All aboard at Ormiston

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1 July 2012 APN takes home extra awards This year saw an expansion of the SWUG Awards for newspaper production with the addition of the Norske Skog shield for double-width newspapers. The addition of a new category for double-width papers certainly worked in favour of APN Print (NZ), enabling the Kiwis to collect two awards on the night. The company kicked off its successful evening by taking home first prize in the Best Overall Four Colour APN Print (NZ) shared two of the major prizes at the SWUG awards with Russell Wieck (left) from Ellerslie collecting the inaugural Norske Skog shield for Best Overall Quality for a Double-Width newspaper, while Russell Johnston from the APN Print Hastings site picked up the DIC shield for Best Overall Four Colour Newspaper. Newspaper category, won by the Hastings print centre for its production of Hawkes Bay Today, while the Ellerslie site won the inaugural Norske Skog shield for Best Overall Quality for a Double-Width newspaper with The New Zealand Herald (see p12 for full results and pics). Rural Press Printing in Ballarat kept the flag flying for the locals with first place in the Best Overall Print Quality category, winning the Brissett Shield for its production of the Bendigo Advertiser. Horton Media dominated the Coldset Commercial Publication category, taking the top three positions and winning the Flint Group shield for its production of the Hinterland Times at its Queensland site. Other sites to take home prizes included past winners Mandurah and Fairfax Regional Printers while the Gisborne Herald completed a triumphant night for the Kiwis with runner-up in the Best Overall Four Colour Newspaper category. This year s host site, Ormiston, pleased the locals, taking out the highly commended and runner-up prizes in the double-width category for its production of the Australian Financial Review. Overall, the judges praised the high standard of entries this year with the winning entry in all four categories scoring equal to or better than 90%. The overall highest score was 95% - an incredible achievement given the stringent judging. In the individual awards, the Apprentice of the Year was awarded to Joe Vaz from Newsprinters in Shepparton, while Tristan Couzens from RPP Mandurah picked up the $20,000 bi-annual travel scholarship to be used for a worldwide tour of print centres as well as attending the drupa trade show. Due to the high standard of applications for this scholarship, Dean McManus from Fairfax Regional Printers at Beresfield was also awarded a $10,000 scholarship for overseas travel including a visit to drupa. The awards dinner marked an enjoyable climax to the two-day conference attended by about 200 delegates and partners. The crowd was entertained by string trio, String Diva, with their high-powered performance of classics and popular songs. Peter Kirwan of Goss was also a special recipient of an award on the night with a presentation being made in honour of the company s on-going support of SWUG over 26 years. All aboard at Ormiston Uniliner press pulls a crowd SWUG delegates were eager to climb aboard the Goss Uniliner 80 press running at the Ormiston print centre during the Saturday night visit to the site. Newspaper production staff from 32 print centres around Australia and New Zealand attended this year s SWUG conference held in Brisbane, and while numbers were down slightly, it was still an excellent turn-out given the tough times in the industry. Over the course of two days, delegates heard from a wide variety of speakers on topics such as new harmonised safety regulations, reducing start-up waste and the fundamentals of machine lubrication. In addition to the Saturday night visit to Ormiston, a Friday night welcome function was also hosted by Kodak at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Southbank. The popular Who Am I presentations this year included speakers from Dubbo, Queensland Newspaper at Murarrie, and the Gold Coast Bulletin. This year s industry profile was presented by Gary Osborne, general manager at APN Print, who talked about his career and life in the newspaper industry on the Sunshine Coast. SWUG Apprentices of the Year from Mildura in Australia and APN Print at Tauranga in New Zealand also gave their maiden presentations to the conference. The Sunday afternoon engineers session during which delegates get to ask questions of suppliers and other press users was extended this year to allow more opportunity for discussion from the floor. Topics raised covered a range of maintenance issues from last year as well as several new problems. There was a particular focus this year on safe lifting procedures for heavy components with a number of solutions being suggested. Print sites were also urged to check their power factor correction units following a number of fires in recent years due to faulty units. The highlight of the weekend for many though was the performance of Uniliner press at Ormiston, the first time that the SWUG conference has been hosted by a double width press site. Delegates enjoyed the opportunity to get up close with the press as it was running - and it was a rare sight to see so many printers on the same press at the same time. While SWUG delegates were eager to clamber up and down the walkways at Ormiston while the press was running (top), it was a different story when the bar opened and the BBQ fired up, with the press hall quickly emptying (above).

2 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 SWUG is published twice a year and distributed free to qualified members of the printing industry. Contributions can be sent to: c/o The Editor, SWUG, PO Box 212, Newtown, NSW simon@enticknap.com.au No portion in full or part of this publication may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher in writing. Stay informed about SWUG For all the latest news and information about SWUG, including details about next year s conference, how to enter the competitions and scholarships, pictures of previous award winners as well as copies of this newspaper for download or on-screen reading, check out the SWUG web site. Fiddles, flags and a song or two 1 As usual, the SWUG conference is not all about learning and listening - there s also plenty of opportunity to celebrate our young achievers, enjoy some entertainment and maybe even discover the secret of happiness Not one but two: The high standard of applicants for this year s SWUG Leadership scholarship resulted in both Dean McManus from Fairfax Regional Printers (left) and Tristan Couzens from RPP Mandurah being awarded scholarships to a total value of $30,000. Well done and congratulations to both of them. 2. Peter Tkachuk of Baldwin (centre) has long been a loyal supporter of SWUG and the single width newspaper industry. This year he once again donated the President s prize on behalf of Baldwin which went to the host site, Ormiston, represented by Mark Dibble (left). 3. Happiness is Author and cartoonist Andrew Matthews was this year s special guest speaker, passing on his tips for finding happiness in life and no, it doesn t all involve making jokes about New Zealand (although that seems to work too). 4. Take a bow: The dynamic trio, String Diva, provided glamorous and melodic entertainment at the awards dinner. 5. All together now maybe not quite as melodic but just as much fun, delegates enjoyed a singalong at the Saturday night BBQ at Ormiston. 6. Donate between the flags: The Ormiston BBQ provided the ideal opportunity for the local Surf Life Saving and Rotary clubs to raise some money, ably assisted by Mark Dibble (left) and Bob Lockley (right)

3 SWUG July Getting hands-on at Ormiston enjoyed by all President s report The 26th Annual SWUG Conference was held this year in Brisbane. The weather was perfect and the delegates came from all over Australia as well as a large contingent from New Zealand. The numbers topped over 200 delegates. The many speakers covered a raft of subjects including supplier updates, health and safety audits, waste management, the report on the Apprentice of the Year tour, good ideas from different suppliers, plenty of Who am I? talks and some good information on oils, plus up-to-date information on health and safety legislation and how harmonisation seems to be the buzz word for this area. The Friday night welcome function sponsored by Kodak (a great effort under the circumstances) was greatly appreciated. This year it was held in the Brisbane Convention Centre where delegates could mingle and meet prior to the start of the busy days of conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday. On the Saturday evening, we departed for the tour of the Ormiston plant which was impeccably presented - congratulations to the Ormiston team. It was an absolute joy for people to be able to walk over, touch and feel the state-of-the-art press with its very unconventional configuration. I m sure it was enjoyed by all. The Saturday night food fest was something a little different this year, being very well catered for by Rotary. It was a pleasure to work with the Rotary members who volunteer their time, and the money that is paid to Rotary goes back into community. We also held a fundraiser for the local Point Lookout Surf Club. It was great to be able to help with SWUG It was an absolute joy for people to be able to walk over, touch and feel the state-ofthe-art press. donating $500 on top of the donations collected from the whip around with the delegates at the BBQ. Well done to everyone who helped a worthwhile cause. Sunday we were up and running early with almost a 100% turnout. We heard from the judging panel of the SWUG Awards who said the standard this year was fantastic with winning scores of over 90%. The quality overall has again improved on the previous years. The judges set a target a few years ago and you have exceeded it well done. The judges were very impressed. We finished the day s session with the Industry Profile from Gary Osborne who has had a great career in the industry starting from the bottom and working his way to the top. This industry profile has always been designed to show how people from the floor can make it right through the ranks of a great industry. Congratulations to Gary. Our special guest speaker for the day was Andrew Matthews the cartoonist who certainly had a few important messages for us all. Gala Presentation Night Announcing the winners at our Gala Dinner is always a fitting end to the conference. There were plenty of prizes to be won throughout the night, and this year also saw the announcement of our biennial Leadership Scholarship worth $20,000 including a trip around the world and a visit to drupa. For the first time, we also announced a runner-up award this year for $10,000 and a trip to drupa. The two young winners, Tristan Couzens and Dean McManus, are well-deserved and a great asset to our industry. There was over $30,000 worth of prizes from the suppliers up for grabs in this year s awards. These prizes are always well-received by the competition entry winners and as they are usually in the form of consumables, I am sure they go a long way towards helping each of the print sites. This year New Zealand scooped the pool and it was great to see them do so well. Many of their presses are of the older generation not state-of-the-art, so it just goes to prove you don t need a new press in order to produce good quality products. Congratulations to our New Zealand and Australian winners and well done to all. SWUG Support Once again thanks to our SWUG Patron, the Graphic Arts Merchants Association of Australia (GAMAA) for their continued support. GAMAA has certainly been a great supporter of our organisation over the years which we really appreciate. Indeed, what the Association does for the industry in general in all facets of printing, not just in the newspaper area, is a credit to them. We really appreciate and thank all our major sponsors, Goss, Kodak, manroland and Norske Skog. And to all our other sponsors, thank you for your continued support: Agfa, Ace Rollers, Baldwin, Böttcher, Brissett Rollers, Day International, DIC, DS Chemport, Ferag, Flint Group, Fujifilm, GSB, KBA, Müller Martini and Oceanic Multitrading. Even in these times of uncertainty our suppliers continue to support SWUG Thank You. We all know it is a great conference to attend as a supplier, to be able to network with a huge amount of print centres over two days; you can certainly get your message across. Congratulations to all the winners and to all the delegates for attending and thank you to the SWUG Committee, especially Anita White, for helping to organise this event. We look forward to seeing you all next year. The venue for next year has not yet been decided, but keep your eye on the website for any updates Best Regards Bob Lockley Support our sponsors Goss SWUG s most loyal supporter SWUG vice-president, Geoff Austin, gave a special presentation at the conference in recognition of the 26 years of support that Goss has provided to SWUG. The conference has visited 18 Goss printing sites in 26 conferences and, each year, the company hosts the SWUG awards dinner. Thank you for your support over the past 26 years, said Geoff. We look forward to your support in the future and thank you very much for what you ve done for SWUG. The SWUG committee would like to thank all our generous sponsors for their support of the 2012 SWUG conference. SWUG patron Goss has been at the heart of newspaper printing in Australia, and the SWUG conference in particular, for several decades now. Geoff recalled when the first single width newspaper press was installed in the early 1960s, a Goss Suburban press installed in Melbourne at Waverley Press. This was quickly followed by a number of other presses being installed including at Progress Press, then owned by publisher Peter Isaacson. He was influential in forming the Australia-New Zealand Web Offset Newspaper Association (which later became PANPA), a production conference similar to SWUG. Offset newspaper presses were rapidly installed throughout regional Australia over the next 20 years, mainly Goss Suburban, Urbanite and Community presses, with a smaller number in metropolitan areas. When SWUG was formed in 1985, Goss was there at the beginning and, along with Patrick Hegarty at PANPA, Peter Kirwan was instrumental in getting it going. In the early days, it was known as the Goss Single Width Users Group because most of the presses then were Goss models. Later on, the conference was opened up to other single width users and, more recently, to double width users as well. SWUG has a lot of great sponsors and supporters but Goss was there in 1985 right at the start and has not left our side since, said Geoff. Over the years, Goss has supported the conference by regularly supplying speakers such as Fred Arkwright from the UK, Bob Main who was the local engineer and Dick Schultz, vice president of sales from the US. Peter Kirwan of Goss (left) received a special award from SWUG President, Bob Lockley, in recognition of his support for SWUG over the past 26 years. Major sponsors Conference sponsors Agfa, Baldwin, Böttcher, Brissett Rollers, Day International, DIC Australia, DS Chemport, Ferag, Flint Ink, Fujifilm, GSB Chemicals, KBA, Müller Martini and Oceanic Multitrading.

