Editor’s note: PrintCity in October released the results of research examining how newspapers can maximize their revenues and increase their differentiation. In the next few issues, Newspapers & Technology is printing excerpts of the group’s conclusions, the Special Report on Value-Added Printing of Newspapers.

Industry structure

In the past two decades, newspaper production structure has evolved into different streams:

*Vertically integrated production as profit centers.

*Alliances with other publishers to run joint production facilities.

*Outsourced production to a commercial company on a contract basis.

High capital investment in presses and mailrooms requires better capacity utilization from additional production. Coldset printing on newsprint was a barrier to many newspaper printers and, consequently, during the 1990s there was a significant increase in presses equipped with dryers, particularly on single-width presses. The combination of a changing industry structure and new technologies have blurred the previously separated coldset and heatset operations and created a printing category called “selected,” “light” or “semi-commercial.”

Semi-commercial printing is nothing new; it dates back more than 30 years. Ifra and PrintCity define the concept simply: “printing on a newspaper press equipped with a dryer.”

As the name implies, it is used to print low- to mid-quality commercial work, inserts, magazines, directories and some newspaper products. VAPoN uses these techniques but focuses on their application to newspaper products and business opportunities. In addition, VAPoN products can also be printed on special coldest papers or even produced on fully commercial heatset presses.

Convergence

An example of convergence between newspaper and commercial operations is the 550,000-copy-per-day French free newspaper 20 minutes. Beginning this month, the paper will be printed on a 48-page LithoMAN IV commercial press from MAN Roland. The goal of the printer is to offer “new perspectives” for newspaper products with a higher quality and production flexibility than a newspaper press. This is another definition of how printers can add value and there is nothing that limits it to newspaper presses only.

The search for a single panacea added-value technology is inappropriate for a newspaper industry that is extremely variable at local, regional and national levels. The reality is that there are several options, each of which has strengths and weaknesses for potential success in a given market environment. The relationship between paper and ink-drying systems determine the type of papers that can be printed, printing quality and total operating costs. The two types of ink systems available - oil-based or radiation - have different characteristics and performance in newspaper operations today.

The VAPoN report’s technical-economic evaluation shows that there is no single technology solution for all newspaper applications. Broad indications of current performance show that:

*Matte-coated papers allow coldset printers to increase product quality without capital investment. The total cost of production is similar to printing heatset on SC paper, but print gloss will be lower and the risk of marking higher.

*Heatset remains the optimum process for high-speed applications with excellent quality, good runnability and flexibility to print on any paper grade. It has the highest investment cost and can be difficult to retrofit but offers the lowest total printing cost - about 15 percent higher than coldset on the same paper grade. New 2 + 1 configurations provide a viable system for double-width users interested in printing ROP heatset - the first of these presses is now starting up at APN in Australia.

*UV may be an option for newspapers that do not have adequate space to install a heatset drying system. Although capital costs are lower, the total cost to print is 50 percent to 60 percent higher than heatset due to slower operating speeds and higher ink costs. The two most significant barriers to increased use of UV and EB, or electron beam, systems are related to their ink chemistry. The current maximum speed of 23 feet per second should progressively increase. However, high ink costs are unlikely to fall. The issue of long changeover times between oil-based and radiation inks is ideally addressed by using a printing tower dedicated to a single ink.

Conventional UV is a choice for slow speed single-width presses whose users do not want to make high capital investments and are prepared to pay higher production costs.

The more efficient inert UV offers a similar choice for double-width users and the first production pilot site will be at Herold in Austria in 2007 (involving four of the VAPoN project partners).

EB is theoretically well suited to double-width newspaper production but there are currently no newspaper installations.

Paper-ink drying systems

Heatset, UV and EB are all mature technologies used by different segments of the printing and packaging industry. Until recently, only heatset has been widely used (in addition, of course, to coldset) in newspaper applications but UV is becoming increasingly popular for slow speed single-width newspaper presses in the United States.


Composite properties of conventional coldset ink, above, and heatset ink.
Graphic: VAPoN
 

Semi-commercial and VAPoN printing qualities are determined by the interaction of three critical elements - the paper grade, the ink technology and its drying and curing system.

