What was your first job in the newspaper business?

I was initially hired by Gannett in 1988 as an advertising graphic artist for The Times/USA Today, located in Gainesville, Ga.

What do you like most about your job?

Having the opportunity to surpass the product quality and customer service expectations of our employees and customers.

What do you like least?

Having to compromise instead of achieving the full win-win reward that results from total collaboration — compromise is good, but collaboration is better.

What was your newspaper’s most recent purchase/installation?

On June 3, 2002, Gannett and the Springfield News-Leader launched a new state-of-the-art newspaper production facility featuring a MAN Roland GeoMAN 70 offset press. Our new seven-reel, 40-couple press has the ability to print up to 10 sections consisting of 80 consecutive full-color pages. The double-couple folder also allows us to simultaneously print publications with varying page counts in either straight or collect modes. We regularly operate in the straight mode and make pasters at the top press speed of 70,000 copies per hour.

To maximize the capabilities of the press, we also enhanced our prepress department with OPI, raster image processing, color proofing and ink pre-setting solutions provided by Autologic. These upgrades work in concert with our new Western Lithotech computer-to-plate imaging system.

Our fully redundant CTP system features two Western Lithotech DiamondSetter 610S2P platesetters, Glunz & Jensen InterPlater 85 HD processors (to process Western’s LY-8 plates) and DiamondVision Optical Punch Benders. Western’s DiamondTrak plateroom management software also plays an integral role in transferring ink pre-setting data between our Autologic RIPs and MAN Roland Pecom 2000 press controls.

Ryco Technotrans supplied the turnkey installation of the inking, dampening and reverse osmosis systems required for quality offset reproduction.

Two GMA Newsgrip II pickup stations and gripper conveyor lines deliver papers to our distribution center for either online insertion by our existing Heidelberg NP-630 inserter, or stack-down at one of three new Quipp 400-C Stacker locations.

The results of Gannett’s investment in the local community have been phenomenal. The majority of all News-Leader publications now print with full color images on 90 percent of the pages. Long-time advertisers are ecstatic about our quality gains, and we have been able to build new partnerships with customers who were reluctant to advertise with us due to the limitations of letterpress.

Ample color positions combined with CTP imaging quality now allows us to produce publications that surpass the quality expectations of advertisers, subscribers, readers and commercial printing prospects on a daily basis; and that’s what it’s all about — helping other people succeed. We’ve always had a great newspaper; now we have a great production facility.

ĝarly in 2003 we will augment the efficiencies of our new operation with additional equipment that will include: Elletra automatic blanket washers, an Accraply publication labeler, and a Heidelberg Stitchmaster 270 stitcher/trimmer/quarter-folder.

It took a real team effort to make the equipment selections for our project and we benefited greatly from the input of Gannett corporate production. We made solid business decisions based on our needs, equipment reliability, timely support, and proven results.

What is the biggest challenge your newspaper is facing in production?

Our biggest challenge in production is recruiting and/or training new press operators to meet the demand for additional work that usually accompanies superior quality. MAN Roland’s sophisticated system raises the bar for pressroom talent, and different skill sets are required to master new technology.

Fortunately, we already employed quality press operators who made a very smooth transition from letterpress to offset. However, we are constantly in search of experienced operators, as well as raw talent, to build our organization. Networking within the industry is essential.

Gannett is a great company with tremendous resources and Springfield is a great place to live and work — so if we can find the talent we can usually retain it.

What trend are you keeping your eye on?

Being “state-of-the-art” is a favorable but relative condition. We will continue to examine equipment options and processes to increase productivity and market share while minimizing operational expense.

Commercial printing opportunities and distribution packaging challenges are issues that will command a great deal of our attention now and in the future. Finding effective solutions to small commercial print orders as well as micro-zone insertion requests will keep us competitive and continue to broaden our customer base.