4 4 SWUG July 2012 SWUG apprentice sees the big picture Apprentices Afourth year apprentice last year when he entered the SWUG Apprentice of the Year award, Travis O Donnell has now qualified as a printer, although he admits that he still has a lot to learn. The tour of east coast printing sites and suppliers that Travis won as a result of being runner-up in the 2011 SWUG Apprentice of the Year award certainly went a long way towards furthering his industry education. As Travis said during his conference presentation, the trip was a chance to see some really big and great print sites in contrast with his usual work environment at the Sunraysia Daily in Mildura where the pressline comprises three 4-high towers, a tri-colour and a mono unit. It was really just a great opportunity to see that there are bigger and better things out there other than just where I am now, he said. The tour kicked off in Melbourne where, accompanied by Damian Balkin, the first stop on his itinerary was the News Limited Herald and Weekly Times site, the size of which immediately impressed him. In fact, the site is so large it has its own gym and a garage where staff can get their cars serviced. The weekly throughput of about 1,800 tonnes of newsprint, compared to just 15 tonnes at the Sunraysia Daily, also made an impression on him, while the automated publishing room was a total contrast to the Mildura print site where the inserting is carried out by hand. After HWT, it was on to Franklin Web which, with 11 presses on site, likewise impressed Travis with the scale of its operations. Here, he was shown round by Phil Taylor who told him that the main aim of the site was to do the job once and once only, in other words to make sure the quality is right so it doesn t have to be done again. One innovation that Travis learnt about was that the site not only recycles the usual waste materials but also collects the dust from the air, converting it into pellets which are then sent for recycling. Whilst at Franklin Web, Travis was also given the opportunity to try his hand at the Synapse virtual web control to see how he would manage running a large heatset press. Travelling from Mildura in Victoria to some of the biggest print sites in the country certainly proved to be an eyeopener for SWUG apprentice, Travis O Donnell. A chance to catch up The following day started off with visits to two industry suppliers in Melbourne, DS Chemport and Rollmakers. Here he learnt about the processes involved in making blankets and rollers as well as other consumables such as fount solution and cleaning products. Next up was a car journey out to Ballarat where he caught up with Paul Kelly and Shane West who showed him around the site which features a nine tower Uniset single width press. The stopover also provided an opportunity to socialise with other printers, something which Travis wishes happened more often. The next day brought another early start to the Norske Skog mill at Albury where Travis learnt all about the process of turning wood chips and waste paper into newsprint. Then it was onto the Border Mail at Albury where Travis noted that the site with its five tower double width press was as clean as a brand new house. Day 4 began with a flight to Sydney and a taxi ride to News Limited at It was really just a great opportunity to see that there are bigger and better things out there other than just where I am now. Chullora, one of the biggest print sites in the country, where he was met by Sean Tait. This site I recommend people go to if they want to see a big press operation, he said, noting how the newspapers speed off in all directions from the presses. It s a very fast-paced place to be in. This was followed by an inspection of the Flint Ink facility including the production area where the ink is mixed and the laboratory where it is quality controlled. Extensive testing goes into making the ink and what is done before it arrives at your workplace is unbelievable, said Travis. Next it was off to North Richmond where Travis got to inspect the coldset and heatset towers and remarked on the teamwork of the staff. One thing I liked is that the staff in the plate room and the publishing area have to come out and help clean the press sometimes, he said. The final stage of Travis s tour took him to the Torch in Bankstown where he immediately felt at home. One notable aspect of the facility which runs five 4-high towers, three coldset and two heatset, is that the manual ink filling deliberately forces the printers to leave the control room so they can hear the press running and pick up on any potential faults. Looking back on his trip, Travis said he had spent as much time in the reel stores, publishing and despatch areas as in the press halls because, in Mildura, he is expected to work in these areas as well. I think the jobs that go unnoticed are also the important ones, he said. Every company should treat every person, from the tea person to the guy or gal who stacks the pallet at the end of the line, fairly in the workplace because without each job and each individual, papers would just not get out on to the street. Travis thanked his boss, Jeremy Blake, for nominating him for the award, the Sunraysia Daily and the SWUG committee for paying his expenses, Damian Balkin and Sean Tait for accompanying him, and every other person I ve met along the way. NZ Apprentice wins Queensland trip On tour with Travis (from the top): Travis O Donnell tries his hand at running a heatset press at Franklin Web; with Franklin Web owner, Phil Taylor (above); a novel recycling technology at Franklin Web, dried pellets of dust collected from the air; the Border Mail site at Albury which impressed Travis with its cleanliness; and the News Limited presses at Chullora in Sydney, the site that Travis recommends for people who want to see a big press in operation. THE 2011/12 New Zealand SWUG Apprentice of the Year, Jamie Melgren from APN Print (pictured), won an all-expenses paid trip to Brisbane to attend the local SWUG conference as part of his winning prize. Jamie works at the APN Print site at Tauranga in New Zealand where he began his apprenticeship. Prior to becoming a printer, Jamie worked in the supply side of the industry for Webco, the local agent for DGM and Manugraph presses. Whilst there, he was lucky enough to go on a couple of overseas trips, firstly to install a DGM 4-high tower in New Caledonia and then to remove a press from the former Sunshine Coast Daily site at Maroochydore. After four years at Webco, Jamie decided on a change of scenery and jumped at the opportunity to work at APN Print, quickly demonstrating his skills and aptitude for learning in his new environment. Having done my apprenticeship, I have no regrets, he said. I love the job in the printing industry. It was the best decision I ever made, APN is a great company to work for.

5 SWUG July A print life filled with Sunshine Industry profile The current general manager of APN Print, Gary Osborne (right), gave this year s industry profile, looking back over a lifetime of family, sport and, of course, newspaper printing on the Sunshine Coast. Gary grew up on Queensland s Sunshine Coast and has spent all of his working life there, primarily working for APN News & Media which publishes the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper. In his current role at APN Print, Gary says he is fortunate in that he is able to continue living locally and still commute daily to the Sunshine Coast Daily plant at Yandina where, for many years, he was the production manager. This is a result of APN being a regional-based company, formed from the amalgamation of many smaller titles. Married for 40 years, Gary raised his family in the area and, away from printing, has always been active in one sporting activity or another surfing, golf, motor-cross, karate and go-carts. Motor bikes, too, have been a constant factor in his life and he still enjoys taking off to go for a ride through this beautiful region. I just can t get it out of my blood, he commented. His career in printing began as a teenager when he started an apprenticeship at the local newspaper, although he had previously worked during school holidays at a local print shop in Maroochydore. The first press he worked on was a single colour KORD platen which required washing up after each colour, although there wasn t a lot of four colour work to do back then. It was a grubby job but I enjoyed running around in board shorts and thongs and going for a surf at lunchtime. It was a good life, said Gary. Back then too, hot metal type was still being used which had to be melted down for re-use in the Linotype machines. There wasn t much in the way of health and safety regulation in those days, said Gary, although people used their common sense, something which still applies today. I think if we used our common sense most of the time we wouldn t be far off doing too badly. After completing his apprenticeship, Gary went off travelling for while and then, on his return, dropped in to visit his old workplace and was offered a job. The local paper eventually became one of the many independently-owned titles that were amalgamated to form the current APN News & Media. Later on, the paper - and Gary - moved to a new site in Maroochydore where the company installed a Goss Community press, mostly for running mono work with some spot colours. One of the more unusual pieces of equipment in use at the time was a Pyrofax plate maker which employed a two part process for imaging and developing plates; it was quicker than film but no good for four colour work. When opportunity knocks Gary s big opportunity came when he was offered the position of assistant production manager at the Sunshine Coast Daily, knowing that the production manager at that time was due for retirement. It was an opportunity too good to pass up. One thing I ve learned along the way is that if you work hard and you re good at your work you ll get opportunities, said Gary. You should always take every opportunity you can get. Jump on them and don t look back. Eventually he became production manager at the Sunshine Coast Daily, a position he held for a number of years. In this role he oversaw a number of important developments for the company including moving to the current site at Yandina, visited by SWUG in This is home to the unique combination press featuring 64 pages of manroland Regioman double width coldset at one end, and 16 pages of Uniset single width heatset at the other. The flexibility of the press also allows for fourpage jumps in pagination, an important requirement for regional papers, said Gary. Several years ago, APN decided to split off the print component of its operations into a separate division, a decision which Gary says was all about making publishers accountable for their actions. As a result, Gary became GM for the print division and, best of all, was able to stay on his beloved Sunshine Coast. Some people like to move around with different companies but I was happy to progress my career with APN as long as I was enjoying the challenge and making a difference, he added. Rollers Blankets Pressroom chemicals Balanced system solutions Head Office Unit C, 2 Hudson Avenue Castle Hill NSW (2) Branches Victoria Queensland National Free call: If you work hard and you re good at your work you ll get opportunities. Because performance is profit More than rollers Böttcher is the independent global brand, passionately evolving products to help you reduce waste, improve quality and up-time, whilst working towards a VOC free environment. Integrity, innovation, quality and reliability. Or simply 280 years of Böttcher know how.

6 6 SWUG July 2012 The voices of experience Who Am I? Afirst-time speaker at SWUG, Charlie Fletcher from the Rural Press Printing site at Dubbo outlined the success that the site has achieved over the past few months implementing new health and safety measures, a process which has resulted in it winning recognition via industry awards. In August 2011, the site won the PANPA Health & Safety award and followed it up in November with the gold award for OH&S initiatives at the NSW PICA awards. The impetus for the changes at Dubbo came about when the site underwent an upgrade to improve safety, quality and on-time delivery. As part of the upgrade, the workforce got behind new initiatives to address OH&S in the workplace. We went from a work site that did lots of things manually and inefficiently to being a site that delivers quality, meets deadlines and, most importantly, we do it in a safe manner with a team that cares about the result, said Charlie. One of the most notable aspects of the new OH&S approach involved fitting additional safety guards to the Goss Community press towers. Each tower was fitted with an extra 16 interlocking safety guards, in addition to the existing guards, to prevent accidental access to the press while running. A new Y-shaped guard with a single hinge and magnetic interlock system was fitted to the side frames, while new guards were fitted in front of the water and ink rollers with easy access for plate changing and maintenance. The folder was also fitted with new guards to completely cover all nip points at the front and side of the folder. In addition to the machinery upgrades, Charlie said considerable time and effort, backed by management support, had also been invested in developing new OH&S procedures for the entire site. As a result, new processes were developed covering topics such as staff training, audits and emergency evacuation drills. Staff now meet for toolbox meetings every night and the team meets once a fortnight at shift changeover for OH&S consultation meetings. This consultation is contributing to improvements in OH&S due to a greater awareness and ownership of the program by staff. All the staff have the opportunity to put forward issues and suggest ideas to make the workplace better, said Charlie. Look, no processor Another development at the site was the trialling of Kodak Thermal Direct process-free plates which are imaged on a typical Trendsetter CTP unit but then processed on the press during make-ready. This system offers a number of advantages including eliminating the need to invest in processing equipment, the elimination of chemicals on site, no OH&S waste issues, no waste disposal and no maintenance costs for the processor. The only adjustment required to the Trendsetter was to increase the exposure time for the plates although this was offset by not having to develop the plates afterwards. On the press, the plate is processed Nothing can match the knowledge and expertise gained from years spent working in the newspaper industry. The value of this experience was once again on display at the SWUG conference with the speakers in the Who Am I? sessions presenting their first-hand accounts of life on the production floor. The person who is master of patience is the master of everything else. during make-ready before the ink rollers are engaged, with the discarded plate coating being removed and transferred to the make-ready sheet. Charlie said the image produced by the new plates was clear and bright with run lengths of around 100,000 impressions. The plates are daylight sensitive so anybody looking to use them would have to implement yellow-light working conditions in prepress. The ink rollers on older presses may also need to be de-calcified to allow the plates to accept the inks. Patience is the key Having originally trained as a carpenter (a skill which was superbly demonstrated at the SWUG conference with samples of his handiwork), Charlie s career in the industry began when he started delivering local newspapers in Dubbo. He then joined the publishing room where he worked for 15 years, 10 of them as supervisor, and then, 18 months ago, applied for the position of site manager at Dubbo. With the support of management, I was given this chance and now contribute to an operation which produces 31 mastheads a week, he said. During his career, the lessons Charlie has learned along the way (apart from the importance of breath control when lamb marking) include accepting that we don t always get what we want, not being afraid to take chances and make mistakes, the importance of treating others in the manner with which you expect to be treated, and the need to be patient. The importance of patience cannot be overstated. With patience comes focus and with focus you can achieve anything, he said. The person who is master of patience is the master of everything else. News improves all the time Noel Brennan from Queensland Newspapers at Murarrie outlined how that site has been benefiting from a continuous improvement program that focuses on web breaks. The Murarrie plant currently produces the Courier Mail, the Sunday Mail, The Australian plus preprints and community newspapers. The site runs four manroland Newsman double width presses, each comprising three 6-couple units, one 4-couple satellite unit and one 8- couple tower. The presses are fed by seven flying paster reel stands and there are four 3:2 folders, three of which have inline stitching which was added last year. In the publishing room, each press line has two Ferag inserting drums and four off-line winders. A Ferag rotary trimmer was also installed last year running at 60,000cph. There are also eight sticky note applicators. Currently the site consumes about 950 tonnes of newsprint per week and produces about 6 million copies with an average wastage rate of around 3%. The site also uses 8 tonnes of Huber colour ink per week, 7 tonnes of Flint black ink and 12,500 Agfa N91V plates. Speaking from experience: The accumulated industry knowledge from the Who Am I? speakers had something of value to offer to SWUG delegates. Above left, Charlie Fletcher from Dubbo, Noel Brennan from News Limited Murarrie (top) and Mike Molloy from the Gold Coast Bulletin (above). Noel has been working at Murarrie since 2000 following a career that included stints with Rural Press at Gympie, Ormiston and North Richmond as well as Fairfax Printers in Chullora. In his current role, he is the continuous improvement coordinator, a task which involves collecting and analysing data, reviewing all processes, challenging the status quo and engaging people through the continuous improvement program. In 2008, having completed a course in competitive manufacturing, the team at Murarrie decided to focus on web breaks as a starting point for changing the way they operate. In the financial year 2007/08, the site experienced 1,607 web breaks. After cleaning all the equipment and setting the data to zero, the first step was to install reel stand cameras which enabled them to see problems before they arose and collect accurate data on the web breaks. Weekly web break meetings were held to analyse the data and review the root cause of the breaks. By exploring the video footage of the web breaks, we could identify the root cause of some of the faults that were previously unexplained, said Noel. Kym Leonard from Norske Skog also began to sit in on the web break meetings enabling feedback to be sent back to the mill to address any paper manufacturing faults. At the same time, the site moved to change from 1,145mm to 1,160mm diameter reels, thereby reducing reel consumption and the number of pastes by 3,300 per year. This meant that for an outlay of $22,000, the site had the potential to reduce web breaks by 86 per year with minimal effort. The larger reels also meant fewer truck movements for Norske Skog, fewer crane movements in the store, fewer materials and less core waste. Overall, the change produced a saving of $150,000 in the first year. Reel-life cameras The next step was to install rear-facing reel stand cameras on three reel stands, making it easier to inspect what was happening and view the functionality of the reel stands more closely a very powerful tool, said Noel. Since 2008, the team has reviewed every web break as well as every press pull-up caused by a reel stand fault that could potentially lead to a break. This could be anything from an incomplete paste sequence, low air pressure, operator error, or an electrical/mechanical error. So far this financial year, the site is running at 361 breaks, close to its target of 1% of the reels used, and down from the figure of 2.6% in 2007/08, a significant improvement. Our best weekly average is two breaks. Our ultimate goal is zero and through our relentless pursuit we will get there, added Noel. In answer to questions from the floor, Noel said the main cause of the web breaks had been identified as primarily mechanical, resulting in the replacement of all the air lines in the

