From there to sales and management roles in advertising before moving into the production side of the business in 1983. The Des Moines Register is the fifth newspaper operation I have worked with.

What do you like most about your job?

The diversity of the job and the day-to-day business you experience working for a newspaper. In the recent years it has meant working with a very talented and committed group of people in bringing to life a new printing facility for The Register.

What do you like least?

Having to deal with people who don’t deliver on commitments made. I struggle with folks who profess to have, but cannot, or will not, live the passion of the business we are in.

On March 13th, The Register brought on edition a $52-million, state-of-the-art (for the moment) printing facility.

This facility includes a 67-couple MAN Roland offset press, two shuttle Aurosys automatic roll handling system, two NP 632 Heidelberg inserting machines, Quipp conveyor, stackers and cartloaders, and Autologic Information International transmission with K&F plate equipment.

We spent many months in developing Requests for Quotation for vendors and selected each vendor for their product history, quality of product, training programs, service after the sale and pricing.

What is the biggest challenge The Register is facing in production?

After five months on edition, we must be and continue to be diligent on the quality side and timeliness of our product. We will be evaluating our staff in all departments in coming weeks to identify areas we can strengthen them and their performance with training. We will go back and review and adjust as necessary the targeted net outputs and deadlines. With the installation of this facility we made quality, time and financial commitments, we must continue to be diligent in achieving those goals and expectation in our operation.

What trend are you keeping your eye on?

Certainly CTP, with the “P” representing both plate or press, and closed-loop densitometers for newspaper presses, on the technology front.

The other is ways to hire, develop and retain talent in the production area at a local level as people continue to want to remain in the hometown area.