The interior of the press hall of the Pulliam
Production Center has been shed of the scaffolding, and is ready for its new
presses.
“We are gearing up to close the press hall so
MAN Roland can get access on July 2,” said Richard Rinehart, project director
for The Indianapolis Star. “They’re going to start July 2 on installing
fixators in the reelroom, and July 9, they’ll start installing the (Auroload)
automatic roll loading system. That’s expected to take five weeks. Jervis B.
Webb starts installing the rails and the (newsprint) rack on July 5.”
The Indianapolis Star completed work on the press
hall, and a few vendors have arrived on the site to begin installation of
equipment.
Photo courtesy of The Indianapolis
Star
Construction work will now shift to areas outside
of the reelroom leaving the press bay for the vendors to install their
equipment.
“Everyone (in construction) will start
concentrating on the press quietroom on the second floor and the additional
mailroom space on the first floor,” Rinehart said.
In the last month
Besides dismantling the scaffolding, workers
focused on cleaning and painting steel in the press hall, as well as epoxy
painting of the floor. Glass was also put in all the windows in the area.
The Star stepped up installation of electrical
systems that will be needed to power equipment in the building, adding more
electricians and a second shift.
Coming up
In addition to installations from MAN Roland and
Jervis B. Webb, Cannon Equipment begins installation of two cartloaders on July
16. The Star has a 96,000-square-foot facility already constructed on the site
for Sunday packaging. Rinehart said that the newspaper decided to install the
cartloaders to give employees time to train.
“We decided to get them early, so our employees
would learn to use it when we’re pushing 12 bundles per minute at it,”
Rinehart explained. “That way, when we’re running at 35 bundles per minute,
we’re not facing a steep learning curve.”
