conspicuously absent from the Union-Tribune's press project are new technologies such as keyless inkers and shaftless drives. Walker maintains keyless technology is still unproven, and that recent keyless installations at other newspaper plants have exhibited too many problems.

As for shaftless, Walker was concerned about interfacing the new technology with his current presses, which use drive shafts. He does, however, concede that shaftless is the wave of the future. "Presses are going from 90 percent mechanical to 90 percent electric," he muses. "The most important person in the pressroom used to be the pressman. Now it's the electrician."

The Union-Tribune also chose not to use the press expansion as an opportunity to trim its web width to 50 inches—at least not yet.

"The L.A. Times will dictate that," Walker says. "When the L.A. Times goes, all the advertisers and newspapers on the West Coast will go. I will not be surprised if we go to 50 inches in the next two-to-three years."

Now at 55 inches, the new presses are configured so that they can convert to 50 inches within one week. All RTF rollers, lockups, etc., are cut and slotted for 50 inches. "The longest lead-time item will be the plates," Walker says.

Challenges

	The Union-Tribune's printing facility does not have a quiet room. One may be installed in the space between the press lines in five-to-seven years.

General contractor the Austin Co., Goss Graphic Systems and various subcontractors are taking the presses out of service, one by one, for periods ranging from three days to two weeks.

During 26 of the project's scheduled 42 weeks, the Union-Tribune will reduce the number of locally zoned editions from seven to four on Tuesdays. During the other 16 weeks, while the mono units are being moved and the new formers installed, the paper will reduce a greater number of zoned editions from Tuesday through Saturday.

"We are on schedule. We will make it," says Walker. However, "my gripe is Goss' just-in-time delivery program. Every time you gain some time on the schedule, just-in-time just eats it up. Goss' parts may not be ready, and it slows production. If I had to do it over again, I would insist that everything be manufactured 30-to-45 days ahead of time."

"It's been a real challenge, but I enjoy it," Walker adds.

Labor issues in the pressroom have also been worrisome. Press workers have been without a contract for seven years. They have picketed outside the Mission Valley plant and even at some customer locations.

"They are not doing anything wrong," Walker says. "They are fighting for what they believe in. But as a manager, I have to respect the company's stance on the issue."

A final, and not insubstantial, problem involved employee parking. As there is little room inside the plant to stage arriving press parts, the parking lot has been used for this purpose, eliminating 130 parking spaces. The problem was only partially solved by moving all of the paper's delivery trucks to its distribution centers.

"Parking was a bigger problem than expanding the presses," says Walker. "When the parts started arriving, I stayed on the roof for two days to watch people parking. The left part of the lot was empty, but people didn't know that. They started going up and down the aisles like you would at a grocery store.

"It's human nature that you want the first empty spot. But the end of the lot was totally empty."

Some might argue that monitoring the parking lot should not be part of a manufacturing director's job description. But Walker seems willing to do whatever it takes to complete this massive press-expansion project on time and under budget.

"If you can sell it, I can print it" is a demanding motto. John Walker has said it, and he plans to live up to it.

Clark Robinson is the editor of TechNews. E-mail, robic@naa.org; phone, (703) 902-1686; fax, (703) 902-1690.

TechNews Volume 5, Number 3: May/June 1999

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