August 2014
WELCOME TO THE TOP END
It’s always nice to arrive in a new town and
receive a smiling welcome from the locals.
T
It wouldn’t be a proper Top End newspaper without a croc story. This smiling fellow was ‘snapped’ at
the Mary River roadhouse on the highway to Kakadu.
Tamworth shows its commercial skill
emonstrating that you don’t
need all the latest bells and
whistles to print quality newspapers, this year’s SWUG award for
Best Coldset Commercial Publication
went to the Fairfax Media site at
Tamworth, with the winning entry for
Tamworth Regional Council being
printed on a reconditioned Goss
Community press.
Just to prove it was no fluke, the site
was also named as runner-up in the
same category for its production of the
Moree Show special publication.
Craig Jenner, pictured left with
Mark Gooding from Flint, collected
both prizes on what turned out to be a
very successful night for the Northern
NSW site.
D
Other winners on the night included
the Fairfax Media sites at Newcastle,
which collected the Brissett shield for
Best Overall Print Quality for the
Newcastle Herald, and Mandurah
which took home the DIC Shield for
Best Newspaper on Enhanced Stock
(over 50gsm).
In the double width category, APN
Yandina repeated last year’s win with
first prize for its production of the
News Mail for which it was awarded
the Norske Shield.
Competition entries were down this
year with a number of well-known sites
missing out for various reasons, but
standards were still up on last year, said
the judges.
In fact, the winning entries from last
Danny is a knock-out
Green Machine goes the
distance with SWUG.
F
ormer world boxing champion
Danny Green proved to be a very
popular guest speaker at this
year’s SWUG conference.
The winner of four world titles in the
super middleweight, light heavyweight
and cruiser weight divisions, Danny kept
SWUG delegates entertained with
stories from his boxing career including
the time he came up against the Russian,
Alexander Lebziak, at the Olympic
games in 2000 and hit him so hard he
broke his hand - and lost the fight.
Notable fights in his career include the
championship bout against Markus
Beyer in Germany when he was
controversially disqualified, his defeat of
boxing legend Roy Jones Jr and, of
course, his long-standing rivalry with
Anthony Mundine.
Danny also spoke about his work with
the One Punch campaign against ‘king
hit’ unprovoked assaults, as well as
stories of growing up in WA and his
family life.
Best of all? He’s an avid newspaper
reader and loves to get his news via the
print media.
year would only have made it into the
minor placings this time around.
For full details on the winning
entries in all categories plus the judges’
comments, see pp12-13.
HE 2014 conference was the
first time that SWUG has
travelled to the Northern
Territory, and the locals certainly
turned on a typical Top End welcome.
Delegate numbers were down
slightly this year which is not surprising
given the distance to travel, the change
of dates to coincide with Darwin’s dry
season, and the tight budgets at print
centres around the country.
Even so, the conference still drew
representatives from 30 print sites who
were rewarded with a great conference
packed with useful information and
new ideas.
The conference kicked off with a
close-up encounter with some of the
Territory’s local inhabitants with the
Friday night welcome held at the
Crocosaurus Cove crocodile park.
Delegates were able to get hands on
with the native fauna, while Warren
Hinder from Fujifilm, the evening’s
sponsors, had the best view in the house
after being lowered in the Cage of Death
to join one of the park’s largest crocs.
The next morning it was down to
business bright and early with SWUG
president, Bob Lockley, launching
proceedings with an overview of
industry news for the past year.
Day 1 presentations covered topics
such as OH&S, lighting efficiency and
Right: Marcus Hooke of
News Corp welcomes
SWUG delegates to the
Darwin Print Centre.
digital printing. Last year’s SWUG
Apprentice of the Year, Nicole Clarke,
delivered a presentation on her tour of
printing sites, and Kurt Brissett gave a
vivid account of life in the Australian
Defence Force and the lessons to be
learnt from modern warfare.
The first day finished with a tour of
the local Darwin print centre followed
by a barbecue with a Top End flavour.
Asian information
Day 2 saw a very interesting and lively
presentation from Yong Liang Sim
from Borneo who gave an overview of
the Asian printing market, while this
year’s Industry Profile was presented
by Meredith Darke of DIC.
The afternoon Engineers session
covered a range of topics including
chemistry-free CTP, UV printing and
maintenance scheduling.
The conference wrapped up with the
Awards gala with prizes awarded across
four categories of print.
The year’s Apprentice of the Year
award was shared between Aaron
Bayne from North Richmond and Ben
Whittaker from Canberra.
A full wrap-up of all the talks,
presentations and awards is in this
edition of the SWUG paper which is
also available as a download from the
SWUG website www.swug.com.au.
Get more SWUG online
SWUG is published by Agricultural Publishers Pty Ltd
159 Bells Line of Road North Richmond NSW 2754
Publisher: Bob Lockley Advertising: Anita White
Editor: Simon Enticknap
For all the latest news and information about
SWUG, including details about the next conference,
how to enter the competitions and scholarships,
pictures of previous award winners as well as
copies of this newspaper for download or onscreen reading, check out the SWUG web site.
No portion in full or part of this publication may be
reproduced without the express permission of the
publisher in writing.
SWUG SITES 1985 - 2014
1985: The Gold Coast Bulletin, Queensland
1986: The Gold Coast Bulletin, Queensland
1987: Messenger Press, South Australia
1988: Manly Daily, New South Wales
1989: Leader Newspapers, Victoria
www.swug.com.au
and follow us on Facebook
1990: Rural Press North Richmond, New South Wales
1991: Canweb, ACT
1992: Mackay Mercury, Mackay, Queensland
1993: Launceston Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania
Support our sponsors
1994: Rural Press North Richmond, New South Wales
1995: Queensland Times, Ipswich, Queensland
1996: Torch Newspapers, Bankstown, New South Wales
1997: The Gold Coast Bulletin, Queensland
The SWUG committee thanks all our sponsors for their
1998/99: Bendigo Advertiser, Bendigo, Victoria
generous support of the 2014 SWUG conference.
2000: Launceston Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania
2001: Fairfax Regional Printers, Newcastle, New South Wales
SWUG patron
Major sponsors
2002: Sunshine Coast Daily, Maroochydore, Queensland
2003: Daily Advertiser, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
2004: The Gold Coast Bulletin, Queensland
2005: The Ballarat Courier, Ballarat, Victoria
2006: Murray Valley Standard, Murray Bridge, South Australia
2007: Sunshine Coast Daily, Yandina, Queensland
Conference sponsors
Agfa, Baldwin, Böttcher, Brissett
Rollers, DIC Australia, DS Chemport,
Ferag, Ferrostaal, Flint Ink, HostmannSteinberg, KBA, Kodak, Müller Martini,
QI Press Controls and Screen.
2009: Norske Skog mill/Border Mail, Albury, New South Wales
2010: Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth, New South Wales
2011: Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania
2012: Ormiston Print Centre, Queensland
2013: APN Print Rockhampton, Queensland
2014: NT News, Darwin
SWUG demonstrates new tactic
for negotiating with suppliers
Peter Tkachuk of Baldwin (right) presented the
President’s prize to the host site of this year’s
conference, the Darwin print centre.
The opening night welcoming function at Darwin’s Crocosaurus Cove was the ideal
opportunity to demonstrate the latest technique for getting the best prices from
suppliers. Warren Hinder of Fujifilm was lucky enough to be the first chosen for this
new bargaining tactic in the Cage of Death.
Compared to organising a
SWUG conference, snake
handling is easy, as Anita White
demonstrates.
Above: Relax, this won’t hurt a bit: Brian
Smith of Ormiston doesn’t seem too
worried about losing his tie as part of the
final evening’s entertainment.
Tania Gordon of Norske Skog (left) presented Bill Shortland from Canberra with the
Highly Commended and Runner-Up prizes in the double width press category, while
Meredith Darke of DIC (right) presented the Highly Commended prize for Best
Newspaper on Enhanced Stock to William Joyce from Fairfax Media Albury/Wodonga.
Left: Not many men can claim to have
kissed a world boxing champion and
managed to keep all their teeth but
somehow Bob Lockley pulled it off with
Danny Green who, fortunately, saw the
funny side of it.
3
SWUG August 2014
Darwin days just flew by
President’s report
T
HE feedback I have received on
the content and presentations at
the 2014 conference has been
very positive - comments such as
“informative, good ideas, well thought
out, inspirational”.
The best comment I heard was that
“the two days just flew by”. That is what
it’s all about. Add in the networking
and there’s no doubt we had a great
conference in Darwin.
The delegate numbers were down
slightly, but when you look at other
functions that were on at the same time,
like the National Print Awards, plus the
state of the economy, it was a good
effort. In total, we had 30 print sites
attend.
You can read a full recap of the
presentations in this edition of the
SWUG paper.
We had three special guest speakers
who certainly ‘hit’ the spot:
Yong Liang Sim from Borneo and
the challenges he faces. His favourite
term, ‘Honky’ for someone from Hong
Kong, threw some of us.
Danny Green was very popular, a real
pro, modest and a great Australian who
shows what can be achieved in life. Plus
how many guys can say they’ve been
kissed by an Australian boxing
champion!
Then we heard from one of our own,
Kurt Brissett, the grandson of Terry
Brissett and son of Glenn Brissett from
Brissett Rollers, who had some great
messages:
1. Clarity in chaos
2. Trust your people
3. A plan never survives the first shot
being fired, but you must plan
4. A pint of sweat saves a gallon of
blood
5. Don’t fear change
6. If you’re not scared you don’t
understand the consequences
The above are related to war but
absolutely apply to us. I particularly like
points 4 and 6.
Apart from our special guest
speakers, there was learning all round
and some of the ideas presented have
already been taken up by other print
centres.
Special thanks to:
• Fujifilm for the Welcome Night
function and Warren Hinder for his
fight with a croc
• manroland for our motivational
speaker – Danny Green
• Norske Skog for their huge conference support
• Goss International for the Annual
Presentation Dinner and Yong Sim
• GAMAA for their continued support
of SWUG and the industry in general
(Don’t forget to apply for next year’s
GAMAA Scholarship - see p11)
• NT News as the Host Site
• Well done to SWUG Apprentice of
the Year winners, Aaron Bayne and
Ben Whittaker
• Congratulations to all prize winners
• Anita White for her event organising.
Thank you to all for your attendance
and contribution, as without you there
is no SWUG.
I look forward to seeing you again
next time!
Bob Lockley
SWUG President
Vale Barrie Murphy
On a sad note, our colleague Barrie
Murphy from Fairfax Media Canberra passed away on the Sunday
morning, 25 May, after a courageous
battle with Motor Neurone Disease.
Barrie was only 59 years old.
Barrie completed his printing
apprenticeship in 1975 at The Star in
Christchurch. In 1981 he moved to
Australia to work at The Canberra
Times as a litho machinist in the
commercial print department. A year
later he moved to night shift on the
newspaper press.
In 1984 he became leading hand.
He then worked in sales and copy
control in the advertising department.
In 1988 he moved back to production and took on the role of pressroom manager - a role he filled until
1995. He was then given the
challenging role of deputy operations
manager and project manager of the
new technology press investigation
and installation at Canberra.
Following this successful completion in 1997 he took up the role of
press centre manager and manager of
the newly-formed business, Capital
Fine Print.
From 1998 onwards he worked for
me in a special projects role, completing and commissioning new press
sites at Ballarat, Mandurah, Murray
Bridge and Ormiston.
Until his recent departure from the
business he was instrumental in
working on the relocation of print
work for the SMH, AFR and The Age
from Tullamarine and Chullora to
Ballarat and North Richmond print
centres respectively.
All up, Barrie had worked at Fairfax
for 33 years and is sadly missed.
It was a good turn-out in Darwin, despite the distance and tough
economic conditions for the industry, and there’s no doubt it was a
great SWUG conference.
Interesting times for local sites
Industry update
S
WUG president Bob Lockley summed it up
best when he said it had been an interesting
year for the industry.
“I said it last year and I’ll say it again – we’re in
a world of change,” he commented.
As a result, the pressure is once again on sites to
work faster and smarter, to control costs and be
innovative.
“That’s what’s happening around the world
and we’re pretty well up there.”
Looking around the country at the various
production groups, there has been a good deal of
rationalisation over the past year but also some
new investment and relocation of existing gear.
At News Corp, there has been a closure at the
Gold Coast Bulletin, a reopening of press No. 5 at
the Herald & Weekly Times in Melbourne, and the
addition of a new Tensor tower in Papua New
Guinea.
The focus over the past year has been on its six
pillars of excellence, namely: Safety, People,
Environment, Quality, Efficiency and Cost.
In terms of safety, the LTI rate is down from
16.2% last year to 11% this year.
Internally, 90% of surveyed employees believe
the company knows where it is going and there
has been a considerable investment in training of
staff to Certificate 3 & 4 levels.
The group is looking to cut its carbon footprint
through energy reduction initiatives such as
lighting efficiency projects.
New electrical controls have been fitted to the
Newsman 40 presses in Brisbane to make them
more efficient and easier to maintain.
This includes extensive autoprint functionality
and reporting systems, as well as a portable press
console which allows operators to move around
the site.
New KPIs are focusing on good planning to
improve customer delivery and the group is
working with suppliers to reduce costs by
focusing on waste reduction.
There is also an increased focus on commercial
work to support production volumes.
All change at Fairfax
As no doubt everybody is aware there have been
some significant changes at Fairfax Media over
the past year.
All the former broadsheet newspapers have
now gone over to compact versions, including on
the weekends, with the exception of the Canberra
Times.
The former Tullamarine and Chullora sites in
Melbourne and Sydney have now closed and all
production shifted to Ballarat and North
Richmond which have undergone significant
upgrades.
Ballarat has seen one Geoman tower transferred from Tullamarine as well as a new folder
and Uniset tower from manroland, and a new
Müller Martini mailroom plus existing equipment from Chullora.
The $18.5 million project has also added a 32page heatset capacity so the press is now capable
of producing two 96-page books including 32
pages of heatset all running into three different
folders.
The North Richmond site has received four
Geoman towers and a folder from Tullamarine to
create one press of three towers and a folder while
the fourth tower goes into the Uniset 70 pressline
– now nicknamed the Geoset. Running the
Geoman towers into Uniset 70/75 towers at
both sites calls for some clever engineering
with the web being slit and then run into the
single width presses – all at full speed.
Ferag equipment from Tullamarine has also
been transferred to North Richmond with new
stackers and palletising equipment, and the 10year old manroland control software has all been
upgraded.
In total, the $42 million project covering both
sites is expected to pay for itself in a year. On top
of that, the two sites at Tullamarine and Chullora
are in the process of being sold.
Over in New Zealand, the Wellington plant at
Petone is set to receive four Geoman towers, two
folders and a Ferag system from Tullamarine with
the project set to start in September for
completion by end of the year.
On the supply side, Fujifilm won the contract
for plate supplies to the group for the next three
years.
NZ plant closures
Also in New Zealand, APN has closed its
Wanganui and Hastings plants and outsourced
production of its lower North Island titles to
Beacon Publishing and Print which purchased
the equipment and set up a new site.
APN Ellerslie is replacing all its AGVs and
Ferag chains on four lines, and now becomes
APN’s only site in NZ.
In Australia, the APN Ballina site closed last
year with all work transferred to Yandina and
Toowoomba. The focus this year is on quality
and service, and the remaining sites are busy.
Shepparton News is installing a second Prime
UV tower on its Goss
pressline which brings to
four the number of presses in
Australia now running UV –
Bairnsdale with one Goss
Community tower, North
Richmond with two towers, two
Geoman towers at Canberra and
now two towers on the Goss
Community at Shepparton.
Overall, while there may be fewer sites around
the country, the remaining ones are doing some
interesting work and working hard.
People moves
Over the past year, there have been several
industry retirements including Ross Booth, Flint
and ex-WAN, Koni Neuhofer at Agfa and Ken
Rendell at DS Chemport.
Personnel changes saw Danny Trainor move
from Fairfax to MD of PMP NZ while Craig
Amos left PMP NZ to move back to Australia.