7 SWUG July reel stands and an electrical overhaul from top to bottom. All the web break meetings have a cross-section of people attending including electrical and mechanical engineers. There were some initial concerns from staff about the installation of the cameras but once they understood the purpose of the monitoring and how it might help, it was not an issue. Moving forward, Noel s role is to investigate the top five waste events each week and to look at how they can be continuously improved. He also recommended the training of staff in competitive manufacturing. The best possible thing you can do is get as many people through that program as you can so that everybody is on the same page, he said. I would encourage anybody to put their people through it as it is a fantastic course. Gold Coast finds gold The Gold Coast Bulletin plant in Queensland has been expanding the range of products it offers to advertisers, according to Mike Molloy, print centre manager. Recent innovations include the use of fluorescent gold ink for full-page Harvey Norman ads, the addition of post-it notes, unique numbering for each copy, brand bands at the top or bottom of the page, and double panorama page widths. The double panorama is the equivalent of four broadsheet pages and is created by gluing two single pages to the outside edge of a two-page spread. We like trying new things at the Gold Coast so we ve embarked on trying to give advertising as many different things for them to go out and sell, said Mike. Mike is another newspaper professional whose career began in the publishing room, having originally started work as a hand inserter on Brisbane s Sunday Mail during his final year at school. Having acquired a taste for the newspaper business, he completed an apprenticeship as a compositor at the former Brisbane evening paper, The Telegraph. After working in the commercial print sector for a few years, Mike returned to the Courier-Mail in 1989 and moved to the Murarrie plant in 1995 as a platemaker. A number of different production roles followed before he became publishing manager in 2007 and then, in 2010, transferred to the Gold Coast Bulletin as print centre manager. The Gold Coast site, which SWUG visited in 2004, currently runs a nine tower KBA Comet single width press with two jaw folders, one with quarter Making the changes: Two sites that are working to improve how they operate are RPP Dubbo (left and top left) which has installed more interlocking guards on its Goss Community towers, and Queensland Newspapers at Murarrie (above) which has installed cameras on its reelstands to analyse how web breaks occur and reduce spoilage. fold and 10 reel stands. The publishing room runs a Ferag inserting system with SNTU rotary trimmer. The site uses about 300 tonnes of newsprint per week, mainly 42gsm as well as 52gsm Norbright and a small amount of 60gsm Norstar. Weekly output is about 2.1 million copies for 50 different editions/ products. The main titles produced include the Gold Coast Bulletin six times per week, local editions of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for the Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour region, and five editions of the Gold Coast Sun community paper. The current spoilage rate for the site is just over 3% and its best make-ready on press is 150 copies on a 64-page product, 250 copies on a 144-page product which is using the full press. Mike said that News Ltd is currently undergoing a lot of change which will be good for the print sites around the country, and he regards it as a great place to work. I don t have any trouble any day getting up to go to work as I thoroughly enjoy myself and hope to continue in my role in the future. Ormiston marches to a different drum beat Mark Dibble is the site manager at the Ormiston plant and, prior to the SWUG visit to the plant, he outlined the history to this unique facility as well as something of his own printing background. THE Ormiston plant proved to be one of the more unusual sites that SWUG has visited in recent years, not only because it is the first double width press site to host the conference but also because of its unique configuration. Mark himself came to Ormiston in the 1980s when he moved from the Gympie Times to work on the new Goss Community press. Back then, the pressline comprised mono and tri-colour units which were used to produce four-colour work. As Mark highlighted, a lot of work went through the old plant and the press itself continued to expand, including at one point having a tower at right angles to the press running a famously long web lead. In 2008, the site was upgraded with the current Goss Uniliner 80 (pictured) and Ferag mailroom. A unique feature of this set-up, as Mark pointed out, is having the towers side on rather than inline, as well as the ability to print variable width webs. The press also features a web slitter at the top of each tower rather than in the folder and turner bars which turn the web at right angles in line with the folder. That s the secret of it. It s so simple but I m surprised no-one had thought of it before, said Mark. Printing is a surer bet Mark s own career in the industry began not as a printer but rather a rubber stamp maker for Harding Colour in Brisbane. At the time, he was also a drummer in a local band which achieved some success, winning competitions and supporting Sherbet in concert. Realising that the world of rock n roll might not turn out to be the most secure career path, Mark became an apprentice printer, working initially on an old Chandler and Price hand-fed letterpress press and then switching to offset and joining the Gympie Times.

8 8 SWUG July 2012 Don t let your waste... Waste management Recycling and waste management is big business these days and no-one is bigger in this region than Transpacific. Sales manager, Mark Harvey, outlined the range of services available to printers today to help them cut costs. Newspaper sites have the opportunity to turn their waste into revenue and, at the very least, make it cost-neutral to their operations. That was the message to delegates from Mark Harvey from waste management company, Transpacific, which has its head office in Brisbane. Transpacific is the largest waste management provider in Australia and New Zealand with more than 300 locations around the region including 45 processing facilities. The company offers a wide range of waste management services covering everything from wheelie bins to demolition. It operates on the basis that all waste is a resource, whether it s items such as paper and cardboard that can be recycled or general waste that goes to landfill and gives off gases that can be used elsewhere. The goal is to reduce waste as much as possible, reusing resources to reduce consumption and, wherever reduction and reuse are not possible, recycling in order to minimise environmental impacts. Whenever I go anywhere, the first thing I do is stick my head in someone s rubbish bin, and it s easy to identify how much product is in there that can be recycled, said Mark. Safety is a key concern for the company, encompassing everything from vehicle maintenance to training of staff and working with suppliers and customers to ensure that work is carried out properly. When the company first starts working with a client, it carries out a full site audit to ensure there is no equipment, people or environmental issues that could cause harm to the people doing the job. Transpacific works with its clients to meet their sustainability and environmental goals including compliance with all regulatory requirements, safe disposal of all waste and education of staff to maximise waste recovery. The company is currently certified to ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO (Environment) and AS 4801 (OHS) standards Adding value to waste Apart from the safety and compliance aspects, Transpacific also works to add value to its clients in their waste management. Examples of Transpacific s business programs include collecting waste oil from 35,000 automotive workshops and refining it into premium grade lubricant base stocks, saving the equivalent of 943,000 barrels of oil per annum. The company also works with Ingham Enterprises, the large poultry supplier, to redirect 90% of that company s waste from going to landfill. The company provides specialist resources to work one-on-one with clients to solve problems and find solutions to minimise waste and maximise recycling and reuse. If we can work with people, that makes good business sense for us but it also makes very, very good business sense for our clients, said Mark. We need to be working on solutions all the Mark Harvey, Transpacific....GO TO WASTE time. Just because something is being done a certain way today doesn t mean it s the best way. To keep track of all the waste, Transpacific provides month-bymonth and quarterly reports that show how much waste and recycling is being done by each site, enabling clients to chart their progress and map any improvements. Harvest time The Harvest program was set up by Transpacific several years ago to ensure that the company was able to totally capture recycling opportunities for people. It is based around capturing specific products that have a commodity value. Items such as cardboard, paper, shrinkwrap/bubblewrap and polystyrene are all commodities and, when collected in sufficient quantities, can be used to offset the cost of collection. Transpacific at a glance The capital equipment used in the collection of these materials, such as balers and compactors, can be written off through the contract at no or minimal cost to the client. The bigger the volume you have available, the more opportunities there are to make your plant more efficient, said Mark. With one particular customer in Brisbane, for instance, their waste management is now effectively costneutral with the rebate for the recycled materials negating the cost of the service. It just comes down to talking to people, identifying what you have, what needs to be done, how it needs to be dealt with and putting the best systems in place, said Mark. There is a huge opportunity for people to save money and to make money, so don t be too frightened to ask the question, he concluded. Publicly-listed company with annual revenues of more than $2 billion 300 locations across Australasia with more than 6,500 staff 45 major processing facilities More than 300 products and services Australia s largest waste management fleet with more than 3,600 vehicles. Belgians close the loop on press Press controls Highlighting the contribution that automated press controls can make towards reducing costs, Menno Jansen from QI Press Controls presented a case study from a Belgian printing company, Coldset Printing Partners. Coldset Printing Partners was formed when two large Belgian media groups, Corelio and Concentra, merged their printing activities and formed a joint venture. Up until 2008, they were regarded as printers with their own newspapers but today they also do commercial work for third parties. The company has two print facilities in Brussels and Paal-Beringen, both of which have now been configured by QI Press Controls. In total, there are three presses on these sites, comprising 33 double width, double around towers with 11 folders. The presses include a KBA Commander with nine towers and three folders (installed in 2007), a KBA Commander with 12 towers and four folders (installed in 2000), and a Menno Jansen from QI Press Controls. manroland Colorman also with 12 towers and four folders (also installed in 2000). According to Menno, the market costs in Belgium show that paper accounts for about 50% of total costs. In addition, wages are increasing by 3% annually while circulations are going down. As a result, in order to become more efficient, the challenge facing the company was to reduce paper costs and manning levels on the presses. Basically, they wanted to do more with less people, said Menno. The solution was to install more automation on the presses. Prior to this, the company had already invested in reelstand automation and the prepress and mailroom were fully automated, so the only gap that remained was the press itself. To give an understanding of what automation can deliver, Menno used the calculation of a printer running two 4-high towers for 32 pages with one folder. Combining colour and registration controls, the printer is required to monitor and adjust a total of 1,358 corrections, too many for a single person to control at top speed. Coldset Printing Partners was looking at a total automation solution to reduce manual interventions so it invested in closed-loop colour control and registration control including fanout compensators. The goal was also to standardise the output to ISO in order to eliminate the variable quality between identical products printed on different presses which was the cause of complaints from customers. The project called for a single supplier which was QI Press The QI Press Control monitoring camera in operation at Coldset Printing Partners in Belgium. Controls and the inclusion of extensive reporting capabilities that covered not only production data but also quality reports so that managers were able to view and report on any quality issues. The project started in 2009 on the Colorman press and included a number of KPIs such as lower start-up waste, increased quality as measured by L.a.b values, and reduced manning. During the trial period, they were able to reduce waste by 25% and shut down two out of the three control desks so that the press was being operated by one person. They also managed to reduce quality-related claims by printing identical products from each pressline, thereby guaranteeing that all the advertisements were similar. The successful implementation led to improved bottom line results with a payback period of less than two years and a stronger competitive position in the market. This resulted in an order being placed for the other plant and now the entire 33 towers are covered by the closed loop system.

