Editor’s note: Newspapers & Technology, in conjunction with Perfect Pallets Inc., each month publishes a question-and-answer column aimed at postproduction issues. Topics and associated responses originate from Perfect Pallets Post Press Users Group, a free online user group forum. Membership information and other details about this postpress community, sponsored and managed by Perfect Pallets, can be found at www.perfectpalletspostpress.com.
 

Topic: Bad print copies

How accountable is your mailroom for ensuring poorly printed ROP product doesn’t make it out the door? Does your department take some responsibility or is the pressroom solely accountable for what gets out the door? What if there are some registration problems in the middle of the book. Are you held accountable for that as well as the pressroom?

Reply: We are not accountable, but we pull off everything that we find isn’t up to par. Of course, some stuff does get out but the bottom line is that we do not let stuff go out that isn’t in register or cutoff. More times than not, if it’s an ad that’s affected we end up having to do a “do over” or at times we will have to pay out a credit for an ad.

The main point is that what I do or don’t do affects not just my livelihood but everybody around me as well.

Follow-up: The pressroom has the “official” responsibility for ensuring good copies, but we all know that in a team environment it is up to all of us to check copy and ensure our customers get a good product. It impacts all of us. While stacking down an ROP product, we are always aware of the condition of the papers. We do a quick check for obvious quality issues such as cutoff, registration, loose pages and marking. We also to do this to ensure that the conveyor or squeeze rollers are not causing a problem after good papers leave the press.

We work very closely with the press crews and they are always (almost) very appreciative of the feedback. We print a lot of commercial jobs where quality is critical so copies are checked frequently in the mailroom.

Follow-up: Much the same as the other replies you’ve received, at our paper postpress doesn’t have an “official” capacity. It’s a two-way street. I can get them to “fix” my problem opening jackets, but then there are nights where due to the roll they have on the press or web configuration I will have to live with what I get.

Topic: Prepack jacket

What is everyone using as a pre-pack jacket? Four-page? Six-page? Eight- page? Tab or broadsheet? What kind of stock and weight?

Reply: Most weeks we use our four-page comic (with spadeas). On heavier weeks, we had a four-page broadsheet on 30-pound newsprint with an eight-page Voters Guide inside as our jacket. We typically run a 29:1 comic run on our 30-station (Goss International Corp.) Magnapak. We actually had 34 different inserts as part of that package, sharing hoppers with inserts that run in different ZIP codes by using the (Goss) Omnicon software to keep it all correct. We’re steering away from the four-page kraft paper jacket and using regular newsprint.

Follow-up: We use 28-pound stock and run either an eight-page standard or 12-page standard depending on what editorial needs. We have on a few weekends gone with a four-page standard on 40-pound stock. We have had good results with all we have tried.

Follow-up: We use a two-page broadsheet on 40-pound premium paper for our first Sunday pass that will contain six to 10 inserts. These are usually the smallest in page count as we will then take this package and insert it into a 12-page broadsheet along with 11 other inserts.

Follow-up: Up until 2007 we have been exclusively four-page newsprint. That would be a four-page comic, presold full color on both sides, a four-page newsprint piece and a four-page newsprint ad from a large customer. The two sold pieces would be on recycled newsprint, although we had massive rollout problems with this on heavy weeks. During the fourth quarter of last year we sold a holiday wrap, which was an eight-page newsprint piece. For 2007, we have substituted the four-page for a 50-pound bond, two-page format. It’s been easier to sell and we are getting good results. —NT

Follow-up: We use a 55-pound, two-page stock grade paper for our primary pre-pack for the weekend edition. We do encounter a few problems every now and then but overall it seems to work well. On our secondary pre-pack, we use a section of the paper, no fewer that eight pages of standard newsprint (27.6-pound).

Topic: Work force issues

What are the pros and cons for part-time versus full-time workers in your departments?

Reply: You can break it down as many ways as you like, but it all starts with money, benefits and quality of work.

Follow-up: For our daily run of 28,000 we use two full-time and two part-time workers to get the top wrappers and any carrier notes ready. Most of the time there are only three people because one will be doing something else or having the day off. There is also one full-time supervisor, who may also be training or repairing equipment. Two full-time machine operators and one full-time and one part-time dock worker. There are two part-timers on stackers and one or two part-timers on hopper loading duties, with up to 6 part-timers loading pockets. There is another part-time worker unloading trucks and checking in inserts. We have use a part-timer to restack inserts and to perform other functions.

Topic: Bottomwrapping bundles

 How many papers actually use bottomwrap on their bundles? you are bottom wrapping the bundles, are you using old papers and or if you actually have a machine do you always use kraft paper or do you use a combination of things?

Reply: We use bottomwrap (actually 3/4 wrap) on all of our daily products.  Obviously it is used to protect the papers in the bundle, but we also inkjet zone information onto it as a means of bundle identification for circulation. They go nuts when we don’t inkjet the bundles as they have many new drivers and count on the information. So in our case it is a necessary evil.  It is also an expensive consumable that hits my budget. We use 40-pound kraft paper, although we reduced the roll width to 12 inches to cut costs.

Follow-up: The underwrapping of bundles is critical. The bottom paper is ruined by the driver flopping it in the bed of a rusty, wet, dirty, etc., truck. The paper on the bottom is going to suffer. Heavy kraft stock paper will protect the bottom edition from a rip or strap mark. We’ve been able to purchase misprinted gift wrap, uneven rolled newsprint, butcher block stock to control costs. The big issue is whether you can adjust out the machine to run rolls that are otherwise unusable. You can save on the cost of the paper, but if you start seeing significant repair costs it isn’t worth it. We pretty much stick with kraft paper now.

Follow-up: We don’t use bottomwrap here, or at the last paper I worked at. As always, we were looking for ways to reduce costs and started eliminating bottomwrap on preprints to see if we would get any complaints. There were none. Then we stopped putting it on the mains, and there were no complaints until one of the mailroom managers decided to tell the folks in distribution that we were experimenting with no longer using bottomwrap. That’s when the complaints started. We waffled a little bit but then eliminated it all together with no more complaints. 

We found that most of the damage to the bottom paper occurred before the tying the bundle and mostly after ejecting the bundle from the stacker. We stack on skids and sometimes the bottom paper will tear, but in most cases it is still usable. Plus, we (and I’m sure everyone else does too) send extra copies to the distribution centers for shortages and damaged product.

We used to put top wraps on our bundles to identify product for the folks in the distribution centers. That cost a lot of money. We put a pallet tag on each skid identifying the package, and we provide the field information as to which ZIP codes get a particular package.

It is all about the money. If you are being pressured to cut costs, I would start with the bottom, but you will have to build a good case.