Also at Fairfax, Anthony Payne has moved
from Printing and Distribution to HR focusing on
safety for the company with Michael Aubrey
taking up responsibilities for the Newcastle,
Tamworth and Dubbo sites.
Jon Clarke is now site manager at Canberra
and Graham Wallace, ex-Tullamarine, is now
Project Manager for Fairfax. Wayne Bailey has
also now joined Fairfax as plant manager at
Mandurah in WA.
On a sombre note, the conference was
saddened to hear of the passing of Barrie Murphy
(see above), well-known to many delegates from
his time at Canberra, who died following a short
illness.
4
SWUG August 2014
Making
headlines
goes with the
Territory
A great newspaper has the
ability to both reflect and
define the community it serves
- and none does it better than
the NT News, known worldwide
for its front page headlines
that capture the spirit and
humour of the Top End.
HOST SITE
T
HIS year’s conference marked the first time that
SWUG has been to the Northern Territory, in fact
the furthest north it has travelled in Australia in its
29 year history.
The host site on this occasion was the News Corp home
of NT News, one of the most iconic newspapers in the
country.
The daily tabloid (and its sister paper, the Sunday
Territorian) has gained a popular reputation for its
humorous and somewhat risqué headlines that capture the
special character of the Territory. So what makes the
Territory so unique?
According to NT News editor Rachel Hancock, there are
three things that anybody contemplating a move to the
Territory should possess: a love of crocodiles, a pair of
thongs and a willingness to talk endlessly about the weather.
All three things – the crocs, the extreme weather and
Territorians’ inimitable laid-back attitude – help give the
region its particular character.
Crocs are important, said Rachel, because there are so
many of them and because they have provided the NT
News with many of its world-famous front page headlines.
Do the locals really live in thongs? Pretty much so, said
Rachel, although a recent ‘thong drought’ also made front
page news.
And for a region that basically has only two seasons – a
wet one and a dry one – commenting on the weather is still
a sure-fire way of striking up a conversation.
Rachel came to Darwin to work on the NT News after
stints on various newspapers in South Australia including
starting on the Murray Valley Standard where the print
manager at the time had “one of the finest mullets in South
Australia” (take a bow, TC).
A four-month sabbatical on the New York Post gave
Rachel experience of reporting in perhaps the most hotlycontested newspaper market in the world, and impressed
upon her the importance of a strong front page.
“Not just the story but the headline, its presentation and
print quality. Crafting a good front page can sometimes
take hours – or just seconds. Sometimes it’s driven by a
great headline or a great picture or just a compelling story
– or all of the above.”
Worldwide headlines
Rachel shared some of her favourite NT News front pages,
many of which have subsequently gone on to make
headlines themselves around the world.
These included the Walkley Award-winning Why I’ve got
a cracker up my clacker as well as They stole my dog while I
was on the bog (the story about the woman whose dog was
impounded by the council while she was in the toilet), Dud
Route (a story about a temporary bus shelter) and, most
recently, Why I’ve got a Packer up my clacker, the headline
about the Packer-Gyngell bust-up that went viral.
Behind the humour there is a serious message though,
which is that compelling content sells newspapers and is a
key reason why people buy newspapers.
“Most Australians continue to read newspapers even
Classic: on a day when newspapers around the country
were all fighting over the same story, the NT News cut
through the noise with a headline that when viral.
though there are more choices than ever before for content
delivery,” said Rachel.
“A newspaper has the ability to set an agenda, to get
people talking and to drum up emotions of all kinds.
“A newspaper helps to define a region’s identity, it
speaks for people who don’t have a voice and connects with
readers for the issues that are affecting their town.”
It is the job of the printer to bring these stories to life,
something which journalists often assume will just happen
every day without question.
Since moving to the NT News which houses journalists
and printers in the same building, Rachel has come to
appreciate the role that production staff play in getting the
news out every day.
“There’s nothing sweeter than the sound of a printing
press running,” she commented.
“I want to say thank-you to everyone who has helped an
editor get a paper out on the streets because seeing a paper
on a news stand is still a wonderful thing, but seeing a paper
in the hands of a reader is the best thing of all.”
5
SWUG August 2014
Darwin presents
a unique site
Everything is just a little bit
different in Darwin and the
local newspaper print centre
is no exception.
The Darwin print centre features some of the latest production
equipment in the country, giving SWUG delegates an opportunity
to inspect a unique set-up.
One of the most noticeable aspects about the print centre is that it is
a very compact site, as can be seen by the arrangement of the press hall
and mailroom over two levels.
Noel Brennan, recently arrived as site manager at Darwin, commented that a plant of this size is lucky to have the equipment that it
does and that, as a result, it is well-placed for future growth.
The KBA Comet pressline was installed two years ago and delivered
its first newspaper on Australia Day in 2012.
This was followed by the new Ferag EasySert inserting system that
was completed in February 2013.
Currently the site produces 15 different mastheads, in fact every
masthead in the Northern Territory, and about 30 commercial inserts
per week.
It does this with a small team of just six printers, 12 casuals, one fitter
and one electrician.
Equipment line-up
Prepress comprises two Agfa Advantage chemical-free CTP lines
running Agfa N-94 plates with Barenschee plate punch and bender and
optical registration.
The pressline is a KBA Comet single-width, two plates around configuration with four towers and two folders.
The four KBA reelstands are set at right angles to the press which
enables the press to fit into a small space.
The average make-ready on the press is around 250 copies with the
KBA learning system enabling minimal ink adjustments from start to
finish.
With many runs being under 5,000 copies, this allows for a relatively
low waste across the plant.
Consumables include Huber inks, DSC Eurofount solution via
Baldwin Constant C spray-bar dampening, and Journal Web Phoenix
blankets.
The Ferag EasySert system was the first of its kind to be installed in a
newspaper plant in Australia.
The limited space made the EasySert a good choice for the site as it is
more compact compared to the larger drum systems.
The site also has Domino inkjet labelling which is used to run a lucky
number competition during the week as well as to keep track of check
copies.
Because Darwin experiences regular power fluctuations, the press hall
has a generator that automatically cuts in when needed as well as two
other generators on site to power the rest of the plant.
6
SWUG August 2014
An inspector calls
OH&S
T
HE unexpected appearance of
the WorkCover or WorkSafe
inspector at your door can be
enough for even the bravest soul to
break out in a bit of a sweat, even if you
have nothing to fear.
It’s a blood-chilling experience that
Frank O’Grady from Fairfax Media at
Albury knows all too well having
undergone a WorkSafe inspection in
November last year.
He shared his experience of that
inspection with delegates at this year’s
SWUG conference.
The feeling of dread
The Albury site is one of the cleanest,
most professionally run print centres
in the country but no matter how
safety conscious a site may be, when
the inspector comes knocking, it’s hard
to avoid the dread feeling that
something might be out of place.
“They don’t give you a lot of notice,”
commented Frank. “The best notice I
ever had was 30 minutes.”
Compared to being interviewed by
the police, the OH&S inspectors are
far more intimidating.
While the police may be interested
in only one line of inquiry, the
inspectors are into everything and they
have comprehensive powers to enter
and search premises.
In fact, the visit which Albury
experienced last year was part of a
police operation in the region aimed at
illegal car rebirthing at panel beaters.
The WorkSafe inspectors were
involved because they have the power
to enter work premises when the
police don’t.
First up on arrival, the inspectors
will want to see that all the paperwork
is in order – items such as MSDS
sheets, noise assessments, injury
registers and so on.
“Once you’ve made them happy
with your paperwork you have to take
them around your plant and hope that
the boys – who have had only 10
minutes notice as well – are not going
to let you down,” said Frank.
“Generally if you’ve got your plant
clean and you haven’t got trip hazards
and the solvents are back in their
cabinets then you’ll do alright.”
While the sorts of things the
inspectors look for can vary, there are
certain areas where it pays to be
prepared - see below.
Check your MSDS
In Albury’s case, the inspector looked
at dangerous goods, making sure that
the MSDS sheets were up-to-date and
that solvents were being kept in a
proper cabinet.
It’s important to have a register of
MSDS sheets comprising a list of all
chemicals kept on the premises, who
manufactures them and relevant
contact information. Knowing who to
contact in the event of a spill is vital.
The inspector also wanted to see
evidence of employee hearing tests
and workplace noise measurements
which are required by law to be
undertaken at two yearly intervals.
This is one of those instances where
just saying that the tests have been
carried out is not enough to satisfy
them; the inspectors want to see proof.
Injury registers were also a target of
the inspector looking for any patterns
of repeated injuries which may
indicate a recurrent safety issue.
If something amiss is found, the
inspectors have the authority to issue
an improvement notice which directs a
person to remedy the situation in a
given time.
If the risk is serious, they can issue a
prohibition notice which may shut
down a site or a particular activity until
it can be fixed.
In any event, it’s not a good idea to
hinder them or try to stop them from
entering the premises as they will keep
coming back and can apply to a
magistrate for a search warrant.
A good outcome
In the case of Albury, the inspection
produced a good result.
“It was a positive outcome for us,”
said Frank. “We work pretty hard at
our site as far as safety goes,
particularly with documentation. My
team spends a lot of hours on
documentation and it does pay off,
believe me.”
The WorkSafe Victoria inspector
who visited was full of praise for the
site, commenting:
“…it was a pleasure to visit your
workplace as we don’t see too many
establishments as good as yours - well
done to all employees, OHS reps,
Committee and Management. Good
workplaces can only be achieved by good
management and good people.”
Ultimately, while any work site
inspection may seem intimidating, it is
nowhere near as bad a situation as
having WorkCover/Safe get involved
in the aftermath of a serious accident.
The aim all along is prevention
because, as the video shown by Frank
demonstrated, what it all comes down
to is the impact that a serious accident
can have on people’s lives and that of
their families.
Safety inspections are
a necessary part of
any workplace these
days. So it helps to
know what to expect
when the inspector
turns up.
Question:
Whose is responsible for workplace
safety?
In a nutshell – everybody.
The responsibility for ensuring a
safe workplace extends from the shop
floor all the way up the ranks to senior
management.
Legislation
stipulates
that
responsibility lies with the officers of
the company but that definition is very
broad.
Marcus Hooke at News Corp commented that the company defines an
officer as anybody with the ability to
make a decision that impacts on a site
– and that covers a lot of people in the
company.
Frank O’Grady added that senior
managers, general managers, press
foremen and even the press operators
all have a responsibility to ensure their
own safety as well as that of their
workmates.
“It comes down to the site manager
to make sure that it happens. If you
delegate the jobs to different people it
makes it much easier. What I’ve found
through the whole process is that
people grow. Instead of one man
walking around like a policeman
telling people what to do, get the guys
involved in it.”
Key safety areas
Nothing is off limits when it comes to the safety
inspector but some of the key areas they may focus
on include:
• Mobile plant – forklifts etc.
• Manual tasks such as people working on the stackers.
• Electricity – making sure test and tag records are OK.
• Working at heights - there have been quite a few fatalities as a result
of people working up ladders. How many sites have done a safety
audit of their ladders?
• Slips, trips and falls – check clearways, make sure nothing is blocking
doorways.
• Chemical hazards – don’t mix flammable and chlorine-based
chemicals in the same cabinet.
• Machine guarding – make sure it is in place.
First-hand account is a lesson to all
someone who has been through a serious
workplace accident and lived to tell the tale,
especially when it comes to teaching others about
workplace safety.
Now well on the road to recovery following his
accident, he had some important messages for
SWUG delegates about the importance of
following correct OH&S procedures.
Most importantly, his message was that if you
think it can’t happen to you, think again. All it
takes is a split-second lapse in concentration and
the consequences can be many months of painful
rehabilitation – or worse.
Momentary lapse
“I’m lucky to still have those fingers on
my hand,” – Steve Thomas.
D
ESPITE all the precautions, workplace accidents still happen, often
resulting in much unnecessary pain
and trauma.
At the same time though, these accidents are
also an opportunity to learn and reinforce key
OH&S messages.
Steve Thomas from Fairfax Media at Ballarat is
Steve’s accident was certainly not the result of
inexperience; he has worked at Ballarat for 16
years, the past 10 as a qualified mechanical
engineer.
He is well-aware of the requirements for the
safe operation of heavy equipment but, last
September while undertaking some preventative
maintenance, a momentary error of judgement
resulted in four fingers of his right hand being
crushed in the chain and sprocket of a stacker.
In the immediate aftermath of the accident he
was taken to Ballarat hospital and then
transferred to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital where
he underwent surgery on his broken fingers.
After being discharged from hospital, he then
had to go through weeks of recovery, hospital
visits and physical therapy, and was restricted to
performing only light duties at work.
Apart from the physical injuries, Steve said the
biggest battle was the mental one of going
through the various stages of boredom, stress and
self-doubt.
In particular, said Steve, the boredom of not
being able to do simple things like drive a car or
play with his children “hurt even more than the
injury itself”.
“I was lucky to have a great family with
understanding, love and care,” he added.
Steve also acknowledged the supportive role
played by his site manager, Mat Hancock, in
helping to keep him going.
“Next time you have an injured worker, think
about what they go through.”
Learning from mistakes
A key part of Steve’s story is that, having been
through such an experience, he is now ideally
placed to pass on the lessons learnt.
The key message is that there is no single
solution to making sure that accidents don’t
happen.
“It’s hard but we are all human and this is the
hardest thing to overcome – human error. But
there are ways we can make humans think about
safety and teach safety.”
Key points include:
• Think about Job Safety Assessments. They
don’t have to be difficult. If you encounter a
safety risk, stop, rewrite the JSA and then
complete the job. Having up-to-date JSAs
creates a paper trail that may just save someone
else from having an accident.
• Think about lock-out and tag-out. “If you can
lock it out, lock it out. If you can’t lock it out,
think of a way you can lock it out.” Even a
barrier can be classified as a lock-out.
• Think about personal protection equipment.
“We’ve all got it. Use it, wear it and keep it in
good order.”
• Talk about teaching. “We’ve all had OHS
meetings but we need to teach it, not only
talking about it in rooms but also out on the
floor.”
Be prepared to listen and learn as well. Don’t
simply ignore safety and think that it won’t happen
to you. Follow the ASK principle – Always Seek
Knowledge – because knowledge is power. Ask
yourself if something can hurt you or someone
else and, if so, then do something about it.
“Let’s all stop something like my accident from
happening to someone else,” concluded Steve.
7
SWUG August 2014
Turning your print into product
MAILROOM
A
piece of paper with print on it is
just that. It’s only when it has
been through the end finishing
processes that real value can be added
to it in the form of folding, stitching,
trimming and inserts.
More than ever these days, as
circulations decrease, publishers are
looking for new ways to add value to
their newspapers in the mailroom to
create products that are appealing to
both advertisers and readers.
Helping newspapers to achieve this
goal are the two giants of finishing and
mailroom equipment, Swiss rivals
Ferag and Müller Martini.
Both were at SWUG 2014 to
present their latest innovations in
product development and equipment
designed to meet the demands of
current newspaper markets.
Daniel Faesser of Ferag Australia
highlighted four ideas and processes
that are designed to add value to
today’s newspapers – all of which are
easily available as add-ons.
The first of these is the superpanorama page fold, available only for
use with broadsheet newspapers.
This huge spread is created by
gluing together two webs to produce a
massive advertising space, in fact eight
times the size of a tabloid full page ad
or 30 times the size of an iPad screen.
Another variation on this technique
involves gluing on three sides, both
ends and in the middle, and then
slitting down the middle to create two
fold-outs, one on either side of the
spread. The creative possibilities of
this space are limitless.
“I’m quite sure you can sell such an
advertisement for a great margin,” said
As newspapers come under pressure from new
types of media, publishers are looking for ways to
transform traditional newspapers into more
innovative print products with greater appeal for
advertisers and readers. The modern mailroom is
where these new products are being created.
Again the technology is available as a
retrofit although, to date, few newspapers have employed it.
Another value-adding idea is already
well-known to local publishers, the
front page MemoStick advertising
label.
