Race to 50 Inches Picks Up Pace
As NEXPO'99 wound down at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Presstime and TechNews editors invited a panel of production executives and vendors to discuss the four-day conference.
Much of the talk centered on souped-up editorial systems and business software that can be accessed via the World Wide Web. But again and again, conversation returned to the pressroom.
"The 50-inch web width is the news of NEXPO," announced Tom Shafer, director of production technologies for Thomson Newspapers in Stamford, Conn. "It impacts everyone from the front end to the back end. We talked about it last year, but this year, it is here."
"The 50-inch web is like a ball rolling downhill," added Chuck Blevins, president of Chuck Blevins & Associates in Vienna, Va. He recommended that NAA members address a variety of issues that accompany a shrinking web width, from print quality to adjusting Standard Advertising Units.
Participants in a lively, spilling-into-the-hallway session on Tuesday raised the same issues. Newspaper executives who now use 50-inch webs debated the conversion from the viewpoints of reader, advertiser and technician.
Although his newspapers first approached downsizing from a 54-inch to a 50-inch web in reaction to then-skyrocketing newsprint prices four years ago, William Dean Singleton said that positive reader reaction was a bonus.
"We've saved $30 million on newsprint over the past four years, but we were stunned to discover how much readers loved the smaller papers," said Singleton, president and chief executive officer of MediaNews Group Inc. of Denver.
New Press Touts Gapless Advantage
With the word "shaftless" firmly planted in the press lexicon, Heidelberg Web Systems soon will add "gapless" to newspaper press terminology. Still in development, the company's Mainstream 80 newspaper press will pair shaftless drives with gapless blankets.
Polyfibron Technologies Inc. of Billerica, Mass., will supply the tubular, sleeve-like blankets that promise to eliminate mechanical disturbances occurring when conventional blanket gaps meet plate cylinder gaps on presses.
Heidelberg will introduce the press at DRUPA 2000 in Düsseldorf, Germany, next May. Peter W. Walczak, technical sales specialist, said that a European publisher-one that he declined to name-already has purchased the first Mainstream 80, to be delivered after DRUPA. Its predecessor was launched in the commercial market in 1993.
Last November, the German company, with U.S. headquarters in Dover, N.H., announced development of the newspaper version. Modifications for newspaper use include switching from a horizontal to a vertical web. In addition, the inker and dampening systems are being modified for newsprint.
As part of its product line, Heidelberg also unveiled a flying paster and a packaging system, which the company said offers a "one-stop shop" for integrated press and post-press systems.
Advances in shaftless technology figured in other press exhibits as well.
Flying plate-changing units are in demand as publishers search for ways to reduce waste. During a satellite videocast, printers at the State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., ran presses using shaftless drives retrofitted by Rexroth Indramat of Hoffman Estates, Ill. Journal-Register Pressroom Foreman Al Meier touted decreased plate-change times.
TKS (U.S.A.) Inc. of Richardson, Texas, ran the Color Top 6000, a shaftless press with digital inking and a 50-inch web. Goss Graphic Systems Inc. and MAN Roland Inc., both of Westmont, Ill., and KBA North America Inc. of York, Pa., were among other manufacturers showing the latest press technology.
Pressroom Tweaks and Upgrades
For NEXPO attendees interested in tweaking existing equipment to add speed, color or efficiency, this show delivered.
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Harland Simon's PRIMA.net uses an intranet system to collect data from presses and post-press equipment around the plant. It then issues reports on pressroom waste, start and stop information, materials consumption, and other factors. The Oak Brook, Ill., company also introduced the PRIMA 5000 Press Control Console, running on a Windows NT platform.
An insider's view of EAE Group's press controls - ABB Automation Inc., Milwaukee, demonstrated its variable-speed drives and press-control systems. The equipment helps reduce waste in print start-ups.
- Varn International of Oakland, N.J., offered a variety of process-control equipment from precision-mixing systems for fountain solutions to water-treatment equipment.
- Essex Products Group of Centerbrook, Conn., demonstrated its KeyColor AutoPage, an ink-control system that simplifies ink setup and color corrections.
- As for inks, Flint Ink, Ann Arbor, Mich., exhibited new performance inks including "high strength" Arrowlith Performance Plus with optional "bluer-black image" reproduction.
Also showcasing its inks and related services were US Ink, promoting its Real Color program, and The Ink Co., West Sacramento, Calif., offering Pressroom Quality Services.
- And vendors did not neglect another key element of the offset printing process, blankets. Day International, Dayton, Ohio, has two product lines. The company's dayGraphica blankets seek to improve printing quality, with crisp headlines, heavy ink coverage and sharp contrast. The davidM blankets can be used for a variety of newspaper printing applications.