By: E&P Staff The Des Moines Register has added 17 printing couples to its three MAN Roland Geoman presses, increasing the color content of its pages, and balancing the use of color among all sections.
With the add-ons, all 4-over-1 and 4-over-2 towers became full-color 4-over-4 towers on the Register's three Geoman presses. The A press went from 24 pages of full color to 40, a 40% increase, while the B press upgraded from 28 full-color pages to 40, a 30% rise. The expansion raises the number of couples to 84 and evens out the lines.
With matching presses, "we can balance equipment run time more effectively" and more easily schedule maintenance, said Press and Newsprint Manager Rick Mayer. A three-press operation when running in collect mode, "we normally only use two presses, because we run straight," for higher productivity on a tight schedule, he said.
Mayer, who coordinated the expansion, said MAN worked around the printing schedule, using open time on Sundays, the only day without morning or afternoon printing. For safety reasons, said Mayer, "this was the day that we installed the items that required using the overhead crane and come-alongs." Weekdays, MAN worked on one press at a time. Needing only one press on morning and afternoon shifts, said Mayer, "we would run the press on the opposite end from the one the MAN Roland crew was working on."
Advertisers already are taking advantage of extra color opportunities, which "allow us to run standalone advertising sections, normally following our A section, with all pages running in full color," said Mayer, adding that the classified sections also increased color use.
The Register's commercial printing business, which includes Investors Business Daily, also is growing. The operation recently signed up an Omaha alternative weekly as a result of its greater color capacity.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here