Postpress hardware and software vendors say they’re already prepared to help newspapers that want to sign up for the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ new Insert Verification Service.

“Advertisers want to know that the FSI has been inserted and delivered as promised,” said John Sprieser, chairman and chief executive officer of software developer Enternet LLC, whose e3000 app is used by newspapers ranging from The Philadelphia Inquirer to the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News to help oversee their inserting operations.

Distribution is only part of the equation. Marketers also want to know that their inserts are being delivered to the right ZIP codes and the right households in areas where demand for their products may be the highest.

That means they want proof that packages have been assembled correctly, Sprieser said, one of the key performance metrics measured by IVS.  

That’s where Enternet’s software can help, he said, monitoring such operations as missed or duplicated inserts and notifying operators in real-time when problems ensue.

 “The reality is there are five to eight mechanical systems touching this process,” he said, citing sensors, calipers and other components underpinning inserters. “The challenge for newspapers is to allow them to measure this and do it accurately, religiously and daily.”

Software key component

Software such as e3000, along with apps developed by other postproduction vendors including Miracom Computer Corp., Burt Technologies Inc., Prim Hall, Ferag, Quipp Systems Inc., GMA Inc., K&M Newspaper Services Inc. and Goss International Corp., will likely yield the most benefits to newspapers trying to get a better handle on their postpress performance.

For one thing, the software lets newspaper managers quickly obtain the data they need in the event they run into problems with preprints, ranging from quality to shortfalls, said Phil Jones, GMA’s director of production systems.

“A lot of the issues advertisers are raising with ABC are those that revolve around communications problems,” he said. “The advertiser sends the inserts, the newspaper delivers the inserts and then the advertiser calls to ask how it went and then the newspaper will say, ‘Not so good.’ The advertiser, of course, wants to know why nobody called them to report the problem, but the problem is that many newspapers don’t have the tools they need (to track and verify insert performance.”

Provide remediation

The advent of IVS, he said, will fuel newspapers to buy the apps that contain the tools to allow verification and permit them to notify advertisers in advance of potential insert production problems. “They can have a dialog and permit remediation to take place so nobody is surprised (after the inserts are distributed).” Jones said, adding that GMA’s SAM and WinLincs inserter control apps are specifically engineered to provide the data newspapers need to authenticate their insert performance.

“It gives users a tracking or audit trail and lets advertisers call up their ad (via a Web browser) and immediately see how accurate the production of the insert was,” Jones said.

“What’s happening now is that maybe (the advertiser’s) store manager didn’t get the insert, so the advertiser assumes nobody got the piece and the newspaper gets yelled at. If the paper had tools, it could come back and say, ‘Yes, we may have missed this household, but we covered everything else and here’s proof.’”

Increase capabilities

Terry Connors, vice president of Quipp Systems Inc. unit Newstec, said his company is ready to roll out an upgraded version of its Newscom inserter control app that will provide finer zone control and more accurate reporting. The app, Newscom 6.0, will give customers the verification capabilities they need to conform to IVS guidelines.

“Our monitoring functions already let newspapers report on misses, doubles and other problems,” he said. “This will increase the reporting capabilities and also let users coordinate with downstream components like stackers, bottomwraps and bundle distribution systems, all the way out the door.”

The app, developed by Newstec and Quipp programmers, oversees Newstec’s line of remanufactured SLS1000 inserters as well as insert systems and other postpress equipment manufactured by Quipp.

Goss, meantime, plans to make insert verification performance a key topic at this year’s users group meeting in Tucson, Ariz., and will consider adding requested features to its Omnizone and Omnicon inserter control software, said Doug Gibson, vice president of newspaper sales. Goss also represents Ferag’s line of postpress equipment in North America.

Zone IDs

The firm’s inserters, ranging from new Magnapak systems to legacy machines acquired through its purchase of Heidelberg’s postpress unit in 2004, can already accommodate most newspapers’ requests for finer control, Gibson said.

One feature: printing zone ID information on jackets, which lets managers quickly determine if the right inserts are on the right jackets.

“Generally, what newspapers want is to verify what zones are supposed to be delivered with which insert,” he said. “If everything is identified, then verification can occur right out the door.”

Robert Weaver, president and chief executive officer of Prism Inc., said ABC’s insert verification program and other steps taken by the industry to authenticate performance will help accelerate the market penetration of insert management apps.

“We are going to stress the ABC program,” he said of Prism’s marketing of its Control Pro and Group Management System management apps. “A lot of our reporting features have flown under the radar. Something like IVS could give (apps like this) better traction.”

Weaver said Prism has its control and inkjet printing software in a “couple hundred” locations, including The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., where the paper places a unique identifier code on each package. If a customer complains that a particular insert wasn’t included in his copy of the paper, managers can use the code to determine if the problem stems from circulation or production.

At an Advo facility in Finland, meantime, Weaver said the direct mailer uses Prism technology to track inserts by barcode.

“If the wrong insert is in the wrong feeder, it won’t run,” he said. “They have an automatic identification platform right there and they can pull it promptly.”