These stick-on labels are widely
used and have been shown to generate
healthy redemption rates, in some
cases up to 17% according to Daniel.
Originally the size and shape of
Post-it notes, MemoStick labels have
become a lot more creative, available
in different shapes and materials.
They can be printed on metallic film
for a special effect or scented to match
the product being advertised.
There is also MemoScent which
enables samples of perfume to be
distributed and MemoCom which
uses near field communications with
smart phones so that when the label is
tapped by the phone it launches online
messaging.
“There is practically no limitation to
the creativity in advertisements and I
think that should be explored with
every publication,” said Daniel.
The final concept was flat-wrapping
Bigs ads, big margins: a super-panorama spread from Ferag.
Daniel, adding that the gluing technology required for these products can
be retro-fitted to any press for under
€50,000.
Moving on to tabloid newspapers,
the next innovation is a very handy
thumb indexing system devised by
stitching specialists Tolerans.
Anybody who regularly buys a
tabloid newspaper these days,
particularly the weekend editions,
knows that the first task before reading
it involves ‘shaking’ the paper to
separate the sections.
The indexing system works by
punching a hole on the side of the
sections to make it easier to find them
and pull them apart.
The indexing can be done as part of
the inline stitching so, for instance, the
sections can be stitched and indexed at
the same time.
Thumb indexing of tabloid
newspaper sections.
of newspapers, a process which is used
extensively overseas but less so in
Australia.
Locally, delivered newspapers tend
to be rolled up and encased in plastic
wrap but, as Daniel pointed out, this is
less than ideal as it obscures the
content and makes the paper harder to
read.
Flat-wrapping makes it much easier
to see the headlines and the wrap itself
can be pre-printed to serve as an
additional advertising space.
According to Daniel, it is not any
more difficult to deliver a flat paper
compared to a rolled one and, in fact,
may even be easier.
Flexible inserting
George Riva from Müller Martini
presented details of new inserting and
stitching equipment designed to meet
today’s market conditions.
The first of these is the FlexLiner, an
inserting machine intended to fit into
the market above the entry-level
Alphaliner and below the high speed
inserting machines.
It looks similar to an Alphaliner with
feeding stations collecting the inserts
into a single package and delivering
them to the main jacket via the
inserting drum.
A unique feature of the FlexLiner,
however, is the ability to use selective
main jackets and have up to five main
jacket feeders at any one time.
This makes it easier for selective
targeting of inserts according to post
code or even street address.
In this regard, George said the
mailing houses are a step ahead of the
newspapers in being able to select
specific inserts to go in each carrier.
There is the potential though for
newspapers to do likewise with more
targeted editions.
Another advantage of having
multiple main jacket feeders is that
with a heavy paper, it is possible to run
the feeders at a slower speed and still
keep pace with the inserting.
It also means that if there is a
misfeed with one feeder, the machine
can correct with the next feeder
without interrupting production.
Another feature of the machine is
the feeder technology that can easily
accept inserts with different paper
types, shapes, sizes and page counts
without having to be reset.
As shown in a video with a variety of
inserts, it’s a very forgiving system
which, according to George, will run
80% of inserts on just a basic setting.
This reduces the need to spend time
on changing over the equipment.
“The goal of the machine is to help
you attract or explore new markets but,
of course, we want to address new
markets outside the newspaper
industry,” said George.
Working systems demonstrated by
George included a Brazilian newspaper, a direct mail company and
insert-into-insert applications.
Digital stitching
With the expectation of a digital web
printing system for newspapers being
introduced locally, George showed a
digital stitching application designed
for use off the back of a high-speed web
inkjet press.
A key feature of the new
FlexLiner inserting machine is
the feeder technology that can
accept a variety of paper types,
shapes, sizes and page counts.
The system combines folding,
trimming and stitching and uses barcoding on every signature to collate
pages for different products.
This means that different products
can be stitched and trimmed at the
same time, taking advantage of the
ability of digital presses to produce
variable print from one copy to
another.
The system can set up with a flatsheet feeder, a roll-feeder going into a
sheeter and even directly off the back
of a digital press as an inline system.
8
SWUG August 2014
Big savings with light work
Improving site efficiency is not just a matter of new production
equipment. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing a light
bulb, as Simon Leach from Fairfax Media - Beresfield explained.
Lighting upgrade
project results
• 1,119,072 kilowatts saved per annum
I
“It was an
interesting
project,”
- Simon Leach
MPROVING site productivity and profitability is not all about investing in the latest
equipment or new technology.
Effective improvements can also be made by
focusing on specific issues and addressing those
areas with home-grown solutions.
Take lighting, for instance.
That was the brief handed to Fairfax Media’s
Simon Leach based at Beresfield who was given
responsibility for the company’s Nationwide
Print Manufacturing Site Energy Efficiency
Lighting Upgrade project.
In short, the project aimed to determine how
much electricity could be saved by switching to
more efficient lighting options across the Fairfax
Media sites.
It was run in conjunction with a government
rebate scheme which covered part of the investment costs for projects which demonstrated
reductions in CO2 emissions, in this case by
reducing electricity consumption.
If the project resulted in a 15% reduction in the
carbon footprint then the company would be
eligible for a 33% rebate on the capex
expenditure involved.
Counting the bulbs
The first part of the project required doing a
‘bulb-count’ of all the lighting fixtures across the
Beresfield site and then at the other Fairfax
Media sites at Mandurah, Murray Bridge,
Ballarat, Albury, Launceston, Canberra, North
Richmond, Dubbo, Tamworth and Ormiston.
Once this information had been collated, it
was possible to calculate the annual electricity
consumption for lighting across the group.
This was a complex process as there were
multiple types of lighting – Hi-Bays, Lo-Bays,
36w and 18w fluorescent tubes and external
lighting – as well as variable charges for off-peak
times and shoulder rates.
across all sites
• An improved efficiency ratio of 63%
• A carbon reduction of 970 tonnes per annum
• A projected 59% reduction in CO2 over ten years
• $133,276 saved on energy bills across the plants
• Total capital expenditure: $339,136
• Grant rebate: $109,440
• 2.2 years for the project to repay itself
Once the total figure had been calculated, it
was possible to determine how much could be
saved by switching to more energy-efficient
fittings.
Changing all the light fittings soon proved to
be a very expensive option, costing upwards of
$600,000 with a cost saving of about $156,000.
Even with a rebate of $200,000, this was not
considered feasible.
The cost of replacing all 5,000 36w fluoro
tubes across the group was alone estimated to
cost $300,000 at $60 each.
As a result, it was decided to focus on Hi-Bay
lighting which delivered a greater saving. For
example, a 400w Hi-Bay light costs $209.66 per
annum to run and many sites had multiple HiBay lights. Ballarat, for instance, had 98 alone.
Replacing these lights was estimated to cost
$290,000 and reduce electricity consumption by
over 60% across the group.
With a group deal on the fittings, this figure
was brought down to $200,000 and involved
replacing metal halide lamps with CFL 200w HiBay lights, 20w, 40w, 60w and 145w LED
floodlights, as well as small 10w fluoro tubes and
down lights.
Testing the waters with dip slides
J
AMES Ackland from DS Chemport
presented a simple and cost-effective
solution to the problem of checking for
contamination in your fountain solution.
To begin with, he asked if anybody knew what
was growing in their fountain solution?
If you don’t then perhaps you should take steps
to find out because any watery environment, such
as a fountain solution, is susceptible to invasion
by a host of unwanted occupants.
These visitors come in the form of microbes
which can take up residence in the fountain
solution circuit tanks and adversely effect the
ability of the solution to do its job.
Microbes are not unique to fountain solution,
they can be found anywhere in the air and water,
and they are necessary for our own survival.
However, left unchecked, they can get out of
control and become bad for the environment.
Typical places where microbes are found
include cooling towers, water storage tanks, fount
recirculation tanks and pipes, wet plate
processing systems, drain and sinks.
to use dip slides in-house for on-the-spot testing
that will provide a rough indication of any
problems.
These slides are easily available in boxes of ten
and are very easy to use. The probe is simply
removed from its container, immersed in the
liquid and then incubated for 48 hours.
Following incubation, the colour of the slide
will give an approximate indication of any
potential problems; the more colour there is, the
bigger the problem.
A rough indication
There are some limitations with using dip slides
because they are not as accurate as proper lab
tests but they should be sufficient to demonstrate
a yes/no pass result.
The slides also need to be kept at a constant
38-40oC in an incubator, although any warm
environment such as a pie warmer will do.
The slides are relatively cheap to buy at about
$3 per test or $30 per box of slides and are
available from a number of suppliers. They need
to be used within six months of purchase.
One supplier mentioned by James is Watertest
Systems at Minto in NSW, phone 02 8706 5400
or email [email protected].
Use the following product code:
Code: TDAMC4W
Dipslide Micro C TTC only – BT2
Wrapped in red tape
Liaising with a Federal government department
presented its own challenges. When some of the
fittings were held up in customs, the project
schedule had to be reworked which meant
submitting an amended application.
In addition, one of the requirements of the
funding was proof of payment for work carried
out, and not just receipts but copies of bank
statements – something which suppliers were
understandably reluctant to provide.
There were issues too with some of the fittings
when it was discovered that the Hi-Bays ordered
with metal diffusers didn’t throw enough light
and had to be changed to prismatic diffusers.
Also it was discovered that the roof at Ballarat
was a lot higher than at Beresfield so the lights
didn’t work so well there.
In the end, 147 of the CFL Hi-Bays were
returned and replaced with LED fittings which
cost more than twice as much. CFL lamps were
retained in the reel stores to save on costs.
By the end of November 2013, the installation
work was complete and the project entered its
final stage which involved gathering together all
the information on running costs and CO2
reductions for the final report. Third party
auditing was also carried out by Ernst & Young.
The goal of the project had been to reduce
electricity consumption for lighting across the
group from 1,766 megawatts per annum to 686
megawatts.
The end result exceeded this goal with
consumption down to 646 megawatts, a saving of
63% in electricity use.
“It was an interesting project. It enabled me to
meet with all the other managers from Fairfax
and talk with them. Thanks for all your help,” said
Simon.
“Looking back on the project there are some
things I would have done differently but it was
excellent to be involved.”
Question:
Laboratory testing
Typically, if a printing site wants to find out if it is
under microbe attack then it has to send a sample
to a laboratory for testing.
Laboratories can provide an independent
analysis of any solution and the better ones (such
as those registered with the National Association
of Testing Authorities) deliver results that are
precise and accurate.
There are drawbacks, however, to using
laboratories, not the least of which is the cost of
testing on an occasional basis. All the samples
also have to reach the laboratory within 24 hours
to ensure an accurate result.
An alternative approach presented by James is
Apart from the cost of the fittings themselves,
the project also involved managing the resources
needed at the sites in terms of manpower and
equipment in order to do the work.
With approval from the government and
Fairfax board in April 2013, replacement of the
fittings began before the end of May.
These dip slides give a rough indication of the level of water contamination
with the slides on the left showing clear signs of a microbe problem.
Would the project would have been approved
without the incentive of the government rebate,
given that this was a by-product of the Carbon
Tax which has now been scrapped?
Anthony Payne pointed out that there are
other incentives available for these types of
energy saving projects which could probably
justify the expense.
Besides, the projections were based on current
electricity costs and as these are likely to keep on
increasing, it makes it easier to justify. Lighting is
a good project to tackle as the savings are easy to
identify.
An additional benefit is that the new fittings
are designed to be longer lasting so there are also
savings to be made on the lower maintenance
costs. Luminosity has also improved on the sites
with the use of LED lights.
9
SWUG August 2014
GOOD IDEAS
Trevor Channon of Fairfax
Media - Murray Bridge told the
conference about two simple
solutions to production issues
that had been causing
problems at the site.
Manage your inserts
At Murray Bridge in South Australia, the Fairfax
Media site had been experiencing growing pains
with its inserting processes, as Trevor Channon
explained.
With the closure of the Whyalla site further
north in South Australia, the Murray Bridge site
suddenly found that it was having to handle a lot
more publications and inserts.
In total, it is now handling publications for 18
different locations in rural and metropolitan
South Australia, some of which are several hours
away by road.
This means careful scheduling of production to
ensure publications reach their destination on
time.
On Wednesdays, the site prints 18 different
publications, all of which are deadline critical.
The management of inserts into the various
publications has also become an issue with some
titles requiring up to 8 inserts per issue, even
more at busy times.
Inserting is carried out using a six-station
Muller Martini Alphaliner but the increase in
inserts has seen manual inserting on the rise.
Up to 20 casuals are employed on a weekly
basis across two shifts averaging 180,000 inserts a
week for circulations ranging from 1,200 to
15,000 copies.
Then there are the logistics of handling so
many different inserts. Trevor pointed out that, at
times, there could be up to 50 pallets of inserts
stored in the reel shed awaiting distribution.
There were issues with identifying the correct
inserts for particular publications as well as
finding them in the store when required.
Something needed to be done.
All incoming inserts are now stored in a specific
holding location during the week. Each Friday,
one copy of each insert is labelled with a code that
identifies where the rest of the inserts can be
found on the pallet racking.
This copy is then placed in a pigeon hole for the
publication it is meant to go with, thereby
providing a quick visual confirmation of which
inserts have been delivered.
“This simple system is working well, it is cheap
and has eliminated angry publishers, their clients
and, of course, printers,” said Trevor.
“Now instead of running around like chooks,
we can now sit back, insert and enjoy.”
Pigeon holes are used to sort the
incoming inserts and give a quick visual
confirmation of delivery.
Venting hot air
Another issue at Murray Bridge concerned the
site’s air compressor which is located in a separate
room accessed via a roller door.
The two rotary screw compressors (one for
back-up) are used to drive the pneumatics on a
range of equipment such as the Goss Community
press, the Alphaliner, the Baldwin systems and
the CTP units.
When the site was designed, it was thought that
the ventilation in the compressor room would be
sufficient but this has not been the case.
On warmer days, the roller door is opened and
whirly bird vents have been installed to prevent
over-heating.
This worked well, according to Trevor, until
the summer months when temperatures inside
the room would exceed 50oC or more, causing
the compressors to shut down.
A simple fix has been to construct a ventilation
system in-house that draws hot air away from the
compressor via a vent on the side wall.
The flue is not fan-forced but the room now
stays the normal temperature and the compressor
shows no sign of over-heating.
Right: the addition of an external vent
helps to keep the compressor cool.
10
SWUG August 2014
A printing journey of a lifetime
APPRENTICES
Supporting young people who are just starting out in their
careers is an important aspect of SWUG’s activities. This year
the conference heard from previous winners of the Apprentice
of the Year award in Australia and New Zealand about their
learning experiences and hopes for the future.
A
“Going to see
the things I saw
through the
Brisbane,
Melbourne and
Sydney print sites
was definitely
something else,”
- Nicole Clarke
“I’ve enjoyed
every bit of it and,
to this day, I’m
still learning new
things,”
- Edmond Huch
PPRENTICES play a key role in the
industry and are an important part of
SWUG’s activities in educating and
encouraging new talent.
Each year, SWUG awards a special prize for
the apprentice of the year as nominated by
participating sites.
This is an excellent way of recognising and
rewarding young (and not-so-young) talent in
the industry, and to help broaden their
knowledge by exposing them to ideas and people
outside the day-to-day workplace.
Apprentices are encouraged to attend the
conference each year to be interviewed for the
award, giving them the opportunity to learn and
network with their peers.
The winning apprentice then gets to travel to
printing sites along the east coast of Australia to
find out more about the different aspects of web
printing and its processes.
Perhaps most challenging of all, each year’s
winning apprentice must then give a presentation
to the following SWUG conference outlining
where they have been and what they have learnt.
At the 2014 conference, two apprentices –
Nicole Clarke from Australia and Edmond Huch
from New Zealand – each gave presentations
about their experiences as award-winning
apprentices.
A new experience
Nicole was the 2013 SWUG Apprentice of the
Year having been selected at the last year’s
conference in Mackay. She works as a printer at
News Corp’s Chullora plant in Sydney.
