But Maas, for one, is sold. For instance, Rockwell Graphics Systems of Westmont, Ill., is testing a magnetic cutoff system that synchronizes the plate cylinder with a small magnetic dot on the roll, permitting workers to adjust cutoffs before the first drop of ink hits paper. Execs also shouldn't overlook the increasingly sophisticated press-control system market. We're going to see more focus on having consistency in the materials. Many papers embrace proactive measures to ensure the quality of incoming materials, observes NAA's Balentine.
Publishers also learn to identify problems of their own.
The biggest thrust is changing a culture. While mailrooms can now handle zoned products, the shorter press runs needed to create them can pose problems in the pressroom. In Tampa, workers have printed three main editions and as many as 15 daily zones, some of them only 15,000-copy runs. While newsprint prices led some newspapers, including Tampa, to limit zoning, other newspapers continue unabated. Howard Publications prints 10 zoned editions at The Times' plant in Munster, Ind., requiring press workers to change as many as 160 plates daily.