Print Register Guide System Cuts Newspaper's Waste

Waste copies have been reduced at Melbourne (Australia) newspaper The Herald and Weekly Times after installing the Quadtech Register Guidance System with Multicam.

The system was implemented on the newspaper's six MAN Newsman 40 presses last August.

The company prints The Herald Sun (circulation 590,000), the Sunday Herald Sun (circulation 680,000), The Weekly Times and other tabloid and broadsheet local and specialist newspapers ranging from 12 pages to 128 pages.

The installation of the Register Guidance System with Multicam has helped streamline the process by which those products are printed.

Neil Wood, The Herald and Weekly Times' production operations manager, commented: "Previously, operators manually controlled registration on our presses.

The Quadtech equipment has automated that process, allowing the printers to focus on ink film weight and colour balance across all pages." He continued: "The Register Guidance System has introduced new efficiencies to our printing that has reduced start-up and running waste copies.

We have around 300 high-speed reel splices a day and the equipment ensures that register is always corrected and held during these and other points of web tension fluctuation." The waste copies per press used to average out between 1,800 and 2,000 during start-up.

Now, thanks to the Register Guidance System with Multicam, the Herald and Weekly Times is regularly hitting its target of 1,200 copies, making a difference to profit margins as newsprint costs continue to rise, added Quadtech.

The Register Guidance System with Multicam also helps the company meet the challenges created by other trends in the newspaper printing industry.

Wood elaborated: "The display advertising market is fiercely competitive and agencies are demanding higher quality reproduction as we compete with the heatset magazine industry.

The Quadtech equipment monitors and controls register throughout the entire run, playing a significant role in keeping our advertising customers happy by eliminating blurred images." Quadtech said that its reputation for reliability was a major factor in The Herald and Weekly News's decision to invest in the Register Guidance System with Multicam.

Wood explained: "Quadtech provided valuable on-site technical support and training - during and after installation - to ensure a problem-free project and a firm grounding for the future.

With continuing support always available, we are certain to build on this relationship in the months and years to come.".

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