As a result of winning the award, Nicole went
on a four-day tour of printing sites in Queensland, Victoria and NSW.
The aim of the tour awarded to the top
apprentice is to broaden their experience of the
industry and give them the opportunity to learn
more about its different aspects.
Working at Chullora, Nicole is familiar with
the demands of running a big press but being able
to visit other sites was a new experience for her.
“The machines at work have always really
amazed me but going to see the things I saw
through the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
print sites was definitely something else,” she
said.
Kicking off in Queensland under the guidance
of Geoff Austin, the first part of Nicole’s tour
focused on some of the top newspaper
production plants operating in that part of the
world.
Sites visited included the Fairfax Media
Ormiston site, the Gold Coast Bulletin site, the
Beaudesert Times, the News Corp Murarrie plant,
Horton Media and APN Yandina.
This itinerary took in a wide variety of press
types from the large double width machines at
Ormiston and Murarrie to single width Goss
Community and KBA presses as well as Tensor
towers.
The differing press types, speeds and
configurations reflect the wide range of products
being printed in Queensland, ranging from
newspapers with circulations of several thousand
up to catalogues with runs into the millions.
Nicole discovered that there is a huge
difference in scale between, say, the Horton
Media site with a four-tower Goss Community
running 32-pages at 18,000 copies per hour
compared to APN Yandina’s double-width
manroland Regioman capable of running at
75,000 copies per hour and printing 150 different
products per week.
Both sites, however, are focused on printing
quality products and are multiple award winners
including, in recent years, for best print quality at
the annual SWUG awards.
Jaw-dropping speed
Leaving behind Queensland’s high quality
newspaper sites, Nicole travelled to Melbourne
where she was met by Graeme Robertson of DS
Chemport.
The first part of her tour in Victoria showed
Nicole a different aspect of the industry entirely,
focusing on the supply side of the business.
For instance, at the DS Chemport plant,
Nicole learnt about the manufacture of pressroom chemicals and blankets while, at the
following RotaDyne plant, the focus was on roller
manufacturing.
Next up, the tour itinerary shifted to heatset
printing with tours of AIW and Franklin Web,
two of the biggest catalogue producers in the
country.
Among the five heatset presses running at the
AIW plant, one of the definite highlights for
Nicole was the 80-page Goss Sunday 4000 press.
“When I saw this press, my jaw dropped. It was
running at 85,000 copies per hour with
exceptional quality.”
The tour of Franklin Web required proprietor
Phil Taylor’s golf buggy to get around the 10
heatset presses including the latest 96-page
manroland Lithoman.
According to Nicole, the longest non-stop job
run at Franklin Web goes for an incredible 53
hours straight with print runs ranging from
200,000 up to six million copies. Some jobs are
run four-up producing 160,000 copies per hour.
The emphasis on heatset continued when
Nicole flew to Sydney to be met by Angus Scott
and a first-up visit to Offset Alpine, well-known
for its quality brochures and magazines. This
plant runs a total of seven heatset presses as well
as three sheetfed machines.
The next day saw a change of tack with a visit
to the DIC ink manufacturing facility where
Nicole learnt about the processes involved in
producing the tanker-loads of ink used locally.
This was followed by a tour of the Visy Beverages
can-making plant which prints up to 2.2 million
cans per day.
The final stop on the busy tour was a visit to
the Fairfax Media site at North Richmond.
“By this time I was exhausted from a jampacked week of looking at all the different print
sites but as soon as I saw all the renovations and
exciting new developments happening at the
Richmond site I got another gust of energy,” said
Nicole.
Here Nicole got to see first-hand the new
renovations at the site combining Uniset and
Geoman presses for the daily production of the
Sydney Morning Herald.
All-in-all, it was a busy and diverse tour of
major printing sites and one from which Nicole
clearly derived a great deal.
A big thank-you on behalf of SWUG to
everybody who took time out to show Nicole
around their sites and for the various guides for
helping out.
There’s no doubt it was an instructive and
memorable experience for the SWUG apprentice
who, over the course of four days, got to see more
of the industry than many printers will manage in
a lifetime.
Training takes teamwork
While the apprentice awards rightly focus on the
achievements of the individual, it was Edmond
Huch, NZ SWUG’s apprentice of the year, who
reminded delegates that training is a team effort.
In his presentation to the SWUG conference,
Edmond was at pains to give credit to his
managers and supervisors at APN Print in New
Zealand, including Russell Wieck, Phil Ost and
Dan Blackbourn.
Edmond commented that, in his training, he
also benefited greatly from being surrounded by
experienced printers willing to share their wealth
of knowledge to help him develop his skills.
He said that winning the award at last year’s
NZ SWUG conference was a big surprise for him,
so much so he was actually at the bar getting a
round of beers when the winner was announced
and he heard people calling his name.
A foreign trade
Edmond has worked at the APN Ellerslie plant
since 2005 when he started as a full-time reelhand operator. Prior to that he had worked at a
freight company and was introduced to printing
by his uncle.
“Printing was foreign to me, a trade I never
thought I’d get into but I’ve enjoyed every bit of
it and, to this day, I’m still learning new things,”
said Edmond.
Edmond worked for two years on the
afternoon shifts and then moved to the day shift
running the CT50 reelstands.
Top two SWUG apprentices 2014
It was hard to separate them in terms of
aptitude and attitude so this time around
both Ben Whittaker (left) from Fairfax
Media, Canberra, and Aaron Bayne from
Fairfax Media, North Richmond, were
named joint winners of the SWUG
Apprentice of the Year award 2014.
Congratulations to both on their welldeserved achievement.
The Ellerslie plant is home to the massive Goss
HT70 pressline with 102 print couples – 12
towers and 3 monos – plus four folders capable of
producing a maximum pagination of 128
broadsheet pages or 256 tabloid in a single pass.
In 2009, Edmond moved to the night shift and
commenced pre-apprenticeship training alongside Shane Baskiville, another previous NZ
SWUG apprentice of the year.
At the end of the training, both were offered
apprenticeships at APN with Edmond starting in
November 2010 and gaining his certificate in
2013.
The on-the-job training included not only all
aspects of running the press but also mechanical
fitting, electrical, prepress and post-press to fully
understand all the different areas that can impact
on print production.
Edmond also had the opportunity to work
with web engineers Webco at Tauranga where he
learnt how to strip down Goss mono units and
rebuild them.
A positive impact
Becoming qualified has had a positive impact on
his young family, said Edmond, acknowledging
the support of his wife and children in helping
him achieve his goals.
“I know it’s not a Phd but it has inspired my
kids and shown them that consistency,
commitment and hard work pays off.”
Edmond thanked the sponsors of the NZ
award, DS Chemport, for giving him the
opportunity to travel to Darwin for the SWUG
conference and give his presentation.
11
SWUG August 2014
INDUSTRY PROFILE
Making the most of opportunities
K
EEP challenging yourself and make the
most of the opportunities that present
themselves.
That was the message from this year’s Industry
Profile at the SWUG conference which was
presented by Meredith Darke from DIC Australia.
Meredith is well-known to SWUG delegates
having attended the conference since the late 90s
and working on the committee, as well as her close
involvement in other industry organisations such
as GAMAA, LATMA and the Press Gang.
While her career in the industry spans more
than two decades with leading suppliers Print &
Pack (now Ferrostaal) and DIC, Meredith’s first
taste of printing was in the mid-80s when she and
her former husband had a small printing business
running a single-colour Rotaprint press and
Heidelberg Platen, an experience from which she
still bears the scars (literally).
Grant money to
travel and learn
In addition to the apprentice awards, SWUG
also runs a $20,000 biennial Leadership
Scholarship which gives future industry
leaders the opportunity to travel overseas to
learn more about the newspaper sector in
different markets.
The scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for an up-and-coming leader to gain
access to the latest technology, processes and
innovations that the industry has to offer
worldwide. Previous recipients of the scholarship have described it as being extremely
beneficial in allowing them to travel and study.
This year there were no nominations for the
Leadership Scholarship so the $20,000 grant will
roll over to the next conference.
Another well-known industry organisation
which is actively investing in education and
scholarships is the Graphic Arts Merchants
Association of Australia (GAMAA) which
supports a range of programs.
Partly this is via sponsorship of events such as
the SWUG conference, of which GAMAA is the
chief patron, and partly it is through grant
programs.
At this year’s SWUG conference, Karen
Goldsmith, GAMAA executive director,
highlighted the recent $15,000 Industry
Overseas Internship Grant which, like the
Leadership Scholarship, gives successful
applicants the opportunity to travel overseas for
study purposes.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to go and look at
innovation overseas, look at what is happening
out there in other industries and bring it back to
Australia to benefit our industry,” said Karen.
“I’m sure all of you have a gem of an idea you
would like to explore and we would love to give
you the money to do so.”
This year’s grant program attracted five
applicants with the successful recipient coming
from the newspaper sector.
Derek Williamson (below), digital imaging
manager at West Australian Newspapers, will
use the grant to explore the latest developments
in continuous feed digital printing overseas,
especially as they apply to newspapers.
He will conduct research in the UK and
Europe before returning and writing a report on
his findings for GAMAA to share with the wider
industry.
In 1992 she joined Print & Pack as a PA and,
over the next 13 years, including a year working in
Germany, she took on a range of roles including
office manager, HR manager, events manager and
eventually marketing manager. It was a time, she
said, when she learnt an enormous amount.
“The important thing for me was the
opportunity to be always learning something new,
keeping me challenged and engaged.”
This included going on to study for a post-grad
degree in business administration at the
University of NSW, graduating in 2004.
In 2005, Meredith joined DIC Australia,
initially in a marketing role in the web offset
business before going on to become web business
manager for ANZ, then manager of the coldset
export business, and most recently as general
manager for DIC New Zealand, a role which will
also see her become a company director.
Based in Auckland, the New Zealand operation
employs 50 full-time staff and 7 casuals with an
annual turnover of NZ$47 million.
Despite her heavy involvement in the industry,
Meredith has found time to indulge her other
passions outside work, including books, theatre
and, in particular, travel.
“Travelling has opened my eyes to just how
lucky we are in Australia. It challenges my
thinking about myself and my space in the world.”
Meredith paid tribute to the business mentors
who have encouraged her throughout her career,
including Terry Fox at Print & Pack, David Rands
and Ian Johns at DIC.
“Due to their positive direction and guidance,
I’m in the role I am today and about to move on to
a whole new adventure,” she said.
In summary, Meredith added: “The important
things for me have been to stay challenged, to take
opportunities, to make opportunities, to stay
enthusiastic, dedicated and committed. It
certainly has got me where I am today.”
12
SWUG August 2014
SWUG Awards 2014
The number of entries in the annual SWUG awards was down in 2014 but the standard of competition was as
high as ever. Winning entries from last year would only have been good enough to pick up a minor placing this
year - a sign of the high standard of quality to be found in the industry.
Congratulations all the winners for their outstanding excellence in print.
BEST OVERALL PRINT QUALITY
Highly Commended
Kalgoorlie Miner
Colourpress WAN
(KBA Comet)
The team from Fairfax Media Newcastle celebrate winning
the Brissett Shield for best overall single width print quality
in 2014: (l-r) Glenn Brissett, Simon Leach, Peter Akers,
Michael Aubrey and Stephen Harden.
Runner Up
Clarence Valley
Review
APN Print
Toowoomba
(Manugraph
CityLine)
Winner – Brissett Shield
Newcastle Herald
Fairfax Media - Newcastle
(manroland Uniset)
BEST COLDSET COMMERCIAL PUBLICATION
Highly Commended
Tong - Queensland Korean Weekly
APN Print Toowoomba
(Manugraph CityLine)
Runner Up
Moree Show
Fairfax Media Tamworth
(Goss
Community)
They must be doing something right at the Fairfax Media
site at Tamworth because this year it dominated the best
coldset commercial publication category, taking out the
top two places. Craig Jenner (left) and Michael Aubrey
were justifiably pleased with the quinella.
Winner – Flint Group Shield
Tamworth Regional Council
Fairfax Media - Tamworth
(Goss Community)
13
SWUG August 2014
BEST OVERALL PRINT
QUALITY DOUBLE WIDTH
Judges’ Comments
As usual, SWUG judges Gordon Cole, Peter Hook
and Wayne Johnstone had the final word on this
year’s newspapers.
Highly Commended
Goulburn Post
Fairfax Media - Canberra
(manroland Geoman)
n 2012, the SWUG awards were expanded into a fourth
category, double width newspapers, and revamped in 2013 to
better cover market trends. This year, there are the same four
categories.
1. Best Overall Newspaper Print Quality, Single Width
2. Best Coldset Commercial Publication
3. Best Overall Newspaper Print Quality, Double Width
4. Best Newspaper on Enhanced Newsprint (>50gsm, SW &
DW).
Only a small number of entries (eight each) were received for
the relatively new Category 3 and 4 but the numbers have
increased over last year (five each).
The two more traditional categories have both recorded a
significant drop in the number of entries. Category 1 received the
most entries (16) but only half the number of 2013 while
Category 2 (6 entries) sees a 60% drop in the number of entries
from last year - most surprising!
Notwithstanding, the quality of entries is comparatively high.
In 2014, 12 sites across Australasia entered this year’s
competition submitting 38 entries versus 58 entries in 2013, 42 in
2012 and 52 in 2011.
Many of the regular competitors were missing from both
Australia and New Zealand.
This is, in many ways, understandable in view of the
rationalisation taking place in the industry but let’s hope that
we see increased participation in this highly-regarded competition
in 2015.
I
APN Print at Yandina maintained its grip
on the double width category with Peter
Broadfoot once again collecting the award
from Tania Gordon of Norske Skog.
Runner Up
Illawarra Mercury
Fairfax Media Canberra
(manroland
Geoman)
Superior quality in 2014
Winner – Norske Shield
News Mail
APN Print - Yandina
(manroland Regioman)
BEST NEWSPAPER ON ENHANCED
STOCK (Over 50gsm)
Highly Commended
Henty Machinery
Field Days
Fairfax Media Albury Wodonga
(Goss UniLiner)
The guys at Mandurah (l-r: Brett Matters, Ron
Smith, Wayne Bailey and Greg Haley) must have had
a premonition they were going to win again in the
best newspaper on enhanced stock category because
they left the DIC Shield safely back home in WA.
The quality this year is superior to that achieved in 2013 with the
best paper in each category exceeding 90% and a lowest score of a
reasonable 78%.
In this regard, the standard is almost back to that achieved in
2012. For example, the third placed entry this year in the best
newspaper would have won the competition last year.
It is interesting to note that the judges’ score (subjective) for
overall impression was sometimes lower than the compilation of
the other 13 properties (objective), usually due to a perception of
dirtiness or untidy, cluttered presentation, lacking in punch and
contrast.
In 2011, the judging panel started collating and analysing data
to determine the print properties that most affected the outcome,
both good and bad. To that end, the influential properties in 2014
are summarised in the following tables.
Average percentage scores improved for all test aspects
compared to last year in line with overall scores achieved by the
entries generally, even those of relative weakness.
There is improvement from 2013 to 2014 in areas of relative
weakness although there is still noticeable marking on the covers
of some entries, which creates a poor first impression for any
publication.
The same can be said for areas of relative strength with
improved scores also compared to 2013. Many entries scored well
in the mechanical aspects of presentation after some criticism
from judges in the past, and lithographic performance which was
again outstanding and among the best attributes.
Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who
participated.
The challenge for 2015 is maintain these high standards while
increasing participation back up to historical normal levels.
