Newspapers and Technology March 2000
Short
Run
Bill Higginson
Vice President, Production
Journal Register Co.
27 years, 10 with Journal Register
What was your first job in the newspaper business?
In 1973, the summer after I graduated high school, I started working part time as a "flyboy" at a weekly group in northern New Jersey. I was fortunate in that a few of the journeymen pressman and the shop machinist took me under their collective wing and put me to work on the Urbanite press whenever a pressman was out.
A year later I found myself the second-shift lead man, running the Beverage Retailer newspaper and back-to-back process color with magazine separations (133-line screen) nearly every week. Of course, little did we know back then that we weren't supposed to be doing that.
What do you like most about your job?
I enjoy working for a dynamic, growing company, with a group of executives who are passionate about the business. I welcome the challenge of coordinating the production of 25 quality daily newspapers and 194 non-daily publications. Journal Register Co.'s production employees continuously work to improve the print quality of the products they produce and work hard to operate efficiently and to achieve "on-time" performance. What I find most satisfying is working with the talented department heads we have in the field to resolve a difficult problem or devise a strategic, efficient plan to meet the ever-changing needs of the editorial, advertising and circulation departments.
I also like working on acquisition prospects. It is interesting to see the inner workings of other newspaper operations, and I enjoy the challenge of identifying synergistic opportunities that might result from the integration of a new operation with one of our established clusters.
What do you like least?
People who give lip service. If someone tells you they are going to get something done, you need to be able to count on them.
What was the Journal Register's most recent purchase/installation?
Our most recent purchase was a 42-couple, shaftless Geoman press from MAN Roland for a central production facility Journal Register Co. is building in Chester County, Pennsylvania. We also recently installed a 10-unit DGM 850 press with six ENKEL Autowebs at the Daily Freeman plant in Kingston, N.Y.
What is the biggest challenge the Journal Register is facing in production?
If I had to identify a challenge for JRC, it would be the same challenge all newspaper publishers face in this tight job market, which is attracting talented, hard-working individuals to certain production jobs.
The other challenge we all face is starting later and finishing earlier. We want all of the late sports scores in the paper, and we constantly strive to get out on the street as early as possible.
We are also focused on completing the pagination projects that are ongoing at many of our newspapers. Once these are complete, our newspapers will be able to transmit pages to their respective print facilities, which will eliminate the related courier expense that is currently necessary.
What trend are you keeping your eye on?
Certainly, computer-to-plate. This technology, once fully developed, should enable us to extend page flow deadlines, and improve registration and reproduction quality.
I'm also keeping my eye on new postpress inserting technology that will help avoid situations where mailroom throughputs lag behind pressroom output capability.