Like many U.S. newspapers, the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., reduced its web width in a bid to shrink consumables costs.

But unlike most papers with doublewide presses, the Times Herald-Record did the press cutdown itself, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process, according to Frederick J. Stanton III, production director.

Photo: Times Herald-Record
Steve Stone (front), Times Herald-Record’s pressroom tech supervisor,
with Fred Stanton, production director, beginning the folder changeover.
 

“We decided we had enough expertise in-house to put a plan in place and perform the cutdown ourselves,” he said of the project, which began in early 2007 and ended Jan. 1, when the redesigned tab debuted with a height of 14 inches, two inches shorter than its former size. Page width remained unchanged, at 11 3/8-inches.

“We have talented press techs, an enthusiastic press crew and I spent 25 years in the pressroom prior to becoming production director,” Stanton said.

 

More cost-effective

Stanton said the cost for materials and necessary machining of the Times Herald-Record’s two Goss International Corp. Metroliner presses amounted to about $100,000. Even when adding personnel costs, the total price for the reduction was much less than the $750,000 to $1.5 million quotes the paper received from contractors, Stanton said.

Using funds efficiently was particularly critical to the paper because the web reduction came on the heels of hefty investments the Times Herald-Record made last year installing digital page packs, converting to computer-to-plate and upgrading controls, Stanton said (see “Times Herald Record swapping out press controls,” Newspapers & Technology, July 2007).

“There was no capital for a web-width reduction,” he said.

Stanton began to lay the groundwork for the reduction last spring, giving crews ample time to modify the presses without jeopardizing normal production.

The machines’ mid-1980s components benefited the project. “We had some luck on our side,” Stanton said, citing in part the presses’ double 3:2 Goss Imperial folders.

Folder modification

“The folder, which in these projects is usually the most difficult, was relatively easy to retrofit,” he said, adding that the folders’ expansion band placement and impaling pins were already situated to accommodate numerous web widths, as were nipping rollers, trolleys and slitters.

On the units, press mechanics tweaked the existing Glunz & Jensen K&F Inc. lockups to handle the new width and lockup bars were modified as well. Other changes were made to the technotrans spraybar dampeners and RTPs as well as to the press’ RTFs and former boards.

After the pre-engineering was completed, crews Dec. 31 put the finishing touches on the cutdown, following the production of that day’s edition.

A crew of seven was assigned the task of completing the project. Two were assigned to work on the folders while another pair worked on the lockups. Two others modified the ink forms and the seventh retrofit benders and other equipment in the plateroom, anchored by equipment from Agfa and GJKF.

Old paper gone

“After 17 hours of work, the night press crew was in and hanging the new-sized plates,” Stanton said. The 16-inch-tall Times Herald-Record was now a memory, replaced by the smaller-sized product.

“The press run on both presses went flawlessly and all the credit goes to the expertise and enthusiasm of our press crew,” he said.

With the resized Times Herald-Record now five months old, Stanton said he’s seen improved print quality as well as reduced consumables costs as a result of the narrower web.

He said the paper should be able to knock off as much as $500,000 from its annual newsprint costs; and the other changes, such as the deployment of the Controls Group Inc. digital inkers, are contributing to bottom-line savings as well.