SWUG scores analysis 2011-14
Areas of Relative Weakness – average scores
% of Points Available
1. Marking from trolleys,
nips, folding rollers
2. Pins, position, tears
3. Density, page to page
Runner Up
Noosa Today
APN Yandina
(manroland
Regioman)
2011
2012
2013
2014
65%
68%
77%
82%
83%
85%
77%
74%
79%
81%
80%
82%
Areas of Relative Strength – average scores
% of Points Available
1. Blanket/print defects
2. Cuts (clean/tears)
3. Scumming/tint
4. Fold
2011
79%
81%
78%
78%
2012
86%
87%
86%
87%
2013
81%
83%
85%
83%
2014
91%
91%
90%
90%
Other Attributes of Interest – average scores
Winner – DIC Shield
The Perth Voice
Fairfax Media - Mandurah
(manroland Uniset 75)
% of Points Available
1. Visual density on page
2. Registration
3. Set-off
4. Half-tones
2011
83%
76%
78%
76%
2012
86%
85%
85%
86%
2013
82%
82%
83%
80%
2014
87%
86%
86%
89%
14
SWUG August 2014
Join the campaign for
more news on paper
Some of the recent
campaigns in the US and
Australia to promote
print on paper.
Two new public campaigns are fighting back against
the perception that print and paper are bad for the
environment.
When Two Sides go to war
T
HERE’S no doubt the print
medium – including newspapers – has copped a lot of bad
press over the years for its
environmental impact.
While some of this may have been
justified in years gone by, the fact is that
today’s paper and print industries rank
among the most environmentally
sustainable of all sectors, and not just
among media channels.
In fact a lot of misinformation about
the impact of paper and print –
promoted in part by competing media
channels – has been used to confuse
and mislead consumers and media
buyers.
Now the paper and printing
industries are starting to fight back by
carefully and methodically dispelling
the myths and distortions that typically
get trotted out about paper.
One organisation at the heart of this
battle is Two Sides, a global memberbased organisation which draws on
research and industry reports to
counter some of the more contentious
claims and promote print as an
environmentally positive option.
Originally started in the UK, Two
Sides now operates in seven countries
including Australia.
Kellie Northwood who heads up the
Australian Catalogue Association in
Australia also champions the cause of
Two Sides locally.
Many of the biggest printers and
paper companies in the region are
members.
Previously, the main role of Two
Sides has been to raise public awareness
of the environmental credentials of
print but increasingly it is also moving
towards promoting the effectiveness of
print and paper as a communication
channel.
At SWUG, Karen Goldsmith of
GAMAA and Steve Dunwell of
manroland Australasia presented some
of the information being used by Two
Sides to help promote the cause of print
and paper.
There is also a Two Sides website www.twosides.info – which contains a
lot of useful information to share with
customers and staff.
No more lies
According to Steve, one of the things
that Two Sides does is to challenge any
environmental claims that companies,
such as banks, use to justify switching
to online communication channels.
In many cases, this is sufficient to
stop these companies from using
misleading statements and may even
encourage them to rethink abandoning
print in order to communicate with
their customers.
In the rush to embrace all things
digital, it is often over-looked that
paper has very strong environmental
credentials.
Research shows that the consumption of print has a much smaller
carbon footprint compared to other
media channels. Regardless of how it is
viewed, all digital consumption of
information and news requires energy
which, unless it is offset, contributes to
the production of greenhouse gases.
In addition, a lot of paper comes
from sustainable sources and is
recyclable whereas digital devices are
creating a growing e-waste problem.
Contrary to what many people think,
printers are not destroying swathes of
forest to make paper. In fact the
number of trees under cultivation has
increased.
“We have to keep telling people the
real story,” said Steve. “Two Sides helps
that.
“The first step in selling the positive
story of paper and print is to understand its achievements and speak with
pride.
“Know your facts and speak with
confidence. The print industry has
nothing to be ashamed of. In fact it has
a strong environmental record and a
good story to tell.”
Paper really works
The other aspect of the Two Sides
campaign is to promote the effectiveness of paper as a marketing medium,
particularly when used as part of a
multi-faceted communications and
marketing strategy.
Two Sides to the argument
Get the facts
• A Swedish Royal Institute for
Technology study shows that
reading the news online for more
than 30 minutes consumes 20%
more energy than reading a
traditional newspaper.
• Searching and viewing a contact
online via Google emits three
times more carbon than printing a
business card.
• In Australia, 66% of all paper (not
just newspapers) is recycled, 68%
in Europe, 77% in US.
• E-waste to landfill is the fastest
growing form of waste to landfill
with Europe growing faster than
total waste streams. The amount
of electronic products discarded
globally has skyrocketed recently,
with 20-50 million tonnes
generated every year.
• One email, with a 400kb
attachment, sent to 20 people, is
equivalent to burning a 100w light
bulb for 30 minutes.
• There are over 7.8 million hectares
of native forest in Victoria, less
than 0.1% of which are harvested
for paper production each year
and regenerated for 100 years
following harvest.
• Australia’s forestry plantations
doubled in size from 1994 to 2010.
100% of South Australian forestry
is planted forests.
Karen Goldsmith highlighted a report put out
recently by ADMA and
Australia Post called
Creating connections that
matter: How Australians
want to hear from brands
which revealed that traditional
marketing channels such as print are
still preferred by most consumers.
Even among the younger demographics, brochures and flyers, TV,
press, radio and direct mail are
regarded as more effective channels
than digital.
In contrast, in recent times, the
marketing spend from media buyers
has failed to match consumer channel
preferences.
Another report from the UK
revealed that even today 18% of
consumers in the UK rarely or never
use the internet. That’s nearly 1 in 5
people or 11.5 million UK citizens who
are missing out on information if
traditional media channels are not
included in the communications mix.
Even Google - the embodiment of
the digital revolution - uses direct mail
as a tool to engage with businesses to
switch to Google Enterprise solutions
because it recognises that paper-based
communications work.
Locally, Two Sides Australia is
launching an effectiveness campaign
called Value of Paper and Print (VoPP)
to raise awareness of the effectiveness
and environmental credentials of paper
as a communication device.
This will include an advertising
campaign and a research book aimed at
media buyers, marketers and
advertisers which will highlight positive
aspects of using paper and print.
“They will compile a fact and figure
book that will look at the effectiveness
of print,” explained Karen. “This means
that people can go out to media buyers
and talk about how effective print and
paper are as a selling tool as part of the
communications mix.”
In conclusion, Karen added: “Two
Sides is a great initiative for the industry
and it needs your support to keep
producing its vital resources.”
Individual companies can join the
campaign for as little as $250 a year.
Fighting back with tree hugs
SWUG delegates may have noticed a
recent campaign in their newspapers
featuring Dr Karl Kruszelnicki under
the headline The trees are hugging
back.
The campaign is being run by the
industry body The Newspaper Works
to congratulate Australians for making
newspaper recycling so successful and
to spread the message that no native
forests are used for the purposes of
newspaper printing.
The former Publishers National
Environment Bureau (PNEB) which
did much to promote the spread of
newspaper recycling throughout
Australia has now been amalgamated
into The Newspaper Works as part of
its Environment Advisory Group
(EAG) of which Bob Lockley, SWUG
president, is a board member.
Bob updated the SWUG conference on the latest news and
initiatives from the EAG which
includes the tree hugging advertising
campaign.
“The PNEB has done absolutely
outstanding work and continues to do
so for Australian newspapers and
magazine publishers.
“This includes the industry’s
National Environmental Sustainability Agreement (NESA) to achieve
recycling, and keep our products out
of landfill and regulation away from
the industry.”
The good news is that Australia still
has the highest newspaper recycling
rate in the world, currently sitting at
78% of all newspapers. Another 8.7%
of paper are reused in the household.
As mentioned, no old growth
forests or native trees are used to
make Australian newsprint, being
derived only from plantation pine and
recycled fibre.
All plantation forests are protected
by Chain of Custody protocols that
ensure only sustainable sources are
used.
The inks used in newspaper
printing are now so safe they meet the
Australian Standard for coatings on
children’s toys.
The EAG’s latest appointment is
Peter Netchaef who is joining The
Newspaper Works as the industry’s
environmental representative.
He comes to the industry with
nearly two decades of experience with
managing product stewardship and
the associated political issues at Sims
Metal, and has extensive experience
with international, national and state
government authorities as well as the
media and public interest groups.
Spread the message
One suggestion from the floor of the
conference was that the newspaper
sites should reintroduce school visits
as a means of spreading the environmental message to young people,
particularly as they are less likely to
see the advertising campaign in the
papers.
It was also pointed out that while a
lot of work has been done targeting
corporates, there also needs to be a
focus on ad agencies and designers as
they are often the people making key
decisions about the value of print.
There was also discussion about the
possibility of Two Sides and The
Newspaper Works combining forces
to get a bigger ‘bang for their buck’
when trying to get the message out
there.
15
SWUG August 2014
Asian markets are open for business
D
ARWIN is often described
as the most Asian city in
Australia, a consequence of
its closer proximity to many Southeast Asian cities than to Australian
cities.
It was appropriate then that the
SWUG conference should hear
from Yong Liang Sim, managing
director and CEO of United Borneo
Press in Malaysia, who gave a
personal overview of the current
state of the newspaper market in
Asia.
Like other markets worldwide,
newspapers in Asia are experiencing
tough competition from alternative
media sources and a broader range
of leisure activities.
As Mr Sim pointed out, in some
markets there has been a migration
of readers to digital media as well as
a growing number of ‘time-poor’
consumers who prefer to spend
their disposable income on other
activities such as shopping rather
than buying newspapers.
The traditional view of the Asian
market is one of a few titles with
huge circulations, often with print
runs of over a million.
However, Mr Sim believes that
those days of a few titles with huge
volumes are over and that, in the
future, we will see more titles but
with smaller circulations.
He highlighted the Indonesian
market as an example where there is
a growing number of titles –
including a paper for people seeking
a divorce! – which is spurring new
demand for newspapers, even while
overall circulations may be falling.
While the market overall can be
characterised as moving towards
short-run production, there are
important differences between
individual markets.
Freedom means growth
According to Mr Sim, there is a
correlation between press freedom
and the popularity of newspapers;
the more liberal the media
environment, the more likely it is to
be growing.
For instance, China is a tightlycontrolled media environment and,
as a result, it is starting to show signs
of contraction as readers turn away
from the propaganda of government-controlled media and find
alternative news sources.
While circulations in China may
still be on the increase, paginations
are smaller, said Mr Sim, as the
economy cools and advertising
revenues fall.
Vietnam is another country with
limited press freedoms but Mr Sim
said that as these controls have
gradually been relaxed, the
newspaper market has started to
grow.
In the South-east Asian markets
of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei
where press freedoms are
moderately controlled, Mr Sim said
there are signs of market contraction, particularly in English
language titles. There is also no
growth in Chinese language titles
although Malay titles continue to
grow.
Singapore and Brunei show clear
signs of falling readership due to
digital cannibalisation, said Mr Sim,
as digital products take away some
of the readership, especially with
English language titles due to there
being lots of competing content on
the internet.
In it is only in countries with the
most liberal press freedoms that
newspapers are continuing to gain
printing units in 2007 to 115 units
The Asian newspaper market has long been
this year and looking at 123 units in
the next two years.
regarded as one of the most dynamic in the
All of UBP’s presslines are single
width which Mr Sim describes as
world. Within the region though there are many the most flexible for handling the
variety of newspaper configurations
differences between countries with some
required by clients.
“Our challenge is to deal with
markets growing faster than others.
multiple set-ups and multiple runs,”
he commented.
Special overseas guest speaker, Yong Liang
For instance, in any eight hour
shift, a press may have to handle up
Sim from United Borneo Press in Malaysia,
to 17 different set-ups and print
There is no special finishing
gave the SWUG conference an overview of the runs.
such as stitching or trimming on the
product, just straight newspapers.
current situation - including opportunities for
Bring your own paper
Australian printers.
A unique feature of the UBP’s
popularity. The Philippines, for
example, benefits from a hotly
contested three-yearly election
cycle which sees new titles appear in
the lead-up to any election. There is
huge potential in Manila, said Mr
Sim, with many more free newspapers appearing.
Likewise in Hong Kong which is
still experiencing “an age of
newspaper renaissance” with free
papers flooding the streets each
morning. It is an advertising-driven
boom with the papers carrying up
to 70% advertising and only 30%
editorial.
The last frontier
As mentioned, Indonesia is also
going for growth as new types of
papers aimed at specific readerships
are created.
At the same, Myanmar is seen as
the “last frontier” of newspaper
publishing, said Mr Sim, as many
companies try their luck in the
newly-liberalised nation.
There are good opportunities for
printers in Myanmar, he believes,
because literacy rates are improving
but many newspapers cannot afford
to invest in new capital equipment,
creating a potential market for
contract printing.
Taiwan is the exception in terms
of having a liberalised media but
declining newspaper readership,
mainly due to competition from
broadcast media, forcing some
publishers to consider getting out of
print and into television.
Solely single width
Based in the Malaysian province of
Borneo, UBP Printing has been in
the newspaper market since 1945.
More recently, however, as the
market for Chinese newspapers
stagnated, the company has started
to move into contract printing as a
means of fully utilising press assets.
It has now grown from printing
one title to having a mix of ten titles
- two Chinese dailies, six Malay
dailies and two English language
daily papers.
It operates four print centres in
Miri, Kuching, Sibu, and Kota
Kinabalu on Borneo island and has
increased its press capacity from 16
contract printing is that customers
have to supply their own stock
which can come from anywhere –
China, Australia, even Europe.
As a result, UBP must aim for
very high utilisation of that stock,
achieving 97.5% material usage for
every reel.
Every run has its own set of KPIs
and parameters it must meet, not
only in terms of stock usage but also
completion times and machine
performance.
Contract printing is a very costeffective solution to the challenge of
shorter print runs and more titles,
said Mr Sim, and he is optimistic
that newspapers can still land a
‘knock-out’ blow to digital media.
“I think we can still win the fight
and last longer than what everybody
thinks.”
In conclusion, Mr Sim issued
an invitation to local printers to
venture into the Asian market and
take advantage of the commercial
opportunities it presents.
“It would be an interesting
market for you to go into and with
the wealth of experience in the
print industry in Australia I think
you would do a good job up
there,” he added.
“Our challenge is
to deal with
multiple set-ups
and multiple
runs,”
- Yong Liang Sim
A notable feature of the four
UBP print centres in Borneo
is that they are all running
single width presses,
regarded by Mr Sim as the
most flexible configuration
for managing multiple titles.
In addition, the company
doesn’t buy any newsprint all the paper is supplied by its
customers with UBP aiming
to use 97.5% of all the reels
supplied.
16
SWUG August 2014
Boyer makes a smooth move
CONSUMABLES
Australia now has its
own source of
lightweight coated
paper following the
successful start-up of
the Boyer mill PM2
conversion.
The strong Australian dollar meant
that imported paper was relatively
cheap. On the other hand, there was
no competition locally for the
manufacture of LWC paper.
The Boyer mill itself had some
advantages with investments made at
the mill over the years helping to reduce
the cost of the overall project as well as
offering cost benefits with competitive
wood and energy contracts.
The proposal to locate the project in
regional Australia also had the
advantage of attracting state and
Federal support for local employment.
Focus on catalogues
C
HANGES in the local newspaper sector are forcing
suppliers to rethink their
strategies and come up with new
products to meet market demands.
Tania Gordon from Norske Skog
gave an update on the company’s
project to convert one of its paper
machines at the Boyer mill in Tasmania from newsprint production to
coated paper.
The decision to initiate the $84
million project was made in the wake
of the GFC which saw a continuing
decline in demand for Norske’s main
product, newsprint.
The decline locally meant that by
the end of last year, Norske’s
production capacity was about
150,000 tonnes greater than the total
market demand, not just Norske’s
share of that market.
The company had already reviewed
its strategic roadmap to see what it
could do to maximise revenues from
existing assets, closing the PM2
machine at its Tasman mill in 2013
and restricting exports, but that still
left a serious capacity issue.
Maximising assets
The goal then was to reduce the local
operation’s reliance on newsprint and
diversify into new markets by
maximising the use of existing assets.
Any solution required a minimal
capital investment from the parent
company, and while $84 million might
sound like a lot, it is relatively little
compared to investing in a new paper
machine.
The decision to convert PM2 at
Boyer to lightweight coated (LWC)
paper production posed a number of
challenges as well as potential benefits.
The decision was made to focus on the
local catalogue sector rather than
newspapers.
