Editor’s note: This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in newspaper techniques, January 2004.

The most important challenge in newspaper production today is undoubtedly to lower costs.

But cost reduction by itself is not a concept that is capable of ensuring the survival of the printed newspaper.

Newspaper companies must get ready for the future by developing new product concepts, accepting new advertising concepts and satisfying their customers’ expectations, according to speakers at a recent Ifra Excellence In Production conference.

For Mark Mikolajczyk, senior vice president of operations at Gannett Co. Inc., the marriage of production and IT will be one of the key factors governing a newspaper’s success.

Other factors: initiating quality programs, automating production facilities and training personnel.

Inserting profits

Inserting, meanwhile, has become an important source of income for many newspapers, particularly in the United States.

According to John Wollney, director of preprint advertising at the Chicago Tribune, the inserting business has recorded enormous growth in recent years, due in part to strides made in fine zoning and microzoning.

In response, the Tribune Co. has upgraded its mailroom facilities in Chicago and Los Angeles, where it publishes the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, respectively.

As part of the upgrade in Chicago, Tribune equipped the Freedom Center North packaging facility with systems capable of collating and then polybagging inserts, Wollney said.

Tracking is a huge issue for newspapers. Trafford Park Printers in Manchester, United Kingdom, is using radio frequency identification, or RFID, to monitor newsprint reels.

Using technology developed by British firm OBU, an RFID tag is attached to each reel at the time of delivery. Through that tag, TPP can monitor where the reel is located and track such factors as consumption and web-break statistics. The battery-powered RFID tag contains all of the reel data and can be re-used as needed.

Max Rindlisbacher, head of production and technology at St. Galler Tagblatt in Switzerland, said a process-oriented organization also helps streamline production. Adopting this approach, where personnel are granted more responsibility and independence, requires a change of philosophy, he said.

“The job is not finished until the reader holds the newspaper in his hands,” Rindlisbacher said.

Smaller papers growing

The growing number of papers with circulations of fewer than 1,000 copies is also transforming production.

“All business is local,” said Manfred Werfel, Ifra’s director of research. These new papers demand flexibility in the printing department and the mailroom, he said.

A key part of the conference was a roundtable discussion in which press and mailroom vendors discussed their biggest challenges. Among the most important:

*Equipment must be oriented toward customer requirements and help lower user costs.

*Presses must produce better printing quality and less waste.

*Press design must allow technological upgrading.

*Mailroom systems must have a higher throughput.

*Newspaper presses must also be able to print commercial products.

*Mailroom installations must offer powerful inserting possibilities and support zoning.

*Automation is essential.

Newspapers, Werfel said, must break with the concept of the “printing trade.” To do that, publishers will have to come to terms with industrial newspaper production, using such tools as automation and closed-loop monitoring.