These three elements also determine capital and operating costs. Sustained production speed is a key criterion for most newspaper operations and the paper-ink combination normally determines the maximum production speed available from a given process technology. While UV dryers are capable of running at 40 feet per second and EB at  80 feet per second, their ink characteristics restrict actual printing speeds to about 6 feet per second for coated paper and even less on newsprint.

UV/EB inks are acrylic-based with a short molecular structure and have relatively high slinging and misting that impede high printing speeds. A recently tested inert UV system achieved more than 32 feet per second in tests but is yet to be proved in sustained production.

EB inks have more potential to increase maximum printing speed than conventional UV. Oil-based coldset and heatset ink-drying systems provide the most reliable high-speed performance today. These vegetable or mineral oil-based inks have a long molecular structure, pump easily and have low misting.

Heatset provides unrestricted drying on all web offset paper grades at up to 60 feet per second.

Paper

Paper is the single most important element that defines quality. Brightness and print gloss strongly influence the value attached to each grade. The range of paper grades that can be printed is determined by the ink-drying system used and only heatset or radiation ink-drying systems can print all grades of paper.

Options for coldset production include improved newsprint with higher brightness. UPM matte-paper is the only mechanical-coated grade designed for high-quality coldset web offset 4-color printing.

Oil-based ink-drying systems

Coldset and heatset inks are mature, reliable and predictable for newspaper offset printing. They use variations of oil-based chemistry that are themselves mature, reliable and predictable.

Heatset has been used on newspaper printing presses for 30 years and there are hundreds in use on single-width presses, although double-width press use has been more limited.

Changing inks when switching between heatset and coldset printing is a productivity barrier. However, many printers permanently run heatset inks and simply turn down dryer heat on newsprint; another alternative (from Sun Chemical) is a single combination ink for heatset that also functions as an enhanced coldset ink on newsprint.

Value-added coldset

A special machine-finished coated paper from UPM, UPM Matt C, for coldset printing, can produce excellent quality. It has the optical and surface enhancements of a coated grade and the absorption and performance characteristics of a normal coldset paper.

Infrared

Infrared was the “hot topic” of the mid-1990s and one that went cold very quickly. In practice, IR only marginally improves coldset ink penetration to reduce smearing and set-off. And it has poor performance on coated paper even with very slow printing speeds. IR works most effectively with black and blue inks that absorb IR wavelengths but are very poor with lighter colors like magenta and yellow, which are the most critical 4-color process inks.

With viscous inks, IR does help printing by warming the inks to give better penetration. Some users produce smear-free cover sections on newsprint or SC paper at 23 feet per second using modified heatset inks.

Heatset

Hot air drying is the most commonly used value-added newspaper process because of its flexibility to print on all paper grades with improved ink gloss, less dot spread and reduced marking. Heatset is a mature, reliable and easy-to-operate process that is cost-efficient and has been used on newspaper presses since the late 1960s.

Hot air flotation dryers deliver unrestricted drying at speeds up to 60 feet per second and can also be used at low temperature to assist coldset ink drying.

Although these dryers are relatively bulky, practical installation solutions exist for most press environments, including press extensions.

A horizontal web path is the most common configuration because there is a wide range of dryer web widths and lengths available with up-to-date technology.

A vertical dryer mounted on a chill tower is available for slower-speed single-width presses. A range of oxidation technologies complies with clean air regulations and the integration of oxidizers with the dryer can significantly reduce total energy costs.

Hot air dryers are primarily placed on single-width presses, although the number of double-width presses equipped with hot air dryers is beginning to grow.

The trend to smaller formats and reduced web widths means that many double-width machines are only 30 percent wider than single-width and this simplifies fitting dryers.

Recent innovative press configurations developed by MAN Roland now allow newspaper printers to combine single- and double-width presses into a single production system. In this approach, heatset webs are run simultaneously on a single-width press directly into the double-width folder that integrates them with the coldset sections. This configuration allows unique advertising and editorial possibilities, including ROP heatset on coated paper for covers, sections and posters. Presses can be installed either as a folder-to-folder inline layout or installed in parallel with a  bridge with 90-degree turner bars to transfer the webs into the double-width folder.

Both presses can be run separately and the heatset line can then be used for pre-printing and semi-commercial work. Switching between heatset and coldset inks is relatively easy, but many users simply use heatset all of the time.