In recent years, while newspapers
have suffered falls in circulation,
catalogue volumes for home deliveries
and inserts have remained relatively
stable.
Over the past ten years, the number
of catalogues has increased along with
their average weight, increasing with
the number of pages, and this has seen
a steady growth in demand for coated
papers.
The demand for paper in the
catalogue sector comprises 75% LWC
and 25% super-calendared paper.
The projection was that, after the
conversion, Boyer would have a
capacity of around 140,000 tonnes of
LWC in a total market of about
400,000 tonnes, so even if there was a
slight decline, Norske’s capacity would
still be below the total market.
Most importantly, local customers
would benefit from having an
Australian supplier offering greater
product flexibility and shorter leadtimes enabling savings in stock
holdings.
Most major commercial printers
provided written support for the
project prior to its approval.
Room for a coater
The project itself involved using the
existing paper machine but adding new
coating equipment to the end of it.
This meant extending the original
building to accommodate the new
equipment although the final building
itself is much shorter than when
originally proposed several years ago
due to today’s equipment being more
compact.
The major challenge of the project
was carrying out all the civil
engineering works while still keeping
the paper machine running. A total of
10,000 tonnes of concrete was poured
to construct the new machine slab, all
without interrupting normal daily
production.
In December 2013, the last jumbo
roll of newsprint was produced on
PM2 making a total of 5.2 million
tonnes of paper produced since 1952.
All output from PM2 moved to PM3
so there was no change to the product
mix.
Learning about LWC
Aside from the actual construction of
the machine, staff also had to learn new
operating procedures for LWC paper.
Some staff went over to another
Norske mill at Bruck in Austria to learn
about LWC production and, on their
return, they were able to help with
training and assessment tools.
Another part of the project involved
a partnership with another company to
build and run a $10 million Ground
Calcium Carbonate plant for crushing
calcium carbonate to use for the paper
coating.
Three times a year, bulk calcium
carbonate is shipped down from
Queensland to produce the 45,000
tonnes of ground material required.
In April this year, production
restarted on PM2, initially with
newsprint and then, on 8 April, the first
jumbo reel of LWC rolled off the end
of the machine.
The entire project was completed
on time and within 1-2% of budget.
Despite having up to 220 workers on
site during the construction phase,
there were no lost-time injuries over
the course of the 18 month project - a
remarkable achievement.
Feedback from customers who have
used the new stock has been positive
and, although there is still some way to
go, the initial results are encouraging.
Above: one of the first
jumbo reels of LWC paper
to come off the back of
PM2 at Boyer mill
following its successful
conversion.
Local manufacturing on a roll
nother local supply company
which has been investing in
new facilities is RotaDyne in
Victoria.
Since entering the local market with
the takeover of Ace Rollers, the USbased roller giant has upgraded the
capabilities of the local manufacturing
plant.
Speaking at the SWUG conference,
Angus Scott said the facility at
Cheltenham, Victoria, now had the
capacity to disassemble and
reassemble rollers, repair journals and
replace bearings.
It can re-cover rollers ranging in
dimensions from 1 metre in diameter
up to 7.6 metres in length.
Using CNC machinery, RotaDyne
can add complex grooved patterns to
roller surfaces as well as crowning with
parabolic or taper grinds. Different
compounds offer various rubber
hardnesses.
“We can finish products to exacting
A
specifications on surface hardness and
roughness,” added Angus.
The plant is also able to repair
carbon fibre cores used on larger
rollers without having to send them
overseas.
The high strength and rigidity of
carbon fibre is used on large rollers
because it ensures less deflection
across the roll face which enables
faster web speeds and better web
alignment.
17
SWUG August 2014
Can closed loop colour save you money?
W
AUTOMATION
The speed of today’s
newspaper presses
means that printers
need all the help they
can get. Closed loop
colour control is one
solution but it’s not
cheap. So how do the
costs stack up?
ITH the focus today on
reducing waste and shorter
runs, the pressure is on
printers to do more in a tighter
timeframe. Is the automation of onpress controls a solution to these
demands or just an expensive add-on?
At SWUG 2014, Menno Jansen
from QI Press Controls (left) outlined
the arguments in favour.
The use of automation on
newspaper presses has become a
growing trend in recent years.
Previously it was more commonly
found in the commercial heatset
market but, these days, it is possible to
automate just about every function on
a newspaper press, from ink density to
registration to cut-off.
The increase in automation is partly
in response to the pressures on today’s
newspaper production.
With shorter runs, more colour
pages and a focus on reducing waste to
save costs, printers are typically faced
with running more jobs, more quickly
and more efficiently.
In the past, presses were slower and
the runs were longer, giving printers
time to attend to task of achieving
saleable copies. It was a labour
intensive process that required a great
deal of skill and judgement.
Today, there are machines capable
of doing much of this work.
As Menno pointed out, on a typical
four tower press running 32-pages,
there can be up to 1,400 variables that
need to be managed at any one time to
control inking, dampening and
registration.
This is a demanding task, especially
during make-ready, given that for
every second a printer spends checking
or adjusting a variable, three copies are
going to waste – and with them the
publisher’s profits.
The argument in favour of
automation is that the more these tasks
are controlled by the press, the faster
and more accurately the newspaper
can be produced.
It is a process which is happening
not just in newspapers but all forms of
machine-based manufacturing.
as soon as the press starts up, even if
there is still scumming or toning on the
image before it is cleaned up.
Taking into account all the variables
such as the colour of the stock, the
system will ensure compliance with
colour standards such as ISO 12647-3
for newspaper production.
The system integrates with typical
press control systems such as PECOM.
QI also recently bought out the EAE
press controls company which should
see a tighter integration of closed loop
colour control with those systems.
How does it work?
Is it worth it?
Systems like the ones devised by QI
use cameras mounted on the press to
scan the width of the web as the press
is running.
The images captured by the cameras
are then compared in real-time with
reference page data supplied in the
form of 1-bit tiff files from prepress.
Any discrepancy between the captured image and the reference file will
either sound an alert for the operator
or automatically trigger a correction on
the press.
The system can be used to check
variables such as ink density, colour
registration, fan-out and cut-off
registration.
QI has championed the use of
‘markless’ technology whereby the
camera reads the actual page itself and
does not requite any grey bars or
colour bars.
The system will even spot when the
plates have been loaded in the
incorrect sequence, sounding an alert
According to Menno, the main benefit
can be seen in the reduction of waste
copies, particularly during make-ready.
There are also savings in terms of
reduced ink usage.
On some sites, said Menno, waste
can be reduced by as much as 55%
overall and up to 77% during press
start-up.
In terms of ink usage, the QI system
typically uses between 6-14% less ink –
the tendency being for printers to
over-ink – which in some cases can
result in savings of more than €200,000
per annum.
In the example cited by Menno, the
installation of a system in Europe paid
for itself within 20 months and after 6
years in operation had contributed €6
million in savings.
While many newer presses
incorporate some form of closed loop
colour control, it is also possible to
retrofit to older style presses such as
the Goss Community.
How viable is it then? This all
depends on the variables of the
production cycle, said Menno.
For a start, the investment in
cameras is the same as for a double
width press but because paginations
are lower, the return on investment
(ROI) may be longer.
Ultimately, the ROI is very much
dependent on the type of production
being done. Having many short runs
will result in a quicker ROI than longer
runs as the savings are typically found
in the make-ready.
It is also a pre-requisite for older
presses to have motorised remote
inking in order to make adjustments
on the fly.
Making it work
It’s one thing to have closed loop
colour installed but how do you
convince printers to keep their hands
off the console.
Menno agreed that, initially at least,
printers can feel “uncomfortable” with
the fact that the system takes over and
they have to wait for it to make a
correction.
The operators themselves need to
adjust to using the system and allow it
to run itself – it’s part of the learning
curve, said Menno.
On the other hand, there will always
be a need for printers to be in control
and to step in and take necessary
action as required.
Just as aircraft still need pilots even
though there are sophisticated autopilot systems, so a newspaper press still
needs a real-life printer.
Fit for future markets.
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18
SWUG August 2014
WHO AM I?
One of the benefits of attending a SWUG conference is the
opportunity to hear the stories of people operating in our
industry - and beyond - to learn how they are dealing
with the challenges of a changing world.
Braced for success in NZ
I
“We need to set
our goals and
communicate
them, give people
the autonomy to
make decisions,”
- Ricky Baker
T’S hard enough keeping a press running and
making sure the paper gets out on time, but
how about doing it when, at any moment, the
whole place might get shaken to pieces.
That’s the situation facing newspaper printers
in New Zealand who must live with the constant
fear of earthquakes strong enough to shift even
the biggest press.
As Ricky Baker, print centre manger at Fairfax
Media in Petone near Wellington, commented,
being at the top of a press tower during an
earthquake can be a pretty scary experience.
Fortunately, thanks to the foresight of the
people who built it in the 80s, the Petone site was
one of the first to incorporate ‘earthquake
proofing’ in the form of what’s called base
isolation.
Basically this means that the building’s
foundations are placed on top of big pads like
dampeners and the press is attached to these
anchor points.
During an earthquake, instead of shaking itself
to pieces, the building rocks on the dampeners
and the press, which is braced against the walls of
the building, sways with it.
Mind the gap
There are four buildings at the Petone site and
they are separated by seismic gaps, half metre
spaces that keep the buildings apart during an
earthquake.
Inside the press hall, the press itself is braced at
the back end with steel trusses and another truss
runs the length of the hall to which it is attached.
If it wasn’t braced to the building then, during
an earthquake, the press would shift out of
alignment.
Petone currently prints the Dominion Post as
well as the Manawatu Standard, The Sunday StarTimes as well as the tabloid Sunday News and
several community newspapers.
The site is due to undergo an upgrade with the
addition of four Geoman towers and two folders
from the former Tullamarine site in Melbourne.
Publishing will also be upgraded with Ferag
equipment from The Age site.
Currently the site uses about 200 tonnes of
newsprint a week and 17,000 plates a month but
after the upgrade this is expected to increase to
about 250-300 tonnes a week, said Ricky.
Fortunately the new press hall is already fitted
with a steel truss to brace the press so the only
alteration required has been to raise the roof by
four metres.
Learning on the job
Ricky originally joined the Petone site as a nightshift electrician having previously worked for the
former printing company, INL, and a graphics
arts company in Wellington servicing the
printing industry.
Prior to that, he worked in Melbourne as a
PLC programmer converting companies over to
PLC control systems.
When he returned to New Zealand and got a
job at INL maintaining the heatset and coldset
presses, he had little idea about what was
involved.
“I remember the first breakdown I went to and
the apprentice said the web’s doing this and that
and I looked at him and said, ‘What’s a web?’ I
had no concept of printing at all.”
From those beginnings of being thrown in at
the deep end, Ricky has learnt the importance of
communication and making people accountable
for their own actions.
“We need to set our goals and communicate
them, give people the autonomy to make
decisions, create responsibility, set core values
and behaviour, what we accept and won’t
accept,” he commented. “Then you’re starting to
create a culture.”
Earthquake precautions at the Petone
site, from the top: Seismic gaps between
the buildings; base isolation dampening;
metal trusses brace the press; a brace
already installed in the new hall.
Winning formula of Team Townsville
H
“Safety is our
number 1 priority.
We talk about
safety every day,”
- Matt Richards
OW do you create a safe and productive
workplace? At the News Corp Australia
print centre at Townsville, the answer is
teamwork.
Matt Richards, standing in for Peter Bull,
described some of the initiatives this site has
implemented to achieve its impressive workplace
results.
These include going for 543 days with a losttime injury, or setting a record for 1,165
consecutive joins without a web break, a total of
51 days.
The site also aims to achieve a 95% on-time
production performance (excluding editorial and
advertising delays).
These are impressive stats for a site which runs
up to 85 different production jobs per week and
prints 1.2 million papers which are then
distributed over an area the size of NSW.
The site, which underwent a $52 million
upgrade in 2010, is home to a 160-page Geoman
press (5 eight-couple towers) with two folders,
Agfa platesetting and Ferag publishing
equipment.
It goes through about 180 tonnes of newsprint
per week and uses up to 10,000 A2-size plates a
week – an indication of how many short runs it
does – with job changeovers down to 30 minutes
or less.
In the mailroom, it processes 1.3 million
inserts per week and flat wraps 60,000 copies.
Meeting with Murdoch
Matt has worked at the Townsville site since
2003 having originally trained in the industry as a
sheetfed printer.
He is currently the day-shift press hall
supervisor and, at the time of the SWUG
conference, was working on secondment at the
Darwin site.
One of his career highlights was in November
last year when Rupert Murdoch visited the
Townsville plant and Matt got the opportunity to
instruct him in how to start the press.
With 75 employees at the site, including many
casuals, there is a continual focus on team
building. How is this done?
By having the right people in the right jobs,
explained Matt, and by emphasising the
importance of safety and training.
“Safety is our number 1 priority,” he said. “We
talk about safety every day.”
Safety is discussed at daily Toolbox meetings
and employees are updated with safety messages
via television screens. New employees go
through safety induction training and this
process is regularly revisited.
“We like to keep people informed so it’s always
front of mind,” said Matt.
Training is another important activity with
staff taking part in LMA frontline management
training and a set time allocated in the print
schedule for 5S instruction.
Data collection and KPIs are also important so
that teams can focus on areas that are not
performing to standard.
Other team-building activities include a focus
on daily Toolbox sessions to talk about and act
on issues, a Buddy Wednesday program whereby
experts instruct others about the work they do, a
Skills Exchange program which sees staff from
publishing learning about the pressroom and vice
versa, and ensuring that casual staff are properly
trained in all areas.
There is a focus throughout the plant on multiskilling and multi-tasking as well as building
collaborative teams to develop better work
practices.
“We like to make people accountable for their
actions,” said Matt. “It’s no use delegating a task,
you’ve got to delegate the responsibility with it as
well.”
It’s important, too, to celebrate workplace
achievements together and recognise important
milestones such as LTI-free days.
Working with a vision
Matt explained that the best work practices
generally come from using the company’s vision
statements: Safety, People, Environment,
Quality, Efficiency, Cost.
“We focus on safety and people the most
because what we’ve found is that if we get those
right, the quality, efficiency and cost look after
themselves.”
Looking to the future, Matt said the site aims
to continue the focus on training and crossskilling, as well as seek out further commercial
print opportunities, and keep on building
relationships with editorial and advertising
partners within the business.
19
SWUG August 2014
Learning the lessons of war
a high-ranking Taliban leader thanks to his
instinctive reliance on his training.
Training and rehearsals allow soldiers to keep a
cool head in time of uncertainty and complexity,
said Kurt.
This is the result of structured preparation,
repetition and discipline. It is the only way to
manage fear and uncertainty, enabling individuals
and groups to operate more successfully.
Teamwork - stand by your mates
The life and death challenges of
Afghanistan’s badlands might seem a long
way from a newspaper press hall, but the
lessons learnt on distant battlefields can
have just as much relevance to the worlds
of commerce and industry.
effective and efficient solution to a problem
because they are the ones most closely involved
with it.
By empowering teams, organisations are better
placed to operate in times of uncertainty.
Planning to win
K
urt Brissett (above), the son of Glenn
Brissett of Brissett Rollers, spent 13 years
in the Australian Defence Force, serving
in some of the most dangerous military combat
zones of the 21st century including several tours
of Afghanistan.
He spoke to the SWUG conference about the
challenges of operating as a team in such
hazardous environments and the importance of
planning, decision-making and adapting to
change.
The connection between military service and
the printing industry, said Kurt, is that both
operate in an environment of constant change.
In battle, situations can change from one
minute to the next, even more so over the course
of an entire war.
In the workplace too, there are day-to-day
changes, keeping on top of events as they unfold,
as well as the pressure of long-term, structural
changes to whole industries.
With change comes complexity and
uncertainty. In military teaching, uncertainty is
referred to as “the friction of war” and typically,
whoever manages it best, is able to achieve
“clarity in the chaos”.
Directive control – empower your people.