9 SWUG July Reducing spoilage takes teamwork Performance Reducing start-up waste and building team morale was the topic of a presentation by Michael Gee in conjunction with Sean Tait and Michael Vankka from North Richmond. The topic followed on from a previous presentation by Michael Aubrey from FRP at Newcastle a few years ago at SWUG which was also entitled Every Copy Counts. This presentation focused on a recent project carried out at the North Richmond site aimed at reducing press start-up spoilage. The background to the project was that the site was seen to be suffering from miscommunication between shifts. In particular, each shift had developed its own methods of setting the press during start-up. Although each successful in its own right, there were many differences in the way procedures were carried out on each shift, said Michael Gee. One common trait from the observations I made was that all shifts didn t really use the press s automation to its optimum. As a result, it was decided to create a project team with the goal of reducing spoilage on the press by utilising its automated systems as well as improving communication and co-operation between all shifts and operators. The goal of the project was to reduce press start-up spoilage by 200 copies per job over a two week period on regular weekly jobs. This was to be achieved by utilising the existing press automated systems to make the startup more efficient. One of the main issues which had the Working as a team: (l-r) Sean Tait, Michael Vankka and Michael Gee from North Richmond. potential to affect the outcome of the project was the staff. To overcome this issue, all three shift supervisors became part of the team to ensure that each shift had a representative and a voice, thereby increasing communication. Meetings were held with each shift so that all parties knew beforehand what was happening and that their cooperation was needed for success. Setting a standard One of the key outcomes that the team wanted to achieve was a set of standard press procedures that could be agreed on so that they would be followed by all operators. The fact that the press automation was not being used was due in part to the fact that the printers felt it was too slow and that they could do it better than the press. However, as an example of how the press systems can function, Michael Gee recalled an incident in which a unit which had been left unattended managed to reproduce a certain ad with perfect rego and colour balance despite not being touched. That just proves that the press can do the work, he said. In setting the project s objectives, the team tried to be very specific. This ensured everyone knew exactly what was the focus without getting off track, said Michael Vankka. They say that simplicity is the key to success so we tried to make it as simple as possible. Initially, in order to fine tune the press s automation, sample copies were analysed to see how the press was performing and to make necessary adjustments to the start up and shut down sequences. All staff were then informed of the changes and shown how to implement the processes. By fine tuning them we were able to achieve an outcome where, in theory, the high skilled operator and the lower skilled operator should effectively be able to walk up to the press, load the presets and achieve the same style, said Michael Vankka. Communication was a key factor in getting the changes implemented so meetings were held between staff and management at which feedback and ideas were encouraged, using the experience and knowledge of the staff involved. As a result, all the operators were motivated to accept the new procedures and encouraged each other to adopt the guidelines. At some point, it actually became a competition to see who could get the lowest make-readies, said Michael. It was great to see communication at an all-time high. The project deliverables included reduced spoilage, better managed press systems, a more profitable site as a result of reduced costs, and increased teamwork. As evidence of this, comments were recorded during this process which showed the increase in morale. For example: I was bored but now I come to work and actually think about what I am doing and how I can improve. As a result, management knew that all workers were working toward the same goal. If staff are involved in the process and know more information about all aspects of their job, they become more productive and motivated, said Sean. As the project evolved, the staff took ownership of the project and had a renewed interest in their job. An incentive scheme was also set up for the staff whereby they gained monetary benefits if spoilage targets are met. This also demonstrated management s willingness to invest in the scheme. Some of the risks associated with the project included the possibility of the new ideas being rejected by staff, new procedures going in the wrong direction causing problems and extra spoilage, and tension between staff members and shifts. The team had to make the press crews adhere to the plans and asked for feedback if it was or was not working, said Sean. This 360 degree feedback was essential to everyone s buy-in to the project and its success. Time needed to be set aside to talk, counsel and coach staff to find out what they had issues with in relation to the project. The project team also met to discuss feedback, raise any maintenance issues, discuss what wasn t working and prioritise what needed fixing. Analysis of training was completed which highlighted the areas in which staff required training, and this was completed by the team leaders. Specifications from suppliers were also investigated to ensure the equipment was being used in the correct manner. By analysing the issues and having a set plan, the team was able to identify quickly any underlying issues and address them through mediation. Staff identified their roles in the project and it became a cohesive team environment allowing us to have a clear plan with specific goals, said Michael Vankka. During the project, it was important not to deviate from the agreed path and not to change too many things too quickly in case it confused people. Bottom line results In the first week of the project, average make-ready copies of each product were reduced by 266 copies, and by 633 copies in week 2. This equates to a saving of approximately $3,285 per week, which is an overall saving of $170,842 per annum. The next step is to formulate the start-up procedures in writing so that each console has a step-by-step procedure written down so that everybody knows exactly what to do. The procedures will be monitored for a month and the settings further investigated and fine-tuned. The project will then be expanded to take in extra staff, including in the publishing room, and to look at overall wastage across the production process. EasySert Inserting on the way EasyPrice Low basic costs modular expansion Unbeatable price / performance ratio EasyHandling Ferag Australia Pty Ltd Easy to master settings Unit 6b / Bourke Road Minimum set-up times high operating security Alexandria, NSW 2015 EasyTechnology Australia New ideas, proven high-performance technology Phone High-level functionality, simple sequences Fax info@ferag-australia.com

10 10 SWUG July 2012 Big presses keep on rolling Press updates First up was Günter Noll from KBA who gave an interesting overview of the current market situation and how the global demand for print is changing. This transformation is characterised by stagnant or declining markets for print in industrialised countries, mainly due to the growth in online media, contrasted with growing demand for print in threshold countries (India, China, Brazil) driven by rising levels of literacy and prosperity. This is particularly noticeable in the packaging print market which is influenced by rising GDP levels. Digital print is continuing to grow at the expense of offset and screen printing although it is affecting the sheetfed print market, especially small format, more than web offset; in the web offset market for newspapers and catalogues, the main threat comes from online media. Overall though, the global print volume is growing at between 3 to 5% per year. In the global market for web offset presses, orders for newspaper presses fell by over a third between 2010 and 2011 while demand for commercial presses was marginally higher than in Overall, the web offset market is about 60% smaller than it was before the GFC. The internet has transformed the newspaper sector dramatically. For example, in the US, one of the biggest publishing markets, KBA sold two presses in two years. Shared printing plants and outsourcing are trimming the installed press base and consolidation among commercial printers is in full swing. Looking further ahead, the forecast is for demand for web presses to grow slowly to 2014 while remaining at about a third of the size of the market in Even this modest post-2012 growth largely depends on drupa boosting demand as well as political resolution of the sovereign debt issues and the state of the global economy. Happy to be in newspapers KBA itself saw a 21% increase in orders for both sheetfed and web offset over 2011 and the order backlog grew by nearly 90%, primarily for web presses in emerging regional markets. The company now claims a 35% market share of the web offset market, roughly equal with manroland, although KBA says it is stronger in newspapers. We are happy in that field, talking about the newspaper side. To give you an example, in our home market Delegates heard from the three main web offset press manufacturers KBA, Goss and manroland - about the current state of the market and the latest developments in press technology. [Germany] from the last 21 projects, we took in 18, said Günter. In addition, the company has a strong standing in specialised niche markets such as security printing, metal decorating and coding devices which offer high growth potential. In terms of new web press developments, Günter highlighted the new Commander CL press, a compact H- type 4-high press with the option of semi or fully automatic plate changing. With this press, you can start from scratch with manual plate mounting and, at any time, implement an automatic or semi-automatic plate changer, said Günter. The CL press uses the same threeroller inking unit from the successful Commander CT series of which 120 towers have been installed over four years. According to the US Patent Board, KBA ranked 11th out of 120 heavy engineering companies in the US for technological innovation, the highest of all press manufacturers. An example of this innovation is the new digital inkjet press, the RotaJET Günter Noll from KBA. We are happy in that field, talking about the newspaper side. 76, which the company has developed with RR Donnelley with the aim of more closely integrating offset and digital systems. The RotaJET 76, launched at drupa, is specifically aimed at the book, commercial, packaging and security printing markets as well as newspapers. New Magnum fires up Matt Hancock from Goss reported that the press manufacturer is still seeing strong sales in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa while the domestic Chinese market is also strong. The SSC and Magnum family of presses continue to be the best-selling Goss product of all time and are now joined by the new Magnum HPS press. This press has been engineered for the export market and has undergone IFRA testing at the Shanghai factory running at 70,000cph. The Fujian Daily has also been in production with the press for about six months and is performing well. The press features variable cut-offs from 546 to 578mm and comes in two models rated at 50,000cph and 70,000cph. It is a conventional twopage across (single width), one plate around format like most of the Community presses with a maximum web width of 914mm. The HPS is a shaftless press with spray bars, motorised ink keys and motorised registration as standard features. It also features slot gap plate lock-up, blanket and plate cylinder bearers, high quality three-ring bearings and centralised greasing. Optional features include three forme inking, heatset and UV configurations, quarter fold and double parallel folding. Another new press from Goss is the 90,000cph Colorliner CPS for double or triple width printing, offering very high print quality, simple operation and a reliable platform. The CPS or Compact Printing System press has a 4.5 metre high 4- high tower as well as a space-saving 2.7 metre wide footprint which means that it can fit into all types of buildings. It is also designed to make the web lead as small as possible, only 2.7 metres between the 1st and 4th levels, which helps to improve print quality and reduce fan-out. Features include spray bar Heavy metal heroes: new presses from the major manufacturers include (l-r) the massive Sunday 5000 from Goss, the new Commander CL from KBA, and the ever-popular manroland Lithoman heatset press. dampening with Baldwin LithoSpray bars with Constant C technology, the option of conventional or metalbacked blankets, semi or fully automatic plate changing, and a 2:5:5 jaw folder running up 96 pages broadsheet. The CPS combines some of the best technology from other Goss presses such as the printing cylinder bearings and Autoplate from the Sunday 4000 series, the drum oscillating mechanism and short web lead from the FPS series, and the semi-automatic plate change and OPCS controls from the UniLiner. One press has already been ordered and is being installed at DC Thomson in the UK, an eight tower configuration that includes both coldset and heatset. Shanghai adds controls Goss has also announced an update to its press control software from Goss Shanghai with the addition of a page control facility that enables quality functions to be adjusted by selecting the page. The new Magnum HPS press from Goss. This takes the Shanghai controls to a similar level as the Omnicon system and is available for Community and Magnum presses with any drive type as well as an enhancement to Community and Magnum presses with Version 5.0 control software. A lot of the bigger presses these days have these options, but it s good now we have smaller presses with the same sort of features to make it easier for printers, said Matt. Previewing its drupa showing, Matt said that Goss would be unveiling its latest technology for the packaging market in the form of the Sunday Vpak series of presses with variable cut-offs targeting the folding carton, flexible packaging, labels and direct mail markets. One of the highlights at the show was also the massive 2860mm wide web unit for the Sunday 5000 capable of printing 96 pages in a single pass at 90,000cph. Happy to be here The big news from John Ostler of manroland was that he was able to make it to SWUG this year after the company unexpectedly went into administration late last year. After the initial shock of the announcement, the outcome has worked out very well indeed for the web offset side of the business, having now been taken over by wellestablished German engineering group, Possehl. Locally, John said the business is strong with good cash flow, helped by the fact that, during the period of the administration, customers rallied round in a way which enabled it to keep going and retain staff. The response was, quite frankly, heart-warming, he said. Customers were affected for a short period with some delays in deliveries but this was soon followed by the announcement of the new ownership on 31st January As a result, the company is now back on a strong footing and preparing for the arrival of two new major heatset presses in Australia this year. The local operation is now 100% owned by manroland web systems in Augsburg, Germany, which, according to John, means an even greater level of support and services being delivered to the region. The Tele Support Centre remains in full operation and the company s service strength continues to grow. Even during the administration period, an additional two web service staff were employed, and the company now has 37 employees with a significant spare parts holding in Australia. Yes, there will be challenges as things settle down but with the new foundations we believe we are set now for a very, very strong future, said John. Manufacturing background The Possehl Group comprises 10 manufacturing companies, all operating as individual companies and covering such diverse products as industrial cleaning equipment, plastic extrusion machinery, textile finishing and printing, electronic manufacturing, precious metal processing, special purpose construction materials and international trading in minerals as well as now manroland. Globally, the company is now being sized to suit the capacities of today s market and the volume of presses that the market is going to consume. We are establishing medium-sized

