Bergen County, New Jersey’s most affluent county, sports more than 70 municipalities, five higher education centers and a per-capita income that makes the 825,000-population entity the fifth richest in the nation.

Covering the diverse county is The Record, the flagship of the North Jersey Media Group. According to Ben Cannizzaro, NJMG’s vice president of manufacturing, the paper has enjoyed remarkably stable ad revenue, despite the economic slump.

The Record’s wealthy readership could have something to do with this. But a walk through the operation tells you the real answer lies in NJMG’s focus on making the media group operate at peak performance.

Attention to tweaking the manufacturing technology can be seen from end to end - at its main facility in Hackensack as well as its commercial operation 30 miles away in Rockaway, N.J.

In addition to The Record, NJMG publishes the Herald News and approximately 30 weekly titles.

It prints the two dailies, a number of the weeklies as well as an edition of Investor’s Business Daily, a commercial client, in Hackensack. Rockaway produces the rest of the weeklies and more than 60 other publications each month for a wide variety of commercial accounts.

Attention to detail

You see it everywhere - the attention to detail that many operations overlook. Photo editing, for example, is tightly controlled. You can see that Quality Assurance Manager Richard Pandelo carefully designed systems to guarantee reliable screen color, furnishing work areas with recessed lighting and regularly calibrated monitors, each of which is equipped with a visor to reduce ambient light.

Richard Pandelo, quality assurance manager in Hackensack, where NJMG publishes The Record, the Herald News and commercial jobs such as Investors Business Daily. Photo: Mary L. Van Meter

Applied Graphics Technologies’ Digital Link software weaves the entire photo editing process together, Pandelo said.

“We go first-class all the way,” he said, adding that The Record insists its photographers use Nikon digital cameras.

Digital photography not only saves time, but also provides a degree of consistency from image capture to editing.

Soared when power lost

One of the most impressive rooms in the building is the systems room - not just because it is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art Dell Inc. servers - but also because of its manpower, Systems Manager Michael Colonna and Technical Support Manager Joseph Cuervo.

These are not your usual mild-mannered computer nerds. They burst with pride in the intricate configuration of every component in the facility, including the fiber optic cabling.

And rightfully so, for it was the clever relay of emergency power that allowed The Record to continue printing that stifling August day when the rest of the region was blacked out. In fact, it was NJMG that saved the day for the New York Post by printing its Friday and Saturday morning editions.

Colonna offers his version of why NJMG has been able to thwart the blows of the recession.

“I have never worked for a company that allowed you to grow the way this one does. They give you the tools you need to succeed,” he said.

That is probably why the prepress department is completely automated. Even though NJMG still runs a computer-to-film workflow, it makes its deadlines with room to spare.

Evaluating CTP

“We have been evaluating computer-to-plate technology over a period of time and we are now looking to include computer-to-conventional-plate into that mix,” Pandelo said. “We certainly want the added benefits computer-to-plate technology will bring; we will choose the technology that fits the criteria for our cost-to-quality ratio.”

Currently, NJMG uses Agfa 3850 imagesetters to produce The Record and commercial projects. The one exception is the Agfa Polaris CTP units used to image plates for USA Today, one of NJMG’s larger commercial clients.

NJMG uses Agfa plates for all printing outside of Investor’s Business Daily. For that publication, NJMG uses Western Lithotech’s plates in combination with the Esko-Graphics DMX system.

NJMG also takes space into consideration. The company built a space-efficient pressroom to accommodate its right-angle press manufactured by TKS.

The press also gives NJMG greater color flexibility at the Hackensack site. Concern for quality across the board has earned NJMG a place in Ifra’s International Color Quality Club for four years running.

Commercially available

Built into a hillside of suburban Rockaway is NJMG’s commercial printing division. It was specifically designed to cater to the needs of commercial clients - with plenty of room for growth.

In addition to USA Today, clients include New York Press, Back Stage, and  Irish Echo magazine.

Charles Whitehead, vice president, and his group radiate the same kind of “quality-first” pride seen in Hackensack.

“Every new technology available is put to work in our facility,” says the promotional material - from precision platemaking to paper-loading robots.

The commercial group also boasts exceptional 100-line-screen color quality.

Two Mitsubishi double-wide presses and a MAN Roland Inc. Uniset single-wide press outfit the plant. The Mitsubishi presses are capable of 70,000 copies per hour and the Uniset is rated at 60,000.

To keep all the platemaking and printing technology performing optimally, a continuous improvement initiative enforces strict quality guidelines. The group conducts weekly audits to search out and eliminate defects.

NJMG brings value to new customers with prepress training. Its experts teach new customers how to scan, set up for specific press sizes and create PDFs.

While you always hear prospectors talk about “commitment,” NJMG leaves you believing the promise.

Rosemarie Monaco is president of Group M Inc., a marketing communications and consulting firm specializing in the graphic arts. Send comments and questions to rmonaco@groupm.org.