In the ADF, said Kurt, commanders are taught
what is called directive control. This encourages
leaders to communicate what their intentions are
and then empower their teams to make decisions
and execute a plan to realise those intentions.
Kurt gave the example of attending the crash
site of a Garuda jet in Indonesia in 2007 and
taking on the task of guarding the local morgue in
the absence of any local security. It was a difficult
job but one which the team felt was necessary and
were empowered to do in the circumstances.
Directive control means being able to trust
your people, said Kurt. Often it is the teams
themselves who will come up with the most
There’s a military saying that a plan never
survives the first shot being fired.
That’s not to say though that planning is not
important – quite the opposite in fact. Having a
comprehensive and effective plan will help to
identify potential risks and issues so that, if they
do eventuate, you are better placed to deal with
them.
Kurt recounted the instance of a mission in
Afghanistan in which an armoured was hit by a
roadside explosive device.
Thanks to careful planning beforehand which
identified such risks, the injured were able to be
ferried back to base within 30 minutes, almost
certainly saving lives.
“Having an appreciation of the various
contingencies or counter-actions is synonymous
with battlefield and commercial success,” said
Kurt.
commanding officers end up getting hit because
they make the mistake of standing still too long.
Staying in one place for a protracted period
leaves you exposed on the battlefield, said Kurt,
just as it can leave you and your organisation
obsolete in the commercial world.
Changing direction, changing products and
methods – these are all areas that need to be
constantly investigated and optimised.
Train hard, fight easy
Coping with change
The saying goes that a pint of sweat can save a
gallon of blood. In this case, it was the hours of
training in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat
that saved the life of an Australian commando
when he encountered a Taliban fighter on a night
mission.
You often hear it said of soldiers in battle that
their training just ‘kicked in’, commented Kurt,
and that was certainly true in this instance with
the soldier being able to kill what turned out to be
Successful teams do not fear change or
uncertainty, said Kurt. They are rational enough
to accept it and agile enough to navigate it.
They are strong and decisive enough to
withstand it, confident in the fact that they are
better prepared for it.
With proper planning, decision-making and
training, successful teams are able to overcome
the ‘friction of war’ and achieve the all-important
“clarity in chaos”.
Toowoomba reaps the rewards
P
In the midst of battle, timely decision-making is
critical even if it has to rely on only a partial
understanding of the situation.
Kurt gave the example of an Australian army
officer serving with a US unit who, while under
fire, called in a mortar strike even though he was
less than certain of the range and direction.
Ultimately this proved to be the correct
decision, demonstrating that in critical situations
a timely decision made with 80% of the
information is always preferable to a decision
which is made too late.
On the battlefield, time is a finite resource and
you are always running short, said Kurt. Equally,
in a commercial context, ‘analysis paralysis’ or the
inability to make a decision can lead to
organisational failure.
In today’s environment when industries are
changing at a rapidly increasing pace, speed of
decision making is an essential attribute of
commercial success – too often leaders wait for
the whole picture to evolve only to make a
decision and execute a plan that is no longer
relevant.
“Swift and decisive decision making is essential
to remain relevant,” said Kurt.
A moving target is harder to hit
Long and winding road
In other words, don’t rest on your laurels. Keep
moving because, that way, there’s less chance of
somebody getting you in their sights.
This might seem obvious to anybody on a
battlefield but, according to Kurt, even
Strategic partnering
When operating in regions such as Afghanistan or
the Solomon Islands, strategic partnering with
local security forces is an essential part of the
mission, enabling both sides to work to their
respective strengths.
In the commercial sector too, playing to the
strengths of each entity enables subject matter
expertise and buying power to be leveraged, said
Kurt.
As the world becomes increasingly complex
and inter-connected, the value proposition of
strategic partnering is now recognised as a vital
part of commercial success.
eter Archer from the APN Print site at
Toowoomba was delighted to accept
the Highly Commended prize in the
Best Coldset Commercial Publication
category for the production of Tong, the
Queensland Korean Weekly newspaper.
The site was also runner-up in the Best Overall
Print Quality category for its production of the
Clarence Valley Review.
Peter (pictured right accepting the Coldset
Commercial Publication award from Mark
Gooding of Flint Group, right) took on the
supervisory role at APN Toowoomba less than a
year ago.
In his ‘Who Am I?’ presentation, he recalled
there had been a few reliability issues on the
Manugraph CityLine Express press when he first
arrived as well as the added pressure of taking on
extra work from the closed Ballina site.
“It was a battle,” he commented. “We had to try
and find a happy medium of maintenance and
print to try and bring everything back on board.”
Since then there have been a number of
changes to the press set-up including new
fountain solution, blankets and web tension
adjustments which have had a positive effect.
“Finally we got the thing running a lot better,”
said Peter. “It’s a massive improvement.”
Timely decision-making
There are perhaps few team members as closely
knit as those of a combat unit. Teamwork, in
these circumstances, is literally a matter of life and
death, with soldiers prepared to sacrifice
themselves for the sake of their comrades.
In the army, soldiers are more than work
colleagues, said Kurt, they are like family.
The characteristic of all high-performing
teams, said Kurt, is that they possess a common
bond and a shared culture through being missionfocused.
“Studies show that social interaction and a
common purpose are some of the most accurate
predictors of team success.”
The Toowoomba role marks the latest stage in a
peripatetic career for Peter in the newspaper
industry which began at the Courier Mail in
Brisbane working on an Goss Urbanite press.
After 10 years in Brisbane, Peter moved to The
Age in Melbourne for three years working on the
Metroliner, Headliner and HT70 presses at
Spencer Street before returning to Queensland as
night shift supervisor on the Goss Community at
Rural Press Ormiston.
“With an increasing workload, we grew from a
two tower, one tricolour to a five tower and
tricolour combination over three shifts. We were
knocking out some ridiculous tonnage on the old
girl,” he recalled.
After five years in this role, Peter moved to
APN at Yandina to work on the Regioman/
Uniset combination and then, following a break
to travel around Australia, he ended up in Darwin
just as the new KBA Comet was coming online.
“I class that as one of the highlights of my work
life, learning from the Germans and the
Malaysian trainer,” said Peter. “I played a
significant role in keeping the workers heading in
the right direction because they came from a
background without that sort of technology.”
It’s a role he has repeated in his most recent
posting at Toowoomba and, with the latest
SWUG award, the results speak for themselves.
20
SWUG August 2014
Getting ready for digital print
PRESS TECHNOLOGY
A round-up of the latest
technology trends in
pressroom equipment.
This year, there was a
focus on the impact
that digital printing is
set to have on
newspaper production
in the future.
T
HERE’S a big change coming
in the pressroom. As local
newspapers look towards
digital printing in its various forms as
an alternative production platform, the
major press manufacturers are lining
up with new technology to meet the
market.
To date, digital printing of newspapers has largely been restricted to
niche applications – special editions
and short-run papers – and has yet to
break into regular mainstream
production.
But as the technology improves and
the market shifts towards shorter runs
and faster turnarounds, the potential
for digital print engines to make an
impact is increasing.
Reservations about cost, speed and
print quality are being addressed and it
seems likely that over the next 12
months, local newspapers will see the
introduction of digital print production in one form or another.
The two most common solutions
are stand-alone web inkjet presses,
typically running at 200-300 metres
per minute, and on-press inkjet heads
which combine high-speed variable
data printing with offset print.
It’s likely that both will feature in the
production of local newspapers in the
not-too-distant future.
As the prospect of digital print
playing a role in the industry grows, the
main press manufacturers are
responding with new solutions and
different approaches to the issues
facing printers today.
At SWUG 2014, delegates heard
from four press manufacturers who
presented a wide range of options from
offset to fully digital and everything in
between.
Such diversity demonstrates that,
more than ever, today’s press
technology is in a state of rapid change
with the future up for grabs for which
ever solution best meets the needs of
the market.
Digital newspapers
The case for all-digital print production was presented by James
Haisman of Screen who gave a profile
of Atlas Printing from Dubai.
Established 20 years ago, the
company uses both offset and digital
equipment to produce a range of
different titles including magazines,
stationery, table-top books and
promotional literature.
It is regarded as one of the first truly
automated print sites in the United
Arab Emirates and, today, has a
turnover of approximately US$20
million with 225 employees in three
The KBA RotaJET 76 inkjet press as used by the Main Post to
personalise newspaper jackets.
main companies across seven different
divisions.
The newspaper printing part of the
business covers two main areas – the
production of overseas newspapers for
the local ex-pat community and the
supply of newspapers as part of
the inflight entertainment aboard
Emirates aircraft.
Locally in Dubai, Atlas has teamed
up with NewspaperDirect.com to
supply about 75 foreign-language titles
with a total print run of 6,000 copies
daily.
The key aspect of this service is that
it can only be delivered by using a
digital print engine capable of very
short runs printed in a tight timeframe.
Previously, overseas editions of
newspapers used to air-freighted in for
the local ex-pat community, a process
which had the double disadvantage of
being expensive and often meant
delivering news which was at least a
day late.
The benefit of printing these papers
in Dubai is that often the locals can
have access to an edition before it has
hit the streets in its home country.
Typically the PDF file of the paper
to be printed arrives at Atlas at
between 2 and 4am. It then gets
printed on the digital press in a twohour window to be ready for delivery
by 6am.
The digital press can match the
same layout and look of the home
edition, and is able to print the exact
amount required each day.
There are no waste copies with
digital print and every copy is saleable.
An interesting aspect of this process
is that every newspaper also has to be
checked and censored by the local
authorities to ensure it meets the
requirements as what can be published
in the UAE.
Previously, this process involved
literally blacking out any parts of a
newspaper which didn’t conform to
Islamic law.
All aboard Emirates
Atlas also supplies newspapers to the
Emirates airline, which has its main
hub in Dubai, offering up to 52
different titles for passengers.
Again, using the digital press, Atlas is
able to supply the exact number of
newspapers required with no waste
and can even personalise the individual
papers for passengers.
For each aircraft code, a number of
titles will be printed depending on
what is required and Atlas has special
permission to drive onto the airport
tarmac and straight up to the departing
aircraft.
Apart from catering for the niche
newspaper market, Atlas also uses its
digital division to support very shortrun personalised products and is
actively getting into the transpromotional and direct mail sector.
The inkjet web system it uses is a
Screen Truepress Jet 520 running
mainly 42gsm stock.
It also runs a KBA 16-page web
offset press as well as A1 and A2-size
sheetfed offset presses.
The main point, said James, is that
the digital press should not be seen as a
threat to the offset operations but
rather complementary, fulfilling a
market need that could not be met by
traditional offset.
The analogy he used was that of
A380 or 747 aircraft which are good
for low cost, long haul flights,
compared to a single seater plane
which is more nimble and suitable for
acrobatics.
The Main story
The convergence of digital and offset
print was also the topic of Oliver Baar’s
What is digital print?
The characteristics of digital print – both what it is and is not - as defined by
James Haisman of Screen.
It is not…
• a substitute for traditional offset - rather it is complementary
• high volume
• circulation-driven
• tied only to printing newspapers
It is…
• new media – an extension of the current news cycle
• infinitely variable – every page can be unique
• flexible – able to print different products, sizes etc
• compact – less space is required compared to offset presses
• easily relocatable – a press can be moved within a day
• an opportunity – it opens up key markets for publishers to engage with
readers and advertisers.
The new Magnum Compact from Goss that enables on-the-fly plate
changes without stopping the web.
presentation from KBA, drawing on
the example of the Main Post newspaper in Germany
In this case, a combination of digital
and offset print was used within the
same edition in order to personalise
advertising content.
The project involved printing a fourpage cover digital on the KBA
RotaJET 76 inkjet press and then
combining it in the mailroom with the
main 48-page newspaper printed
offset.
By printing the cover digitally, Main
Post was able to draw on database
information about its subscribers to
target the content of the wrap-around
to suit individual readers.
In this case, the promotional offer
was for a range of travel packages in
Germany and overseas.
So, for instance, subscribers who
had shown a preference for overseas
travel would get content relating to
foreign travel while domestic travellers
would get only German tourism
information.
By varying the stories on the cover
and inside pages, it was possible to
create up to 18 different versions of the
promotion, all fully-personalised for
the customer.
In addition, each promotion
contained a pre-paid reply postcard
with an individual barcode that was
already personalised to the customer.
On receiving the reply card, the
publisher simply had to scan the
barcode to get all the customer’s
details and target promotions – no
entering of data required.
But why go to all this trouble? It may
be very clever stuff but what is the
benefit of targeted promotions?
As Oliver put it: “It’s very nice doing
but what’s the beef on the bone?”
Below, the Screen Truepress Jet inkjet press as used by Atlas Print
in Dubai to produce short-run newspapers.
Bottom, the manroland FoldLine digital newspaper finishing
system is operating at Rotolito Lombarda in Milan.
21
SWUG August 2014
ferag…
“If you give your
customers the
possibility to
achieve four times
higher sales you
can sell your
advertising much
more targeted by
price,”
- Oliver Baar, KBA
In the case of the Main Post, the campaign
resulted in a 70% increase in the response rate
due to the personalised cover and, overall, the
order rate was four times higher compared to
static print.
“Think about the power of this for your
advertising customers,” said Oliver. “If you give
your customers the possibility to achieve four
times higher sales you can sell your advertising
much more targeted by price.”
Limits to database print
Feedback from the Main Post readers on the
print production was revealing. Some complimented on the look of the paper and the fact
that it was personalised.
On the other hand, another threw the paper
away because the better quality stock and print
made it look like advertising.
There were limitations with the database
information too with some deliveries using the
subscriber information where it was a man even
though it was the woman of the house who was
reading it – one of the drawbacks of data-driven
advertising.
Overall though, the campaign was a success
and the Main Post is already planning repeats.
The advantage of the RotaJET, said Oliver, is
that users are not constrained in terms of what
they can produce. The press doesn’t determine
the type of markets that can be targeted.
“With a digital press like a RotaJET, you can
do a newspaper, you can do direct mail, you can
do books, so you’re widening your possibilities.”
And now is the time to do so, added Oliver.
The phrase “We’ve always done it this way” may
have worked for the last 30-40 years but it won’t
work in the coming years.
Waiting at the finish
Another manufacturer with a foot in each camp
is manroland which is being kept busy with a
range of upgrades and relocations in the local
offset market - see p3 - whilst also moving into
the digital arena.
In this case, the focus is on folding and finishing
with manroland supplying the equipment to run
off the back of web inkjet presses.
Steve Dunwell of manroland Australasia said
this market has been a little slower to develop
than hoped but he expects to see a digital folding
system in Australia in the future.
There are two basic systems in the manroland
portfolio: the FormerLine which is designed
primarily for producing digital books, and the
FoldLine which is more suitable for newspapers,
catalogue and bookwork up to 96 pages tabloid.
The company has installations of both
systems up and running including 11 FormerLine VFF-2 lines with the Hucais Group in
China for book printing, and a FoldLine VPF211 at Rotolito Lombarda in Milan, Italy, which
is being used for short-run newspapers.
Local newspaper printers have already visited
this site to see the folder running off the back of
an HP web inkjet press where it was shown
producing finished copies of local papers.
In terms of digital printing itself, manroland
has a worldwide technology partnership with
Kodak to integrate its Prosper S20 and S30
imprinting systems into offset web press lines.
Previous SWUG conferences have heard
about how these systems can be used to print
variable data at full press speeds, enabling the
introduction of applications such as targeted
advertising and lucky number games.
Steve said the company is working very
closely with Kodak in Australia and he is hopeful
of being able to present details of a local
installation next year.
PolyStream –
Highspeed Polybagging
Non-stop web work
Not even the most passionate digital print
enthusiast expects it to replace the vast majority
of newspaper production which is currently
undertaken on offset presses.
Even so, the same pressures – shorter runs,
the need to reduce overheads and keep the
presses running – apply just as much to offset
printing as with the new digital engines.
In response, press manufacturers are
developing new systems designed to compete
with digital presses and deliver offset quality
with the short-run flexibility of digital.
Peter Kirwan from Goss showed a video of a
live demonstration of the new Magnum
Compact press which enables fully-automatic
plate-changing without stopping the web.