11 SWUG July Get set for QuickSet Andy Stephens from Global Press Technologies (pictured) introduced the QuickSet ink presetting system from the US, a software package for profiling a press s ink keys in order to quickly achieve target ink densities. THE QuickSet package has been making an impact in the US, according to Andy, where there are up to 100 installations on presses of different types. The system is designed to reduce make-ready waste by between 50-85% on presses. There s nothing else on the market, including CIP3, that will fix your colour quicker than this system, said Andy. It saves you lots of money, lots of paper and lots of time. Two Uniliner presses installed at Sing Tao, the original pressline on the left and the latest installation on the right custom-painted red in Sing Tao s corporate colours. Headline is big news in HK So, for instance, on a press running 32 pages tabloid with start-up waste of 1,000 copies in order to get good colour, reducing that figure by 50% will save about $137,280 based on 60 make-readies per week. QuickSet works by reading a standard test forme that has been printed on the press and then calculating how the ink keys should be set in advance to achieve correct ink densities. This eliminates the need to continually check and adjust ink keys during start-up, thereby saving time and consumables as well as making life easier for the printer. structures and thinking. We will continue to be a high performance business partner, said John. One of the great things about being bought by a manufacturing backed company is the fact that R&D is a core competency. Continuing developments at manroland web systems include the autoprint philosophy, new operating concepts, the further development of the 96-page commercial presses, the introduction of the new Colorman e:line press, press updates and extensions, and the digital partnership with Océ. Autoprint is the name given to the combination of control systems and closed loop systems designed to work as one so that the press controls itself and the printer becomes the system manager. So far, 16 customers have chosen some form of Colorman autoprint with 12 in operation. The uptake of robotic plate loading has also been significant with a total of 232 APL robots sold. The new Colorman e:line press encompasses the idea of future proofing whereby the basic press is designed to be able to accept any upgrade - such as auto job changing, inline density control, full APL, and closed loop systems over the lifetime of the press. In commercial presses there is a new Lithoman 32-page long grain press while the massive 96-page Lithoman continues to be rolled out with four presses sold. Press refurbishments are also becoming a growing part of the business with a range of upgrades, retro-fitting and reconfiguration options available for existing presses. In the digital sector, manroland is partnering with Océ to complement its leading high-speed digital printing technology with manroland folding and finishing solutions for the production of books and magazines. Here you go mate, you deserve this: Bob Lockley presents John Ostler of manroland websystems with a special Andrew Matthews cartoon for having escaped the pit of financial troubles. As a good example of how the newspaper market is evolving, particularly in the fast-moving free newspaper sector, Peter Kirwan of Goss outlined the phenomenal growth of Sing Tao News Corporation in Hong Kong. THE Hong Kong newspaper market is one of the most dynamic in the world with numerous free papers with circulations of up to 1 million copies as well as several high circulation paid papers. In total, there are over 4 million newspapers printed every day for a population of about 7 million. It s an exciting market and, the point is, the free newspapers have really taken over, said Peter. Sing Tao were originally publishers of the traditional Chinese broadsheet Sing Tao and the English-language tabloid Hong Kong Standard, both paid papers. In January 2007, it decided to take the bold move to launch a free Chinese tabloid paper called Headline Daily. In the early months, this was contract printed and had a circulation of 100,000 copies of 48 pages tabloid. In order to increase capacity, both in circulation and pagination, the publishers ordered their first press, a five tower Goss Uniliner S with the capacity of 80 pages tabloid at 80,000cph. The decision to buy this press was made after visiting the Border Mail in Albury which has a similar press. At the time, the target was to increase circulation to 300,000 copies of pages. By November 2007, the Headline Daily had gained strong market acceptance following the installation of the Uniliner S and it was evident that they had to increase capacity to meet the market demands. Paginations had increased to 80 pages and the circulation was approaching 400,000 in a short space of time. As a result, an order was placed for a three tower Uniliner (4 x 2) press to be installed in line with the existing press in order to share capacity or to be run as individual presses. The following year, based on the success of the Headline Daily, the decision was made to convert the Hong Kong Standard to a free product as well. The Standard was struggling at pages with a circulation of around 20,000; today it is consistently at pages and has a circulation of 250,000. To accommodate this growth, an eight tower Magnum 45 press was installed, the first of its kind in the world. Pressure to grow The Headline Daily continued to grow and there was pressure to They just saturate the market and that s what the advertisers love. increase paginations to accommodate the growing advertising volume which was filling up to 85% of the paper. As a result, an additional Uniliner tower was ordered. Even so, by September 2010 capacity was again being stretched with circulation now at 700,000 and paginations reaching 144 pages on a regular basis and so now a new five tower Uniliner 80 (4 x 2) was ordered, capable of producing up to 160 pages tabloid running collect. This press was commissioned in June 2011 and today the Headline Daily has reached 160 pages and the circulation is between 900,000 and 1 million copies per day. The combined Sing Tao News Corporation output is 1.25 million copies per night and their titles now dominate the Hong Kong newspaper market. The key is really how they distribute the product, said Peter. They just saturate the market and that s what the advertisers love. Even with all this pressure on meeting production targets, the team at Sing Tao still managed to qualify for the prestigious IFRA ISO award for standardised printing. This award benchmarks all production processes for consistency and high quality from prepress to mailroom. Sing Tao are one of only five newspaper printers in the world to gain this award, a remarkable achievement given the volumes they handle every day. Today, the Headline Daily has reached 160 pages and the circulation is between 900,000 and 1 million copies per day.

12 12 SWUG July 2012 Top newspapers of 2012 BEST OVERALL PRINT QUALITY Highly Commended Bunbury Mail RPP Mandurah (manroland Uniset 75) Runner Up Newcastle Herald Fairfax Regional Printers (manroland Uniset 70) Winner Brissett Shield Bendigo Advertiser RPP Ballarat (manroland Uniset 75) BEST OVERALL FOUR COLOUR NEWSPAPER Highly Commended The Esperance Express RPP Mandurah (manroland Uniset 75) Runner Up The Gisborne Herald Gisborne Herald (Goss Community) Winner DIC Shield Hawke s Bay Today APN Print Hastings (NZ) (Goss Community) BEST COLDSET COMMERCIAL PUBLICATION Highly Commended Journey Horton Media (Qld) (Goss Community) Runner Up Aviation News Horton Media (NZ) (Goss Community) Winner Flint Group Shield Hinterland Times Horton Media (Qld) (Goss Community)

13 SWUG July Quality keeps on getting better BEST OVERALL PRINT QUALITY DOUBLE WIDTH Highly Commended Australian Financial Review RPP Ormiston (Goss Uniliner 80) Runner Up Australian Financial Review RPP Ormiston (Goss Uniliner 80) Winner Norske Skog Shield The New Zealand Herald APN Print Ellerslie (NZ) (Goss HT70) Judges comments The 2012 SWUG newspaper awards were judged this year by Gordon Cole, Wayne Johnstone and Peter Hook, formerly of Kodak and a first-time judge for SWUG. Their comments on this year s entries were as follows: In 2012, 16 sites across Australasia submitted entries for this year s competition but there are only 42 entries versus 52 in The results suggest that you have been quite selective this year when choosing entries to submit. This year sees an expansion of the awards into a fourth category, best overall double width print quality. There were only a small number of entries (5) but hopefully this will grow over time. Category 3, best overall coldset commercial publication, boasts the most entries (17), perhaps reflecting the growing importance of this type of work in newspaper plants, but it is also a format that demonstrates what print quality can be achieved from newspaper presses, including long-serving Goss Communities. The other two categories had 10 entries each. In 2008, we set a challenge for all SWUG members to better a score of 90%. Up to that date, the best ever score was 87.6%. In 2009, the target of 90% was indeed met by one entry, but this year 90% is no longer exceptional and scores above 85% common. To illustrate, the winning entry in all four categories this year equalled or bettered 90%, and the overall highest score was 95%. This is heart warming for your judges as it suggests you have noted our past comments and produced better quality overall than ever before. On the other hand, it made the job of separating the many fine entries a very tough task indeed. In fact the judging took around 10 hours to complete. There is now no category that is significantly weaker than any other. In 2011, the judging panel set up a spreadsheet to better analyse the print properties that most affected the outcome, both good and bad. To that end, the influential properties in 2012 can be seen in the following charts. You can see the improvement from 2011 to 2012 so that, even with the lower scoring properties, very satisfactory outcomes have been achieved on average. In the high scoring print properties, your entries have gone from strength to strength. In other attributes of interest, what is pleasing is that there are very few bunged in screens or muddy photos both conventional and stochastic while at the same time, solids are excellent. Also, there is a very low incidence of scumming or tinting, as it should be. Additional comments: Print through: This has been mentioned before and is still quite noticeable. It is the one thing that noticeably detracts from the presentation of all entries. Colour of newsprint: Greyish versus traditional creamy type. There is only a low incidence of mixed use of these two stocks in the same book but it s still not a good look. Plate edge marks: Particularly on covers. A fact of life, but unsightly. Ink rub off on hands: A great improvement over last year. Congratulations to the winners, and a big well done to all who submitted entries for the high quality they achieved a great result. The challenge now is to maintain this quality through into 2013 and improve wherever you can. Areas of Relative Weakness average scores % of Points Available Marking from trolleys, nips, folding rollers 65% 82% 2. Pins, position, tears 68% 83% 3. Set Off 78% 85% Areas of Relative Strength average scores % of Points Available Creasing 68% 90% 2. Solids 82% 90% 3. Registration 76% 88% Other Attributes of Interest average scores % of Points Available Scumming/tinting 78% 86% 2. Visual density on a page 78% 86% 3. Half tones 76% 86% 4. Blanket/print defects 80% 86% 5. Density, page to page 77% 85% Clockwise from top left: The victorious team from RPP Ballarat celebrate winning the Brissett Shield, (l-r) Michelle Robertson, Dale Thomas, Shayne West and Mark Collins: Russell Wieck (right) from APN Print Ellerslie collects the inaugural Norske Skog Shield from Tania Gordon of Norske Skog (middle) and Bob Lockley, SWUG president (left): Russell Johnston from the APN Print Hastings site receives the DIC Shield from Meredith Darke of DIC Australia (right) and Bob Lockley: Scott Eldridge and David Newson from Horton Media (Qld) make it a clean sweep for Horton Media in the Best Coldset Commercial Print category, receiving the Flint Ink Shield from Bob Lockley and Mark Gooding of Flint Group (right).

14 14 SWUG July 2012 SWUG sees double This year s host site at the Ormiston Print Centre opened its doors to the SWUG delegates and put on a fantastic event, offering unprecedented access to this unique double width press in full flow. It was a night for newspaper printers and suppliers alike to savour. Main pic: SWUG delegates throng the press control room at Ormiston. Left: The reel store at Ormiston is where the previous Goss Community press was installed. The site uses a variety of different stocks, taking advantage of the variable web width capability of the Goss Uniliner press. Reel widths range from 405mm to 1,620mm in 45/52/60 and 70gsm. Middle: The star attraction in the new press hall is the Goss Uniliner 80 double width shaftless press comprising four towers capable of printing 128 pages of back-to-back colour at up to 80,000 copies per hour. Below: The Uniliner press features an unusual configuration in that the towers are side-by-side rather than inline with the Megtec reelstands at right angles to the pressline. Reels are delivered via a purpose-built rail track system (bottom left). From the top: the four plate across double-width press features Baldwin Impact Global blanket washers and Constant C spray bar dampening; an inline slitter is located at the top of the tower for splitting the web; turner bars at the top of the press turn the web inline with the folder; the press has automatic colour monitoring and cut-off controls from QI Press Controls; ink is supplied constantly from five 7,000 kilogram ink tanks.

15 SWUG July Left and below:the publishing room at Ormiston features one of the most modern Ferag systems in the country including inserters, drum winding and unwinding stations, inline StreamStitch stitch and trim (the first of its kind for newspapers) and stackers. Right: In prepress, two Kodak Trendsetter News CTP units combined with Nela automated plate bending are capable of pumping out up to 200 plates per hour 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 1990 Rural Press North Richmond, New South Wales 1991 Canweb, ACT 1992 Mackay Mercury, Queensland 1993 Launceston Examiner, Tasmania 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 1998/99 Bendigo Advertiser, Victoria 2000 Launceston Examiner, Tasmania 2001 Fairfax Regional Printers, Newcastle, New South Wales 2002 Sunshine Coast Daily, Maroochydore, Queensland 2003 Daily Advertiser, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2004 The Gold Coast Bulletin, Queensland 2005 The Ballarat Courier, Victoria 2006 Murray Valley Standard, Murray Bridge, South Australia 2007 Sunshine Coast Daily, Yandina, Queensland 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 SWUG SITES The roll call of sites for the SWUG conference since Prepare for Take-Off. Taking your business further is like flying an airplane. Agfa Graphics s Newspaper Solutions will get you to cruising speed in no time, with a cost-effective, efficient prepress operation. Our service teams are always at hand to make sure you stay ahead of schedule. We know the flight plan: cruise at higher levels of quality and productivity and get more mileage out of your investment. We ll help you get there with a full set of dedicated workflow solutions, unique screening technology and separation software to reduce ink usage, all part of the :Arkitex family. We have a fine selection of CtP solutions on board: the new :Advantage N, or the trusted :Polaris X, with a range of high-quality digital plates. Alternatively, sample our ecology-friendly chemistry-free violet plates. Agfa Graphics, the standard in newspaper prepress production. AGFA GRAPHICS Agfa Graphics Australia & New Zealand Tel: (Aust) Tel: (NZ)

