With the New Year only four months old, resolutions come to mind. What should you resolve to do, or at least to consider, in 2008 when it comes to consumables?

Topping the list are newsprint and paper since, at around 55 percent, they represent the highest percentage cost when producing any publication.

What will happen to the price of newsprint this year depends on who is talking. Vendors are increasing prices, citing the continuing rise in the cost of wood, recycled paper, energy and transportation.

But demand is likely to fall as publishers cut news holes, web widths and take other steps to reduce consumption.

The result? A mixed bag, at least in North America, and at least for the time being. The equation will likely change soon as AbitibiBowater, the new company formed by last year’s merger of Abitibi Consolidated and Bowater Inc., begins to trim capacity. The company said it intends to cut newsprint production by as much as 600,000 metric tons during the first quarter.

When it comes to ink prices, there were some significant hikes last year. And it appears as further hikes could be on the horizon, particularly as raw materials prices continue to increase.

Add to that a shortage of certain pigments, primarily due to steps the Chinese government has taken to shut down high-polluting plants in advance of this summer’s Olympic games.

Price not only issue

Still, as newspapers realize, price is not everything. Quality and consistency are just as important.

When prices rise the pressure is on to use cheaper products. Yet buying on price only is shortsighted: The negative impact a poor quality consumable can have on production costs can be far greater than any savings accrued.

For instance, every time a web breaks, which can happen when newsprint quality is not consistent — particularly with heatset production — downtime can reap costs in both idle press time and start-up waste.

According to a study conducted by the Web Offset Champion Group, a web break on a singlewide press costs more than $500; on a doublewide press the cost is $770. Put another way, a newspaper can save the cost of one shift per week if the frequency of web breaks is reduced from 4 percent to 1 percent.

Another point worth bearing in mind, and highlighted by the PrintCity-authored Value Added Printing of Newspapers (VAPoN) study, is the impact of paper quality.

“We believe that the biggest lift in quality doesn’t come from the ink but the quality of the paper,” said study leader Paul Casey, technical service development director (coldset) at Sun Chemical Europe.

“There is also a strong correlation between what advertisers will pay and the color gamut.”

That said, here are our resolutions for publishers to consider this year:

•Check ink consumption

Can ink consumption be reduced? Rather than going for a cheaper consumable, the much better option is to reduce the quantity used. With inks, this is possible in a number of ways. One is to use a hybrid screening technology. Although not suitable for all operations, finer screens can give not only improved print quality but also more ink mileage.

Then there are recently introduced ink optimization software packages, of which there are now several on the market.

They can reduce the usage of the more expensive CMY inks by 15 percent to 20 percent although the amount of the less expensive black ink used will rise.

Even so, depending on the percentage of color work involved and the type of product, suppliers claim users can get a return on their investment within a few months.

More straightforward and something that everyone should check out is over-inking. As was pointed out at a recent WOCG seminar, over-inking is a common problem, with many newspapers using from 10 percent to 15 percent more ink than necessary.

What is often not realized is that once a certain level is reached any further increase in ink film density has no impact visually. But the rise in ink usage is significant. For instance, increasing the density from 1 to 1.07 results in 11 percent more ink being used. If the density goes up to 1.14, the increase in ink consumption is 31 percent, while going from 1 to 1.3 translates into a 73 percent increase in ink usage.

•Reduce costs and help the environment by not using plate-processing chemistry needlessly.

The over-use of consumables can also apply in the prepress department, especially when it comes to the use of plate developer.

Mike Loose, plate product manager of Agfa U.K., said modern plate developer only needs around one-third the replenishment rate and has three times the bath life of earlier versions. It’s also much cleaner and less prone to sludge.

These factors have a significant impact in terms of cost since a bath change typically involves 18 gallons. Consequently, changing the bath weekly instead of every third week — possible with the latest chemistry — wastes 660 gallons per line per year, which in turn means higher staffing and waste care costs.

Loose also recommends newspapers concentrate on optimizing current plate technology rather than expect that the next generation of chemistry-free plates will provide greater savings.

Although the next-gen approach will eliminate certain costs and variables, Loose said users have to remember that all plates have a coating that has to be imaged and a non-image area that has to be removed, whether it’s done in the platesetter, on press or in a wash or gum unit.

In terms of newspaper production, at least initially, such plates will come at a price and/or compromise in terms of run length, system productivity and/or image quality. Nor are they expected to be commercially available for all types of newspaper production until at least the second half of 2008. Similar caveats should be applied to the thermal versus violet/visible light plate debate. Despite what the plate manufacturers say, neither technology is better suited to newspaper production. It all depends on the production environment and the publications being produced.

•Turn costs into credits by segregating and recycling waste.

Being more environmentally friendly is something that is going to take on ever-increasing importance this year as advertisers, readers and customers (for contract printers) become more environmentally demanding and legislation gains even greater bite.

Case in point: waste regulations, which are beginning to cover not just hazardous but also non-hazardous waste.

So the question to ask is, “Do you segregate and recycle all your waste and, if not, why not?” In fact, there is no reason why all waste produced by the newspaper industry cannot be recycled rather than be sent to landfill or incinerated.

Yes, extra labor is needed to segregate waste and more space is required but, instead of having to pay waste disposal companies to remove the waste, if you segregate it, you could be receiving credit.

Moreover, if you don’t do it, your waste management company will have to do it, and consequently your waste handling costs are bound to rise.

•Can reel handling be made safer, more efficient and greener?

Even better than recycling is, of course, another of the environmental “Rs”— reuse. Newsprint reel cores, to mention one consumable, is an area where reuse is growing.

This trend is being fueled by the use of triplewide presses. Reels used on these machines were being stretched to their limits because of the stresses placed on the structural integrity of their fiber cores.

Problems such as vibration, web flutter and instability during splicing can be reduced or eliminated by increasing the core wall thickness and density of the play. However, this increases the cost of the core by between three to five times that of a standard core.

Hence, the introduction of composite cores that can also be reused. At the current stage of development, there are still some outstanding issues such as core ownership, the need for all mills to offer them and the implementation of a robust recycling infrastructure, especially as the cores have to be continually inspected and tested.

On the other hand, where recoverable cores are being used, they have been found to improve press performance and splicing efficiency.

Meamtime, for health and safety reasons, it is now recommended that triplewide reels be transported on their bellies rather than on their ends, something that is expected to be applied to all newsprint reels in future.

Ifra magazine correspondents Caryl Holland and Cecilia Campbell, along with Ifra research director Manfred Werfel, contributed to this report.