The video demonstrated the press running
three different jobs in 10 minutes including
automatically switching the plates and then
running up to a production speed of 40,000
copies per hour (top speed is rated at 50,000
copies per hour).
During the make-ready, the web speed is
slowed to a crawl without stopping to minimise
waste. Goss claims changeovers can go from last
good copy to new copy in 100 copies.
Operators load the plates for the next job
while the press is running and then, during
make-ready, the old plates are ejected and the
new ones loaded.
The rollers do not stop during the makeready to maintain the ink/water balance, and
while the plates are being loaded, the new ink
key settings are automatically downloaded from
the RIP.
Altogether, a plate change takes about two
minutes regardless of the number of towers –
they are all changed simultaneously.
The old plates can be removed at any time
during the next run and stored in case of a repeat
job.
Run lengths can be pre-programmed from the
control console so the press will automatically
stop and change plates after a predetermined
number of copies.
Goss says the Magnum Compact press is ideal
for run lengths from as low as 500 copies
through to 250,000+, offering both short-run
flexibility and long-run productivity.
As the video showed, the compact design of
the press and the motorised sliding apart of the
units enables very easy access to blankets, rollers
and ink ducts for cleaning and maintenance – no
more platforms or ladders.
The low height also makes it suitable for
standard factory environments, reducing
overheads and site costs.
The first order for the Magnum Compact will
see a six tower press go to The Staten Island
Advance, a daily community paper in New York.
Boost your business, double or triple your productivity.
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Phone +61 2 8336 2700
Fax +61 2 8336 2788
[email protected]
www.ferag-australia.com
22
SWUG August 2014
Learning from experience
ENGINEERS SESSION
Low-chemistry plates:
D
iscussion kicked off with a
quick survey of which sites are
using low-chemistry or
process-less plates, highlighting any
issues with using them.
Tony Robinson from Leader Newspapers in South Australia, said the site
had changed from chemical plates to
chemical-free following a discussion
with the SA water inspector who didn’t
like the risk of chemicals going into the
sewers.
There was a cost associated with the
change-over to the Agfa low-chem
CTP but the pay-back is in the fact that
the chemicals (a finishing gum) are far
less costly.
There is a limit on run length due to
plate wear but that’s not a problem at
Leader as the biggest run length is a
little over 8,000 copies.
Noel Brennan at the Darwin print
site, which also uses Agfa low-chem
plates, said the biggest issue was that
the baths can get dirty very quickly and
need to be kept clean.
Otherwise, the plates were good
with no issue with plate wear.
Greg Fry from Agfa pointed out that
Shepparton News had used chem-free
plates for some time and had achieved
runs of 100,000 impressions and
beyond.
Rob Mollee, Kodak, said both the
Bankstown Torch and La Trobe Valley
had recently been converted over to
Sonora process-free plates on thermal
systems.
This involved taking out the
processors altogether - no chemistry,
no water - with the plates being
processed on the press.
Feedback from La Trobe highlighted the elimination of processor
costs (not just chemicals but also
power, water, waste disposal, maintenance, cleaning) and no plate wear
with the longest run length so far of
75,000 impressions
Torch do about 80,000 impressions
as a maximum without any plate wear.
Performance is about the same as
they were getting with wet process
Trillian plates, said Rob, the only
change being the removal of the
processor altogether so the plate
comes straight out of the CTP and on
to the stacker.
From Kodak’s perspective, Rob
added, it will be leading with processless plates at every site and is not even
forecasting chemistry.
Q: What’s the price ratio of these
plates compared to chemical plates?
Rob said they are still slightly dearer
due to the cost to produce the plates,
generally a price difference of around
5-7%. The price will probably come
down as volumes increase but there
are still a lot more savings in the
processing costs.
Q: How far are those sites in front
with no processing costs?
Rob said they’re probably another 35% in front as far as cost per square
metre is concerned as it’s not just the
cost of the chemistry but also running
the processor – power, water and all
the associated costs.
Tony Robinson had no actual
figures on the ROI but said there is a
big saving in water plus the fact that
they don’t have to buy chemistry puts
them a little bit in front on cost.
Long term, as a site that only
produces one paper a week, they are
certainly in front.
Warren Hinder from Fujifilm said
they have been running low chemistry
The afternoon of the engineers
session is an opportunity for
SWUG delegates to compare
notes, ask questions, raise issues
and, hopefully, find solutions. In a
break with tradition, this year the
conference held only one session
rather than being split into groups
according to press type.
Chemistry-free plates, UV printing
and maintenance scheduling were
the main topics under discussion.
plates at APN Yandina. One thing to
bear in mind, he said, is that the
finisher, the gum, has to be disposed of
properly.
Another point raised by Rob Mollee
is that with the process-less plates
there is a softer latent image, a lower
contrast compared to fully processed
plates.
In most cases it’s not an issue
although on some of the older punch
benders with optics, if they don’t have
“We know the
product is
robust enough
to go into most
newspaper
environments,”
- Rob Mollee,
Kodak
the latest software or cameras, it may
be an issue. Most of that can be
upgraded.
Q: When will chem-free go to high
volume sites?
Rob said Kodak has already started
doing larger sites in Europe in faster
CTP – it’s ready to rumble now.
“We’re now at the comfort level
where we know the product is robust
enough to go into most newspaper
environments.”
It’s rated up to 200,000 impressions
on web applications.
Warren said Fujifilm’s totally
chemical-free plate is rated about
120,000 impressions at the moment,
with version 4 coming up rated at
200,000.
Greg Fry pointed out there is
another thermal option in the Agfa
range, the Azura T, which is running
successfully in Japan with varying runs
but getting up to 200,000 impressions.
Q: Any difference in run length
between violet and thermal?
Greg said they have similar run
lengths although he believes the violet
plate is a little ahead of the thermal at
this stage.
Angelo Cirillo from Shepparton
News made the point that the site has
had to go back to chemical plates due
to the use of UV inks.
Rob Mollee agreed that processless
solutions are not practical for long-run
“If you really
want UV to
work, you’ve
got to have
the absolute
minimum of
water,”
- Daryl Irwin,
DIC
UV ink applications in a newspaper
environment - which brings us onto...
UV Print
There was extensive discussion about
UV inks and the experiences of the
four sites which are now running it.
Angelo Cirrilo said the site had had a
pretty successful start using Prime UV
which had been “virtually hassle-free”
for them.
The biggest thing was sorting out a
few consumables – blankets for
instance. They had trialled a couple of
different blankets and ended up going
to a positive feed blanket on that
tower. This is because the ink is so
tacky and the web length is about 30
metres.
Shepparton ended up going with a
Vulcan Techno positive feed blanket
which fixed the problems straight away
and resulted in getting a lot more
longevity out of the blanket as well.
Aaron Bayne from North Richmond
said the site is getting about two weeks
use out of its blankets, Vulcan Royal.
It also changed the print sequence
on the towers – it used to run CMYK
sequence but now runs KCMY because they were getting a lot of
swelling on the blankets and needed to
change the sequence just to get the
release out of the top unit.
Mark Gooding from Flint added
that the reason why it should be
KCMY in that sequence is because of
the opacity of the inks when it comes
to curing. If you put black on last it
prevents curing by the lamps that
follow.
Bill Shortland from Canberra
commented that they are still having
blanket problems – three million
impressions out of a UV blanket is
considered good.
Over the past 12 months they’ve
found that temperature is having a big
effect. They used to reduce the
temperature on the press by putting on
more water but can’t do that now with
spray bars.
When the weather is cold they have
problems with the inks but the heat
also stuffs the blankets, so it’s a twoedged sword.
The site did have a go at changing
the magenta and cyan sequence and it
was promising for a week but then it
went back to same problems.
Q: So is it worth it? The results
look good but it’s a real battle to get
right.
Steve Packham from DIC pointed
out that there is still a lot to learn with
UV as, currently, it involves using an
entirely different chemistry on very
similar consumables.
Mark Gooding added that it’s not
the case that the UV inks are more
‘aggressive’ but rather that it is a
different chemistry.
Mixing hydro-carbon chemistry and
UV chemistry doesn’t work. It’s not a
matter of aggressiveness but rather the
incompatibility between the chemistry.
Jon Clarke from Canberra agreed
that UV is new and might take a few
years to get right but added that the
issues seem to be the same the world
over. Canberra had a phone hook-up
with a printer in Canada running a
triple-width KBA press with UV
capability who was having exactly the
same issues with lay-down.
Mitch Mulligan from Böttcher said
that as volumes increase, blanket
manufacturers will start to manufacture a specific blanket for it. That’s
the ultimate answer because, until
then, it’s all a bit of a compromise.
Daryl Irwin of DIC highlighted two
sites he works with - Bairnsdale and
Shepparton - which have similar
presses and the same UV systems. The
main difference between them is that
Shepparton has spray bar dampening,
and what’s coming off that press is as
good as it gets, he commented.
If you really want UV to work, he
said, you’ve got to have the absolute
minimum of water, no sheen on the
plates at all – that’s the difference
between Shepparton and Bairnsdale.
Similarly at Bairnsdale, on the long
runs, they measure the temperature of
the dampening forme and as soon as it
gets to X degrees, that’s when it goes
pear-shaped and they lose control.
If you want to do UV, you’ve got to
be able to control your temperature, he
added, and the usual way to do that is
to put more water on. Instead, sites
23
SWUG August 2014
should be looking at refrigerating the
oil in the drive train to get some
continuity of temperature through the
pressline.
It’s not a very friendly product,
added Daryl. It hates fountain solution
more than coldset or heatset does and
has a very narrow operating window.
It’s not a new technology as such, it’s
actually 50 years old, but nobody has
tried to put it on a newspaper press.
Neil Rose from Böttcher pointed
out that UV has been around a long
time in the commercial sheetfed and
packaging markets. It’s never been easy
to use but the ink/water balance is
absolutely critical.
Most sheetfed presses doing UV
have chilled rollers to keep the
temperature down and under control.
UV inks are not as forgiving as
conventional inks because it’s a
polymer, essentially a plastic. Having
chilled rollers would help the process,
keeping the cylinders cooler.
Q: Any problems with health and
safety?
Angelo Cirillo said they are using
more disposable gloves when plating
and inking up. Some of the solvents are
pretty harsh with some guys
complaining of headaches during the
curing, so they supplied face masks
which has made a difference. They are
possibly looking at extraction fans
above the tower.
At Canberra they use nitrile gloves
for protection and the press hall has
become an eye protection area nobody enters without eye protection.
An air monitoring company was
brought in to do measurements while
the UV was running and discovered
that the worst place for air quality was
in fact the coldset wash-up room.
When the UV is running with
extraction on, the air quality was
actually better in the press hall.
North Richmond has put up a lot of
tinted perspex to make sure there’s no
light carrying away from the web. The
only problem has been rashes from the
solvents.
Press issues
Cylinder alignment
Charlie Fletcher from Dubbo
reported on an issue with a
reconditioned Goss Community
tower which prints long on the
magenta. The plate cylinder did have
a slightly bent journal but it was
replaced and made no difference to
the problem.
One suggestion was that
if it’s printing long on both
sides of the web on the
magenta, then take 2/1000
out of the packing on the
blanket cylinder – that
reduces the circumference
of the cylinder so it will
print shorter.
Charlie said they had
tried those solutions, using
different packing under the
blanket, but still ended up
with the same result.
Peter Kirwan asked if the
cylinder had been reconditioned before they put in the new
tower? Typically print length is
related to diameter – if they’re not
exactly the right diameter then that
might be an issue.
Charlie said the diameter had
been measured with a tape and looks
good.
Maintenance:
Maintenance is a key concern these
days so what are sites doing to
schedule it and make sure it gets done?
Most sites are running scheduling
programs such as Maintenance
Connection or MEX to ensure that
preventative work is logged. The
problem, as ever, is making sure the
schedule is followed and not
overlooked due to work pressures.
Marcus Hooke at New Corp said a
new site-by-site measurement has
been introduced called Adherence to
Jason Ryder, Ormiston, described
a simple system from Goss which
can measure the diameter of a
cylinder down to 0.01mm – he will
send some pictures of it.
Bruce Nilson, Webco, said it
sounded like a cylinder with a
slightly different undercut had
slipped into the system.
He’ll work with Dubbo to
get it remedied.
Tramming fix
Peter Archer from Toowoomba has a problem
on their Manugraph Cityline Express whereby
changing stock - the site
runs from 42gsm up to
70gsm - causes tramming
issues. It’s possible to fix it
by stopping the press to
adjust the last roller
before the folder but is
there an easier fix?
Nelson Pinto from North Richmond suggested that a web guide
system would help.
Mark Dibble from Ormiston also
recommended an extra S bend just
before entry to the folder on the RTF
in order to stabilise the web - in other
words, a double S bend.
Plan which basically says that once a
job is scheduled then if it doesn’t get
done for whatever reason it counts as a
miss. It’s a means of making teams
accountable for changing the schedule.
Across the sites, the group is seeing
some with a 70% adherence rate which
is best in class while others are down to
around 30% which means they’re
moving jobs around a lot.
Keeping to the schedule makes a
real impact on the reliability of the
equipment, added Marcus.
Other sites such as Shepparton and
APN aim to schedule 8 hours of
maintenance a week which is feasible
so long as the work schedule permits.
Toowoomba, WAN, Mandurah and
Ballarat all use MEX, as does Newcastle, but it’s just a question of
ensuring the work gets done in
sequence.
At
Albury-Wodonga,
Frank
O’Grady said there was no fixed
system in place but maintenance work
is done on Thursday and Friday
mornings, plus printers do what ever
they can to keep on top of it.
At Launceston, Monday is
maintenance day while every Friday
the rubbers and slitter are checked
without fail.
Yong Liang Sim said that over in
Borneo, they have the luxury of doing
maintenance during the day as there is
no production then. Crews start in the
morning, get the work done and then
hand over to the production staff at
6pm each evening.
Camera misting
With the increase in the use of closed
loop colour, one issue that has been
highlighted is the problem of ink
misting on the cameras making them
less efficient. What solutions are there?
At News Corp, the cameras are
cleaned at the start of each shift, it’s
just one of the duties to be completed
while checking the press.
They use a Hurst cleaning product
which doesn’t leave a film or coloured
hue on the lens.
Likewise at Beresfield where the
cameras are cleaned manually with
cloth and metho.
Menno Jansen from QI Press
Controls demonstrated an automatic
system called AIMS – Automatic Ink
Mist Shield – which measures the
amount of dirt and, when required,
automatically replaces the protective
foil with a new one.
It uses a cassette system which is
claimed to be good for 3 to 9 months,
depending on where the camera is
located, and costs about €50 per
cassette.
It turns out that Canberra is already
running the QI AIMS system on its 10
cameras.
Jon Clarke said there was an issue
with the system when it originally went
in because it was running too fast and
went through a cassette in two days but
that turned out to be a software fix.
Now it’s more like two months per
cassette.
Q: Does this system fit on the
older models?
No, it only works on the cameras
which have double sensor technology
in order to see the contamination on
the foil. It’s possible to upgrade the
cameras though.
Q: Any similar solution for
QuadTech cameras?
David Kane from Ferag said
QuadTech use compressed air to blow
dust and dirt away from the camera.
As most presses already have
compressed air installed for other
functions, using it for cameras is
straight forward and means no ongoing costs for consumables.
Flat wrapping
Jon Clarke asked about other sites
which are flat-wrapping product.
Canberra has been flat wrapping
home delivered Canberra Times since
1997 and uses a CMC polybagging
machine.
It bags product at about 15,000
copies every night and about 7080,000 copies of the weekly free
tabloid.
Peter Archer said Toowoomba has
four hand-fed machines to flat wrap
the Tweed Valley weekly which is
about 9-10,000 copies in total – the
time taken depends on the operator.
Generally it takes about 3-4 hours.
Launceston also has two polybagging machines that are fairly labour
intensive, requiring three or four
people to run them. It has a proposal in
for a new Ferag flat wrapper.