16 16 SWUG July 2012 Getting the good oil on consumables The parts and consumables used on a press might seem insignificant in terms of the overall operation but they can make a significant difference to costs and productivity. That was the message at SWUG from several consumable suppliers who outlined the latest developments in lubricants, belts and wash solutions. Consumables The old advertising slogan Oils ain t oils was given new meaning in Sean Thiele s presentation on lubrication and, certainly, anybody who previously thought that all oils are the same will have quickly realised the folly of treating them as such. Sean, who represents lubrication specialists Indisol, focused on the importance of using the right lubricant with your machinery and the necessity of keeping it clean. As most people know, mineral oil is a substance made up of plant and animal matter that was deposited millions of years ago. Most people, too, probably think of crude oil as black, sticky stuff that gushes out of the ground but, in fact, depending on where it comes from, it can have very different colours and consistency. Only about 10% of a barrel of crude oil is used for industrial purposes; the rest is mainly used for gasoline, diesel, kerosene or heating fuel. Most oil that comes from one refinery or another is very similar in terms of quality, said Sean, but there are nevertheless many different types of oil which vary according to their viscosity and components. Which one you use is very important to get right. Choose your oil wisely The best way to work out the right oil to use, said Sean, is to refer back to the manufacturer s manual because that will specify what you should be using for any piece of equipment. Characteristics that should be considered in choosing an oil include the viscosity or thickness of the oil, the load it must bear, the temperature of the equipment (the hotter the oil becomes, the thinner it gets), the shear rates or breakdown point of the oil, and any shock/vibration in the equipment. In terms of industrial oils, there are three main types: CLP gear oils, HVLP hydraulic oils, and CGLP chain and slideway oils. Each oil is designed with very specific purposes in mind and is not interchangeable. Apart from the type of oil used, the other aspect to consider is relubrication and how the oil is maintained and looked after. Despite what many people might think, mineral oil doesn t deteriorate over time but it does become contaminated which will reduce its effectiveness. However, if the oil is cared for correctly then the re-lubrication times can be extended significantly. For instance, according to Sean, some Fairfax print sites have been using the same oil for between 7-10 years due to proper management. And just as it can be risky to use too little oil, too much lubrication can also cause problems, increasing the temperature of the oil and risking failure. If you over-lubricate a bearing and put in more than 40-50% of the volume, you induce heat and reduce the life of the bearing, said Sean. In the same way that oils ain t oils it is equally true, according to Sean, that grease ain t grease. While some users might regard oil and grease as interchangeable, in reality they serve very different purposes. While the preference is always to use oil where possible, grease is used in those areas where oil cannot be held because it would just flow away. Grease is just a carrier for oil and is made up of 75-90% oil with the addition of thickener, either soap or non-soap (5-15% - the more thickener, the lower the grade of the oil) and additives (2-15%) such as anticorrosive agents. Keeping it clean While it is vital is use the right oil, how it is managed in use is equally important, explained Sean. To optimise their use of lubricants, users need to have in place an oil cleanliness program (OCP) and introduce oil conditioning monitoring (OCM). When oil is being used in machinery, it can quickly become contaminated, such as through air-borne dust particles or wear and tear from the machinery. Cleaning the oil, such as via a filtration system, will increase its life significantly, thereby extending the life of the equipment, increasing its productivity and reducing downtime. In addition to monitoring the cleanliness of the oil, OCM is also a good indicator of potential mechanical problems with equipment before they can become catastrophic. For instance, Sean highlighted an example of a two-year old machine on which oil testing revealed a significant increase in contaminants, both in number and particle size, which was an indication of imminent gear failure. The oil monitoring didn t save the gear, which was on the point of failure, but it did avoid a costly breakdown during production. Testing an oil sample typically costs about $40 which is a fraction of the cost of repairing a broken gearbox. Numbers tell the story There are ISO standards that apply to oil contamination that use different numerical codes to describe the amount of contamination. The numbers in the code refer to different particle sizes 4, 6 and 14 microns, typically the particle sizes that cause the most wear with each number referring to the number of such particles in the oil. Moreover, each increase in the number represents a doubling of the number of particles. For example, a typical 100ml oil sample classified under the ISO standard as 19/17/14 contains: >4 micron 450,000 particles >6 micron 120,000 particles >14 micron 14,000 particles Sean showed before and after slides that demonstrated the effect of cleaning oil and thereby reducing the ISO reading from a figure of 24/22/19 to 16/14/11, which is the level of cleanliness specified by some press manufacturers. According to Sean, cleaning your oil to reduce contaminants, for instance from ISO 21/18 (for 6 and 14 micron particles) to ISO 15/12, will extend component life by a factor of five. Similarly, installing air filters on equipment, particularly in humid regions such as Queensland, can significantly extend component life by reducing contaminants down to 2 microns and eliminating moisture. For instance, reducing average fluid moisture levels in oil from 2,500ppm to 156ppm, can likewise extend component life by a factor of five. Control your oil In summary, it is clear, said Sean, that while users cannot control how their oil is manufactured, they can control how it is stored and used. If you re going to take time to extend the life of your equipment and reduce the necessity to invest in equipment not so much buying new presses as buying new parts look at the lubrication program. It s not about the failure of oil companies, it s really about cleanliness and monitoring the equipment in a responsible manner to identify what s happening to the equipment through the oil, he concluded. Think before you lubricate What I m trying to get across is the message Think about what you re doing before you do it. Don t suffer the consequences after the fact, said Sean Thiele. Oils ain t Oils Base oils are very specific and designed to do a particular job Viscosity does the bulk of the work Additives only enhance the performance of oils Grease ain t Grease Solid to semi-solid fluid Combines dispersion thickening agents and oils Base oil viscosity is critical Understand when you cross mix there are consequences! If in doubt, ask an expert or read the OEM manual. James Hunter from Chiorino Australia (left) presented a new magnetic web-up kite (below) that uses two magnetic sheets to hold the paper, eliminating the need for fibre glass tape or splice tape. The use of magnets instead of tape has the potential to eradicate fibre glass contamination and the build-up of bonding residue on rollers. Better belts for all Italian supplier Chiorino is well known for the range of belts and tapes it manufactures for the printing industry. James Hunter of Chiorino Australia returned to SWUG to give an update on the latest developments in web-up belts and tapes, magnetic web-up kites and quarter fold belts and tapes. In terms of web-up belts, the new T- E 10/20 fast-join belt (seen in action at the Ormiston site) has been designed specifically for web-up applications on Goss and KBA reel stands. According to James, this particular belt is stronger and more durable than other belts currently in use. It is also quick to install and easy to join, thereby reducing installation and downtime costs. A new product being manufactured by Chiorino South Africa is a magnetic web-up kite that is currently available for manroland presses that use chain and can also be adapted for KBA and Goss presses that use belts and tapes. The new system uses two magnetic sheets to hold the paper, thereby eliminating the need for fibre glass tape or splice tape. The elimination of fibre glass tape in particular has the potential to eradicate fibre glass contamination and the build-up of bonding residue on rollers. As demonstrated at SWUG, the magnetic sheets create an extremely tight grip on the paper. Moving onto the folder, James highlighted the PT series belts that are being used in a variety of applications for manroland, KBA and Goss newspaper folders. These belts are made from hidensity elastomer polyurethane and use traditional polyamide and polyester fabric as the base of the belt. According to James, in many applications traditional belts suffer from premature deterioration due to the ink and fount solutions, as well as premature elongation, transfer of wet ink and ink build-up. The PT series belts are designed to be more durable and, if applied correctly, can reduce paper spoils in many applications where wet ink is in contact with the belts and tapes.

17 SWUG July Washing with water Steve Tangee from local consumable supplier, DS Chemport, returned to SWUG with another entertaining presentation that continued his demonstration of the chemistry involved in some of today s pressroom consumables. His focus this year was on wash solutions for cleaning blankets and rollers, and whether it is possible to use a solvent-free wash solution to effectively clean ink residue. As Steve demonstrated, typically to dissolve or wash up an ink, a wash is used that is held together by the same forces that hold together the ink. So, for instance, a hydrocarbonbased solvent will typically be used to clean a hydrocarbon-based ink while water is used to clean a water-based ink. However, as most people are aware, there are problems associated with using hydrocarbon-based solvents in the workplace, such as the fumes they give off and their comparatively low flashpoint, the temperature at which the vapours will ignite. In contrast, water-based washes are much safer because water will not ignite and is not combustible. Meeting the challenge The challenge then, as Steve outlined, is to develop a hybrid wash which is safe to use but which can dissolve more than one substance, including materials that are incompatible. Recently, DS Chemport has been trialling a water-based, solvent-free wash developed in Germany which promises to deliver a number of benefits. Being a water surfactant-based product, it contains no hazardous ingredients, no hydrocarbons or VOCs, no vegetable oil or derivatives and it does not have a flash point. It is also derived from a renewal source water rather than a finite hydrocarbon-based resource. Being solvent-free, there are fewer restrictions imposed on its packaging, transportation and storage, and it is easier to recycle or dispose of. Used in automatic blanket washing systems, there is less waste wash and water to recycle and dispose of, and the wash-water mix doesn t require separating prior to filtration. As a result, the automatic wash cycle can be reduced by more than 30%. On the press, the wash is designed to cause minimal blanket swell with a fast evaporation rate and, because there is not residual hydrocarbon-based wash remaining on the blanket, there is less toning and paper waste at start-ups. The wash is healthier to use in the workplace with no odour, less skin irritation, no solvent flash fire beneath UV lamps, and no need for critical heatset oven LEL testing. The wash is suitable for both UV and conventional inks, and according to Steve, FOGRA testing of the wash has been completed and OEM approvals are pending. Describing how the wash works, Steve referred back to last year s presentation when he described the Washing with water: Steve Tangee of DS Chemport returned to SWUG to demonstrate some of the chemistry behind a new water-based wash product that promises to eliminate problems traditionally associated with solvent-based solutions. process of surfactant micelle formation when ink becomes emulsified in solution. While this is a bad result for fount solutions, it is ideal for washing ink off blankets and rollers. The acid test But does the wash actually work? Trials of the wash, mainly on blankets, have been taking place in Europe and locally at APN Print, Amcor, Rural Press in Ballarat and Newsprinters in Shepparton. It is also currently being used in the UK as a parts wash and for floors and side frames. According to Steve, field trials have shown that the wash is a good blanket wash and that its viscosity has been shown to assist in auto wash applications, particularly clinging to the brush. However, because it is water-based, overspray of the wash could cause web breaks so, to avoid this problem, it is necessary to disconnect the water and reduce the wash by 30% for auto brush blanket washes. While there have been positive trials in the non-heatset market, further development is required for the wash to be effective with heavier heatset and sheetfed inks. However, as Steve pointed out, projects such as eliminating alcohol from heatset pressrooms took many years but were eventually achieved with commitment. So it is possible to achieve a similar outcome with washes as well, said Steve. Fujifilm s development work and negotiations with press manufacturers for solvent-free wash continues. Making the world a brighter place... Total Ink Solutions For more information, contact us on Telephone: Website: webinfo@dic.com.au

