Articles by CBAssociates

Submitted, IFRA, June 2001

Are We Getting Closer To Lights Out?

Four years ago when anyone referred to lights out in the composing room, it usually meant an operator was going to be fired.

Way back when – when type was set on Linotype lead casting machines – a light was installed above each copy board. When an operator was to be fired, the foreman went over to his machine and turned off the light. It was a sign that the person's work was not adequate.

Today, lights out does not have this negative connotation. Rather than something done as a last resort, it is something many managers aspire to.

A lights-out operation is one that runs automatically and does not need employees as part of the process. Every year we seem to get a little closer to reaching this goal.

While touring a German newspaper plant several years ago, my group was surprised to see, or in that case, not see, the roll lay-down area in the press room. As we strained to see the automated lay-down area, the reel room operator finally came over and turned on the lights.

Everything was automatic; therefore, he did not need to see the area. This same man was the lone person monitoring 13 running reels. Had the operation not needed him to remove the tape backing, the reel room also would have been lights out.

While touring the automatic reel unloading and storage area at a paper in the United Kingdom in the 1980s we asked our host, "If this is so automatic, why do you need the lights on?" He quickly responded, "For tourists, such as yourself."

Today, there are many examples of automation in the paper storage, reel lay-down, and reel loading areas, which are the norm for newspapers with circulations of 150,000 or more. Except for the person required in case of web breaks, this area, too, is lights out.

Increasing interest in automatic newsprint reel storage is being realized as many newspapers shift to just-in-time delivery arrangements. Newspapers that 10 years ago would have designed their buildings to hold 45 to 60 days of newsprint are now planning on just a couple of weeks — the amount of time necessary for the newsprint to acclimate to the building temperature.

Another area that has become increasingly automated is insert or preprint storage, and at major newspapers, it too, can be lights out. Processing hundreds of pallets of preprints per week has become expensive and, more important, more difficult to manage. Automatic systems are a natural fit for high-volume material handling. And building savings can be realized by storing pallets six, seven or more high.

This lights-out trend is taken to extremes in the composing room. The composing room as we once knew it, if not lights out, is gone altogether. Editorial now lays out its content. Automatic systems lay in the ads, and advertising artists design the shrinking number of ads that are not received camera or digitally ready.

The camera room has been eliminated, and if there is one in the building, it is found in a small vertical camera and housed in a closet. More than likely, it just gathers dust, just like the photographer's darkroom since the digital camera has become the camera of choice.

The plate room has also felt the march of progress. The strippers are long gone, as full-page negatives have become the norm at any good-size newspaper. And the move to computer-to-plate will mean this area will be lights out as well.

Implementation plans at some newspapers have included automatic sorting and delivery to the proper press unit of the plates, with enough plates in the machine to last a shift and the press operators keying in requests for new plates. Automatic plate distribution systems are common in Europe and Asia. They may receive increasing interest as the last piece of this lights-out equation.

Will we have to turn on the lights for the tourists to see the press run? AT DRUPA, several press manufacturers presented presses that did not look like presses, but big boxes with an operator pushing buttons on a computer and paper coming out one end.

Until the announcer opened the sides of the machine, so we could see what was inside, there was not a lot of difference between the demonstration and a program at Disney World by the crazy professor.

How close are we?

Two or three people can operate a six-unit tower press. Automatic ink/water presets, automatic register control, automatic closed-loop color systems and tension systems that are increasingly better, press auto starts and stops, automatic press setup, an other technologies have changed the operators' duties.

Press operators need to be in the press room for press setup. But with shaftless drive systems, press automatic setup and with the increased use of process color rather than spot, this function takes less time.

Operators are needed to change plates, but automatic plate-loading systems can also do this.

Operators are needed in case of trouble such as a web breaks, but with the fully automatic web leading system, this need is shrinking.

What's an operator to do in the future?

When the answer is, "Don't touch the press unless it breaks," then we might just have to train them how to turn on the lights.

Chuck Blevins is CEO of Chuck Blevins & Associates, an international print media consulting firm. He can be reached at 703-883-2200 or via e-mail at CRBlevins@aol.com. www.chuckblevins.com

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