In Milwaukee, farewell to the old
as newspaper welcomes new press

By the end of next month, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will begin to bid a not-so-fond farewell to the old and welcome in the new.

Sometime in late February or early March, the newspaper (daily, 242,234; Saturday, 232,652; Sunday, 434,023) will have all three of its new presses on edition, according to Ken Kieck, vice president of production.

The paper in early 2000 unveiled a $110 million plan to build a new production facility on 41 acres in West Milwaukee. Anchoring the plant: Three Koenig & Bauer Commander presses that will provide the Journal Sentinel with color capabilities the newspaper has sorely lacked.

“It will bring us up to the 21st century,” Kieck said.

The Commanders are replacing four 1960s vintage Hoe letterpresses that were converted to offset via dilitho in the late 1970s.

The first Commander went on edition last October, printing the paper’s television guide. Selected special news sections and niche products were expected to join the guide late last month.

The second pressline will be commissioned this month, with all three lines in operation by the end of February.

The Commanders are capable of printing 85,000 copies per hour, 70 percent more than the 50,000-copy-per-hour capacity generated by the reconfigured Hoe presses. More important, the presses will let the paper more than double its color output, making the Journal Sentinel more attractive to readers and advertisers.

The shaftless pressline has 24 reelstands and 18 towers, a mixture of four-highs and other configurations, comprised of H-type units. It has 108 printing couples, equipped with undershot ink ducts, continuous ink-feed systems, four-roller spray dampeners and automatic blanket washing systems. The line has a maximum web width of 50 inches and a 21.5-inch cutoff, Kieck said.

Kieck said the pressline can be split into two, with nine press units feeding copy into a single folder. All told, the line can print up to 96 pages straight in six sections, including 36 pages of full color and 12 pages of spot.

The presses boast ABB controls and feature inserting and automated handling by GMA Inc. and Jervis Webb Co., respectively.

Beyond adding color and flexibility, Kieck said the three presses give the Journal Sentinel an additional 150 hours per week of capacity it can now market to potential advertisers and other customers needing print services.

— Chuck Moozakis

The Advance Publications Inc. newspaper (daily, 95,547; Sunday 113,040) commissioned the MAN Roland Inc. GeoMAN press last spring as part of a $73 million capital construction project that saw the 181-year-old daily housed in an entirely new building.

The press has enabled the newspaper to more than double its color output and significantly boost print capacity, said Mel Balch, production director.

“We’re 99 percent happy with all the new production equipment” installed as part of the move to the new facility, he said. “The schedule worked out well.”

Color in half of paper

Today, from 50 percent to 60 percent of the Register’s pages run in color. The newspaper runs about 50 to 60 total pages per day; that number triples on Sunday, Balch said. Press capacity, meanwhile, has increased to 75,000 copies per hour. The Register’s 1955-vintage Goss letterpress could churn out only about 40,000 copies an hour.

The paper’s shaftless GeoMAN press consists of four two-high towers with eight couples and two three-high towers with 10 couples. The press also features a narrow-gap blanket lockup and a turbo dampening system. It came equipped with one double-couple 2:5:5/2:3:3 jaw folder with a double-wide, three-high former and one single-couple 2:3:3 jaw folder with a double-wide, two-high former.

Eight reelstands, managed by an Aurosys automated material handling system, feed the press. Ferag supplied the winding and unwinding equipment.

The paper also purchased two 28:2 GMA SLS3000 units to meet inserting requirements.

Beyond improving print and color quality, the GeoMAN heralded the Register’s conversion to computer-to-plate, further streamlining the production process and giving the paper additional flexibility.

Startup waste, meanwhile, has been reduced by half, thanks to automated ink presets and cutoffs.

Balch has a crew of about 20 people in the press department, which includes three maintenance personnel. A Linux-based operating system lets Balch monitor press performance; MAN Roland technicians in Germany can also remotely diagnose and troubleshoot any problems that may occur.