18 18 SWUG July 2012 New laws for workplace safety OH&S New health and safety legislation that is being rolled out across the country was addressed by Penny Karvouniaris (pictured), an employment and industrial relations lawyer who advises clients on their work health and safety obligations. While it is often the more extreme incidents that make the news and grab the attention, OH&S is an issue that affects all workplaces. The background to the new OH&S legislation is that, in , there were 128,735 workers compensation claims for serious work related injuries or illness, which works out at 13 claims per 1,000 employees. After from the negative impact on individual workers who may suffer illness and injury, poor workplace safety also results in lost time, increased management time and costs, and higher workers compensation expenses. That s why managing health and safety should be a priority for all workplaces, and not just because the law demands it. Living in perfect harmony According to Penny, the current buzzword in occupational health and safety is harmonisation which refers to the process of introducing consistent legislation across all states and territories. In 2008, all the states and territories agreed to work together to develop consistent health and safety laws across the country. The new Work Health & Safety Act was endorsed in 2009 with the expectation that the states would introduce mirror legislation. To date that hasn t happened. The Commonwealth, NSW, Queensland, ACT and NT governments introduced harmonised legislation from 1 January this year but the other states are yet to make any changes. It is a very tall order to be able to predict and factor in human error but that is what the regulator expects. The benefits of having consistent health and safety legislation across the nation are that it leads to greater clarity and simplicity, reduces costs for businesses in only having one set of laws with which to comply, and promotes greater certainty and understanding of what the law requires. Apart from the nationally-consistent application of the legislation, the new laws also contain some important changes. For instance, the primary duty of persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) is to ensure health and safety in the workplace, and this duty extends not just to employees but also contractors, visitors, volunteers, clients and others who could be affected at the site. In addition, the definition of workplace is not confined to the principal site/main place of business but also includes any place where a worker goes, or is likely to go, while at work. What it might cost you Three categories of penalties, fines and imprisonment now apply to breaches of the work health and safety duties: Category 1 reckless conduct: for reckless conduct that exposes an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness and is engaged in without reasonable excuse. Corporations: $3 million Individuals as a PCBU or officers of a PCBU: $600,000/five years jail Other Individuals: $300,000/five years jail Category 2 high risk breach: failure to comply with a health and safety duty and exposing an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness. Corporations: $1.5 million Individuals as a PCBU or officers of a PCBU: $300,000 Other Individuals : $150,000 Category 3 duty breach: failure to comply with a health and safety duty. Corporations: $500,000 Individuals as a PCBU or officers of a PCBU: $100,000 Other Individuals: $50,000 So, for instance, if an employee goes to another site to install equipment, the health and safety responsibilities are not transferred to someone else at that site. Office holders have a duty to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate activities with other duty holders. This is particularly important when entering into contracting arrangements, said Penny. You should be communicating your safety requirements, reviewing the jobs undertaken and discussing any safety issues with contractors. Try to be reasonable A key phrase in the new legislation is that the duty holder must eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. That means doing what is possible to ensure the health and safety of workers so as to meet a standard of behaviour as might be expected of a reasonable person in that position. If that sounds a little vague, the legislation does give some guidance as to what might constitute reasonably practicable. For instance, what is the likelihood of a hazard or risk? If harm is more likely, there is an expectation then that more will be done to eliminate or minimise the risk. Secondly, what is the degree of possible harm? It is reasonable to expect that somebody will do more to eliminate or minimise the risk of death or serious injury than, say, the risk of a minor injury. Thirdly, what is your state of knowledge? What should you reasonably know about how to eliminate or minimise a hazard or risk? This knowledge can be gained in several ways, such as consulting with workers and people in the industry, undertaking on-site risk assessments (although they are not mandatory except for certain activities such as diving), analysing previous incidents, and consulting relevant industry codes of practice. It is also considered reasonably practicable for you to understand the risks or hazards associated with the potential failure of equipment or safety measures, as well as human error or misuse. You should be taking all of these things into account in working out what is reasonably practicable, which is really difficult because, obviously, people are quite spontaneous and do unpredictable things, said Penny. It is a very tall order to be able to predict and factor in human error but that is what the regulator expects. The next factor in assessing what is reasonably practicable is the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise risks. This encompasses things such as safety equipment, guards etc as well as work procedures such as speed limits. The final factor is cost, bearing in mind that safety always ranks ahead of cost and that the cost is only taken into account after considering the extent of the risk and the available means of eliminating it. For instance, the more likely the hazard or risk, and the greater the harm that might result from it, the less weight will be given to cost of eliminating or minimising it. At the same time, the capacity to pay in this instance is not relevant; your workers should not have a lower level of protection simply because your financial position is weaker than, say, a large multinational corporation that reasoning will not be accepted by the regulator. A practical example of how the notion of reasonably practicable might apply was presented by Penny in relation to the risks associated with pedestrians in forklift operating areas. This particular incident involved a loading dock coordinator at a print facility. The employee was walking back to her office. She had paperwork in her hands and appeared to be looking down as she walked, reading. The forklift was reversing back towards her and hit the employee. She hit the ground on impact, hitting her head. She sustained an injury to her neck, a fracture to her pelvis and an injury to her knee. The company had control measures in place, namely the forklift had a reversing alarm on it and there was a flashing light. The company had standard operating procedures in place for Forklift Traffic Management and for Forklift Safe Operation which required forklift drivers to make sure the area is clear of pedestrian traffic when performing any lift. It also indicated that operators could use portable safety barriers to restrict pedestrian access if required. WorkSafe prosecuted the company on the basis that it had not done everything that is reasonably practicable. In particular, at the time of the incident, it did not segregate plant and pedestrians by having permanent pedestrian and plant exclusion zones or by providing designating walkways. Since then, company has taken remedial actions and reviewed the traffic management plan. In particular, specific forklift zones have been created with safety barriers and witches hats where no pedestrian access is permitted unless authorised. All pedestrians are required to stay within designated walkways and driver induction training has been updated to cover this. A duty to be diligent Another important change introduced by harmonisation process is the duty imposed on officers to exercise ongoing due diligence to ensure compliance with the Act. This is a proactive duty which means that officers have an ongoing duty to gain an understanding of the hazards and risks, and ensure that the business has and uses appropriate resources and processes to minimise or eliminate risk. So who is an officer? This is defined as directors, the company secretary, any person involved in making decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of the business, and any person who has capacity to affect significantly the company s financial standing so it is a fairly broad definition. There are also new penalties associated with the legislation with the maximum penalties set according to the category of offence committed and the type of duty holder (i.e. an individual, officer or body corporate). The amount of the maximum penalties for each type of duty holder has been increased significantly in the new legislation see box. What you can do In conclusion, Penny outlined a number of practical tips for complying with the new legislation. These include: Having up-to-date health and safety policies and procedures Allocating responsibilities for health and safety issues Establishing safety committees that are able to report upwards to assist officers in meeting their obligations Increasing staff awareness through training and education Having hazard identification and risk assessment processes in place Conducting safety audits and updating risk assessments Establishing contractor management procedures Implementing incident reporting and review processes Keeping open channels for communication of health and safety concerns.

19 SWUG July Looking at safety with fresh eyes Safety audits An interesting case study on site health and safety was presented by Ian Johns (pictured) from ink manufacturer, DIC, who outlined some of the OH&S initiatives implemented at the company s Auburn plant and the benefits of conducting an external audit into safety. The key message of Ian s presentation was that no matter how safety-aware you might be, it is always possible to improve your processes. Originally established in the 1950s, DIC s Auburn site in Sydney is a very busy manufacturing plant which experiences a considerable amount of vehicle traffic including tankers arriving and leaving for bulk deliveries as well as numerous forklift movements each day. In fact, according to Ian, on average there are over 180 forklift movements daily on the site and more than 20 Don t worry about what you might find. Just worry about what remains unidentified. truck entries and exits, not counting small trucks and couriers These movements are also often in areas where the entry and exit is quite narrow. In addition, there is also a considerable amount of pedestrian traffic between different areas of the site with people crossing over traffic areas between the warehouses and factories. As a result, traffic movements have been identified as a potential hazard and one that needs to be managed. Being a chemical manufacturing site, the storage of hazardous materials is another major concern and one that presents its own risks which need to be managed. No secrets to safety Current health and safety measures on the site include a dedicated intranet site to provide all employees with upto-date safety information, induction programs for new employees and contractors, a health and safety committee, risk assessments, hazard reports and near-miss report cards as well as OH&S noticeboards on all sites. It s all about sharing as much information as we ve got, said Ian. There is no such thing as a secret when it comes to workplace health and safety. Drawing on ideas from previous SWUG conferences, the company recently decided to engage an external auditor to come in and inspect the site in order to see, from a safety perspective, what was working well and what needed to be improved. The external auditor was a business partner with 40 years industry experience who came on site for two days and worked with the HR and operations managers. The audit process covered site inspections, a review of current documentation, compliance with legislation as well as questions and interviews with employees. There were no restrictions on access so nothing could be hidden, said Ian. The audit showed that while the company was compliant with current legislation, there were a number of areas that could indeed be improved. We discovered that we met our legal requirements but we could do better, said Ian. It s more about making sure we do everything humanly possible to keep people safe. As a result, some changes have been implemented at the site from an OH&S perspective. Daily safety huddles Following the audit, daily toolbox meetings are now being held which incorporate a safety topic. Previously meetings were weekly and focused more on production issues, but now they have been broadened to include safety and made shorter safety huddles as Ian called them. Led by the supervisor, staff discuss safety areas that can be improved such as slip hazards and the timing of raw material movements. A risk assessment of traffic movements on the site was carried out and a traffic management plan written that will be implemented to ensure all job functions associated with on-site traffic are conducted in a safe manner. Other outcomes include pictures of local first-aiders and fire wardens being put up around the sites, evacuation plans and emergency exits being clearly displayed, electrical cabinets to remain locked at all times, and all ladders on the site to be secured. We certainly learnt a lot, said Ian. We found we weren t as good as we thought we were. In summary, Ian said that new processes, people and equipment always lead to new risks, so it pays to engage a third party to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the situation. Don t worry about what you might find, he said, just worry about what remains unidentified. Magnum HPS High Performance Single Width One-Around Up to 70,000 cph, wide range of applications LOCAL CONTACT: Goss International, Unit 16, 35 Dunlop Road, Mulgrave, Victoria 3170, Australia

20 20 SWUG July 2012 Have your say... Engineers Q&A Double width, double circumference (dwdc) The engineers session for double width/double circumference press users saw a number of new issues raised this year on topics ranging from brake wear to chemicalfree plates. Update from 2011 Metal backed blankets: There was further discussion this year on the use of metal-backed blankets and the problems of running them. Ormiston, the Border Mail and Yandina sites gave an update on progress with these issues. Frank O Grady from the Border Mail at Albury said the problem seems to have stabilised and, having worked with the blanket manufacturer, he has not had too much trouble. The site is currently using Day blankets on most towers and trialling Conti on one tower. Ray Zeric at Ormiston reported they are still having problems running half webs for long runs and that it takes a long time to achieve registration. Peter Broadfoot from APN Yandina The afternoon of the engineers sessions is an opportunity for SWUG delegates to ask questions, highlight production problems and seek solutions. This year, the topics covered a variety of performance issues with a particular focus on safe lifting procedures. said that some of their blankets have been on for 12 months and are still going well after reaching 50 million impressions. Speaking from a manufacturer s perspective, Eddie Holmes at Flint Group said continuing R&D was being done to improve the blankets, particularly in terms of the compound between compressible layers. Stephan Peters from Conti said the company was experimenting with different types of compressible layers and hadn t experienced any delamination problems. Ian Best from Agfa said similar compression layer issues had been seen with heatset commercial presses. Frank O Grady advised not allowing blankets to heat up during long runs on half webs by only running the blanket on the print side. Eddie Holmes confirmed that temperature has a critical effect on the blankets and that temperatures from 45º to 50º will cook the blanket. All manufacturers are trying to make them more effective and he advised that increasing water on fractional webs to keep them lubricated will assist a lot. Plate wear: There was previously an issue with excessive plate wear on long runs with certain thermal plates. Anthony Payne reported that some sites were trying to do different things this year and were experiencing plate wear. Rob Mollee from Kodak said the company had made some adjustments to exposure settings and that it had discovered some batch to batch variation in manufacturing. New formulations have overcome this problem. Mark Collins from Ballarat said the site had experienced batch to batch variation, getting one month of good runs followed by average runs the next month, although this has not been seen for a while. Jon Clarke at Canberra said the site had seen a lot of problems with plates last year which resulted in it removing the Kodak plate. Since then, it has put them back on with no further problems in coldset. Similarly, Stuart Holder from Mandurah has had issues with plate wear in the past which was thought to be a problem with the plates. However, after changing the fountain solution, the problem went away and the site now uses Böttcher solution on both heatset and coldset units. Ian Best from Agfa reported that a forum was held at News Ltd in Chullora to address intermittent plate wear issues. Test strips had shown that fount contamination was the cause and, since then, run lengths have gone back to 400,000 impressions. Mark Grima from Fairfax Printers at Chullora reported that no further problems had been reported since switching to reverse osmosis water. He believes that News are likewise now using RO water. Corrosion: Anthony Payne highlighted the issue of accelerated corrosion on a number of presses including manroland and Goss (unsure about KBA). Jason Ryder at Ormiston said the site was currently managing the problem between blanket changes. Every time a blanket is removed, it is shown that moisture has entered. Currently using a light-grade oil to lubricate between the cylinder and the press but it is an on-going management issue. Michael Aubrey at Newcastle likewise reported a problem with blanket cylinders and is about to trial the use of packed blankets to see if it has an effect. Currently using no-pack blankets. Kersten Frotscher from manroland highlighted the effect on different presses manufactured at the same time from similar materials. In India, a press on which the blankets are changed at regular intervals regardless of the number of impressions has experienced no problems. In Italy, by comparison, the same press manufactured at the same time is now contaminated with rust, possibly due to the chemicals used causing a reaction. Currently the company is trying to determine the reaction between the different chemicals used together on the one press and the effect on corrosion. Anthony Payne said the problem is

21 SWUG July frustrating from a user s perspective. At Newcastle, the original four towers have corrosion. Two additional towers also have it despite following all recommended procedures and using only approved products. It is also apparently an issue at The Age plant at Tullamarine as well as at Ormiston. Peter Surman from the Border Mail said the Goss press there had experienced some bad corrosion that was traced to the compound on the packing of a particular blanket. It disappeared overnight after changing the blanket and has not been seen since. It was suggested that the problem might have something to do with presses being in coastal locations. Ballarat, for instance, doesn t have it and neither does North Richmond. Kersten Frotscher confirmed that the Italian press is located on the coast whereas the Indian press is in Bangalore, away from the coast. Is the solution then to move all the press sites further inland? Worn bearings: This seems to be an issue that is primarily affecting Goss presses. It was first reported last year on the Uniliner press at Christchurch where, according to Jason Ryder from Ormiston, worn cylinder bearings brought the press to a standstill. It was discovered that 19 bearings had different forms of wear. On the Ormiston press, the situation is nowhere near as bad but there are still some signs of wear. Goss advises that they need to use one grease only on all three sites. Currently, they are vibration testing every three months. The last one performed at Ormiston was a good result; five bearings were changed but were at normal levels. They will continue to monitor the situation for the next three years to see how it goes. This is an issue that can be controlled effectively by lubrication and by using the right type of lubricant. Plate edge marking: A long-term issue. Rob Mollee from Kodak reported that, from a manufacturing standpoint, this has not changed; there is not a lot that can be done in the manufacturing cycle to solve it. The problem is the same for all manufacturers and can be seen across a lot of print sites and titles. The only real solution is to pay for a plate that is manufactured and coated to a specific size, or to use panorama plates. New issues for 2012 Hemant Kalita from Ormiston highlighted an issue with former board slitters not lasting very long with the edges going blunt after 2-3 days. They have tried solving it by moving the slitter left to right but currently going through six to seven slitters per month. Was anyone else having the same problem? Peter Kirwan from Goss confirmed he had seen the problem elsewhere but not sure of the exact detail; he will get back to Ormiston with latest information on resolving the problem. Michael Lyons from Newcastle reported on a problem with excessive brake shear wear causing a lot of stoppages. The brake discs have been replaced and come out looking glazed and shiny. After being cleaned up, they are good for a couple of months but then the problem re-emerges. Any solutions? Apparently Ballarat experienced a similar problem and replaced the disc and plate shoes with parts from Melbourne which generate less residue. Likewise at Mandurah. North Richmond is experiencing similar problems on one reel stand. Ballarat will supply details of their solution. Noel Brennan from Queensland Newspapers asked about excessive build-up on CIC satellite units. Currently, they need to be cleaned after 200,00 impressions, sometimes as little as 100,000, and they are difficult to clean. Peter Tkachuk from Baldwin said the installation of a web cleaning system in Adelaide had fixed this problem as it vacuums the web before it enters the press and extends the cleaning interval. Mark Gooding from Flint Group said it was an issue that had been around for a long time with no definitive answer. The temperature of the first unit will have a big effect while web cleaning also works because it removes the paper dust. Michael Vankka from North Richmond asked about striping/ ghosting on heatset work. He has talked to Angus Scott at Ace Rollers about adding an oscillating roller to overcome it. Mandurah currently don t have this issue on their heatset. Neil Rose from Böttcher suggested that striping might be due to calcium build-up on the rollers. Eddie Holmes at Flint said it is common for sheetfed presses to have oscillating rollers to overcome ghosting and that it might be a good idea to have two. Sheetfed presses have four. John Ostler from manroland said that roller power can be an issue which means that the press starts to run out of ink at speed. An oscillating form roller should help with this. Ian Woods from Fairfax Printers at continued next page Check your power units Following a number of incidents, print sites are urged to check any power factor correction units they have installed as failure to do so may have explosive consequences. A number of sites in recent years have reported fires and explosive combustion as a result of power factor correction units overheating. These units are often installed at industrial plants as they have been shown to reduce electricity consumption significantly by ensuring that only the required amount of power is used. While they do a good job, they also need to be checked regularly and, if necessary, replaced to prevent potential problems. According to Anthony Payne, several local print sites have experienced fires caused by faulty power factor correction units. Traditionally they ve been installed in electrical switch rooms so the risk is that they can go up big time and take the switch room out with it, he said. In one incident, a five-year old unit went up in flames and blew the door off the unit. At another site, when the manufacturers of the unit were contacted regarding servicing, they advised turning it off immediately as it was well past its use-by date. Just be aware that if you have got them, get them serviced, get them checked. If they are around 10 years old, it s probably about time to start thinking about getting them replaced, added Anthony. The other point to remember is that if the equipment on-site is being upgraded then this may increase the load on the correction units, so make sure they can cope with the extra load. This may not be a job for the plant electrician but there are specialist electricians who will come in and monitor the units to ensure they are working properly. Fit for future markets. Stand out from the competition and gain access to new markets. The digital printing market is developing at a rapid pace and is opening up new vistas. 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22 22 SWUG July 2012 continued from previous page Chullora wanted to know if anybody locally is manufacturing brush rollers for processors as the manufacturer s parts are expensive. Angus Scott from Ace Rollers is currently manufacturing and supplying to Ballarat and North Richmond. Shayne West from Ballarat said they were already being used and although it was early days in the trial process, there were no issues. The new rollers had a similar life expectancy as the OEMs. General discussion There was a general discussion about the use of chemical-free CTP plates following on from the earlier presentation from Dubbo. Rob Mollee from Kodak said that regardless of whether the plates are violet or thermal, chemical-free technologies will certainly assist with reducing waste and costs. There might be some modifications required in prepress to run them, like all new technologies, but the installed base worldwide now indicates the interest in them. Ian Best from Agfa said there are now violet-light systems running in Hobart and Darwin as well as at the Sunraysia Daily in Mildura and one in New Zealand Steve Dunwell from manroland observed that run lengths are a critical factor and so, for big sites, that may still be an issue Warren Hinder from Fujifilm said that chemical-free thermal plates were now showing run lengths of around 100,000 impressions. The company is also about to release a low chemical violet system. Even with low chemical plates, he said, there still needs to be a system for safe disposal of waste it cannot just go down the sink. Overall, this is an interesting technology in the light of increased environmental pressures such as carbon footprinting which will have an impact across the business. There was interest from delegates in how the new UV ink installations at North Richmond and Canberra are progressing. Both sites said the installations were up and running and working well. At this stage, it is still too early to give any specifics. Issues around consumables and optimising the right combination are still being worked out so expect to hear more on this topic next year. Mark Gooding from Flint Group pointed out that the ink viscosity is very different for UV and that it was a big part of the challenge. Tolerances for the ink-water balance are also much tighter with UV said Michael Gee. There was a general discussion about other UV installations around the world. Single width, single circumference (swsc) Convener of the single width, single circumference engineers session, Geoff Austin, opened the meeting by reminding delegates of last year s focus on proactive maintenance and the importance of having a proper plan in place. Recapping some of the issues raised last year, Dave Hedges from Tamworth reported that the outcome regarding creasing in the Goss folder was as expected. Some adjustments had been made without fixing the issue and this does now appear to be a characteristic of this type of folder. Rockhampton had an issue with folds not lining up and, following a visit from manroland, this has now improved. Dubbo had a problem with plates having to be trimmed in order to fit and this has now been fixed by adjusting the stops. Murray Bridge had a issue with water leaking from spray bar dampening pipes and this has now been fixed by re-routing the pipes. New issues for 2012 In terms of new issues this year, Terry Skewes from Tamworth highlighted a problem with twisting on the cyan plate. The problem is erratic, he said, appearing about 90% of the time, and doesn t happen with any other colours. The press has been thoroughly checked over turner bars, blankets, motors, web tension - without being able to locate a cause. There is no creasing on the web on entry or exit and the problem seems to improve with more webs. Jason Kennedy from Flint Group suggested using an under-gauge blanket and to aim for the lower end of the blanket tolerance. Problems with opacity and showthrough in the past have largely been overcome so that today there is little difference between 42 and 45gsm. Andy Stephens suggested that more research needs to be done to determine whether it really is occurring only 90% of the time or whether it is constant but not obvious. A useful starting point is document what is happening on the press in terms of paper, number of webs etc to help analyse the variables. Warrnambool print site experienced a similar problem on the black and discovered that a cylinder had been scratched with spanners. Repairing the cylinder fixed the problem. Robert Thompson from the Gisborne Herald in New Zealand reported on a problem with creasing when running 42gsm webs. He has started to use an anti-creasing roller but was unsure about the best place to position it. The creasing only occurs on 42gsm, not 45gsm, and seems to be affected by the temperature of the press hall. Kym Leonard from Norske Skog pointed out that the Gold Coast Bulletin has gone to 42gsm without experiencing any creasing or changes on press. Suggestions included looking at the path rollers. Shane Brooks from Launceston said a similar problem had been experienced at that site with web leads over the top of the press, as a result of which they fitted a larger diameter path roller. Other suggestions included getting the press hall air conditioned and checking to see if there are any dampening issues. Mal Morris from Dubbo raised an issue with the splice breaking over the turn bar on a half web is there a set speed? Michael Gee said a similar problem at Ormiston years ago was related to the reel stand. Shane Brooks suggested getting an electrician to look at the reel stand settings to turn the power down. Launceston has two reel stands with different settings for running halfwebs. Trevor Channon from Murray Bridge reported on problems with getting a flat spine when running 45gsm through the Universal folder. Is it an issue with the paper or the folder? There are no problems running 52gsm which suggests it is a paper problem, perhaps as a result of the fact that it contains more recycled fibre. Steve Cox from Norske Skog confirmed that paper with recycled content will act differently compared to virgin fibre, but this is not an issue with other Universal folders such as at Shepparton and Spot Press. One suggestion was to change the pins more often. Spot Press changes the pins every four weeks and always uses the proper Goss pins. Paper discussion There was a general discussion about the growing use of 42gsm newsprint. Steve Cox from Norske Skog said 42gsm has become the most common style of paper used at most sites. In the past it used to be about 8% 48gsm, 43% 42gsm and the rest 45gsm. Now it s about 85% 42gsm. The biggest users of 45gsm are the Border Mail, Canberra Times and Shepparton Newsprinters with most other sites running 42gsm. Problems with opacity and showthrough in the past have largely been overcome so that today there is little difference between 42 and 45gsm. While 42gsm may cost more, it uses fewer rolls with fewer paste-ups which makes it more cost-effective. Steve also highlighted the number of sites that are now going down to 110mm on the core compared to previously when it used to be mm. This can result in big savings over time. Most sites today are getting down to 110mm quite easily, said Steve, and there were few complaints regarding faulty rolls maybe only half a dozen a year out of 280,000 rolls. There was a general discussion on topics covered in the main sessions regarding the QuickSet press control system, press guards at Dubbo and the benefits of oil filtration.

23 SWUG July Lifting safety standards on site A number of safety-related topics were raised during the engineering sessions, mainly related to the lifting of heavy components. Safe lifting procedures are a vital part of preventing workplace injuries, particularly in relation to back complaints that are often sustained as a result of incorrect or repetitive lifting. During the engineers sessions, a number of sites reported on initiatives they have implemented to reduce lifting injuries. At Ballarat, the site underwent a random safety inspection in the publishing room which highlighted potential problems with operators having to turn and twist when feeding inserter hoppers. The site was given four weeks to respond to the assessment during which time, working in conjunction with the people who were operating the equipment, several adjustments were made to eliminate twisting. Mark Collins from Ballarat said seven assessments were made in total in consultation with the operators, each time further assessing the risk and adjusting the process. The final outcome was a great improvement and one which ultimately satisfied the safety inspector. Anthony Payne commented that the fact that this was a random inspection highlighted the importance of having the correct procedures and processes in place. Consultation with staff was also vital in achieving the desired outcome. There was a general discussion about safe procedures for lifting and removing items such as butt cores and turbos. Michael Aubrey at Newcastle said operators from the reel stand area had expressed concern about larger butt cores and their removal. The site has an old factory pallet jack but manoeuvrability is a problem in the area so he was interested to know if delegates had any suggestions for reducing manual handling. Mark Collins from Ballarat said the site has team lifting training in place which requires two people. Training has also been organised to see what new processes can be implemented. Mark Grima from Fairfax Printers at Chullora said the site has a procedure that uses a forklift while Frank O Grady at the Border Mail said they use a heightened trolley although manual lifting is still required to remove the butt core. Turbo lifting When it comes to removing heavy turbos from units, Peter Broadfoot at APN Yandina highlighted a very clever system using a hydraulic trolley that runs on rails see box right for details. Peter Morgan from The Age Print Centre said the site also has a safe procedure for lifting turbos which comprises lifting gear and trolleys for manoeuvring the turbo out of the unit and safely onto the gantry. In the swsc session, Angelo Cirillo from Shepparton outlined a hydraulic lifting system that had been installed at the site for plate loading in order to help reduce the amount of kneeling required. The auto-inking system on the press has resulted in operators having to kneel more often to fit plates. As a result, two operators had problems with their knees due to the frequency of kneeling. The installation of the lift is designed to overcome this problem. Each lift costs about $15,000 to install and one lift services two towers. Look, no hands Yandina s turbo lift The turbo lifting trolley at the APN site at Yandina for use on the Regioman press (see above): 1. Hydraulic lifter; 2. Hydraulic drop pedal; 3. Bar for jacking; 4. Locking lever for sideways movement. The system works by attaching two rails inside the unit onto which a sliding dolly is positioned. The lifting trolley is then positioned on the dolly and secured before being slid into position under the turbo. The lifting table on the trolley is moved sideways under the turbo and then raised hydraulically to lift the turbo up. Once raised, the sliding table is moved back into the middle of the trolley and the turbo lowered down. The trolley can then be slid out of the unit no manual lifting required. For more details on how the system works, contact Scott Henshaw at Yandina print centre on INDUSTRY OVERSEAS INTERNSHIP GRANT Opening Doors * Expanding Boundaries If Australia is going to compete in a global economy we need to invest in people to ensure we are working at the leading edge and with world s best practice. This Grant provides an opportunity to gain exposure to global markets and strategies by enabling applicants to undertake an internship with companies of their choosing anywhere in the world. The outcome of the Grant will be a research paper documenting the recipient s experience and how these learnings can be applied to the Australian market. GAMAA will award one $15,000 Internship Grant in Register your interest now and get ahead of the competition. Applications open October. Visit the GAMAA website for details. ELIGIBLE CATEGORIES: MARKETING/PROMOTION, NEW MEDIA, PRINT, GRAPHIC DESIGN, INDEPENDENT RESEARCH For more information:

24 Every action, every improvement counts when it comes to sustainability That s why at Norske Skog we are committed to: Using forest residues and waste material both forest harvesting waste and recovered paper Responsible forest practices For further information and our sustainability booklet phone Australia (02) New Zealand (09) Reducing our energy use and carbon footprint Using water carefully Applying Best Practice manufacturing Recycling what we produce NS_002 Everything we do counts