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THE NEWSPAPER industry has seen better days. Facing greater competition from Internet resources, all-news cable TV channels and free tabloid dailies, the once-venerable broadsheet business is now, itself, making headlines. Many reports on the newspaper industry involve consolidation, fire sales or massive layoffs.
Still, newspaper printers have found ways to remain profitable. One option is to produce commercial work during press downtime. Some coldset printers have added UV drying systems to their presses to enable the printing of advertising inserts and related materials.
Take Eagle Web Press of Salem, OR, for example. The company, which traces its roots to 1970, boasts a staff of more than 90 employees and 50,000 square feet of production space that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It is also a company that is no stranger to change. Once known as Blue Mountain Eagle Web Press, the firm's original location suffered an explosion resulting from a gas leak that destroyed the building. The company, however, endured.
Eagle Web Press was built on printing local weekly newspapers. Once making up almost 100 percent of the overall business, broadsheets now consist of less than 20 percent of today's production. Catalogs, brochures, saddlestitched books, telephone books, college class schedules, magazines and small digest books are now the norm.
"We are a newspaper plant with a large segment of our work coming from commercial accounts," notes Mike Connor, plant manager. "It is very important to us to have this work."
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The pressroom at Eagle Web Press is equipped with Goss Community S/SC units fitted with Prime UV lamps. The company utilizes inks from Flint Ink and Joules Angstrom. It has been offering the coldset UV process for two years.
"Many of our current customers have changed to printing on coated stocks with UV inks," Connor says. "We have also attracted many new customers with the technology."
The addition of UV capabilities has allowed Eagle Web Press to cash in on jobs such as grocery inserts, real estate magazines and various monthly publications, he points out. It is seen as another value-added service to offer clients.
"I think many more (coldset printers) will gravitate towards the UV process because the startup costs are a fraction of heatset," Connor predicts. "Because print buyers are demanding better and better print quality, UV will be one way to provide that to them."
Another such company is Blue Island Newspaper Printing (BINP) in Harvey, IL. The company, founded in 1971 by Gary Rice Sr. with three Goss Community units and a Suburban folder, now operates 64 units including 13 four-highs to serve three daily newspapers and numerous weekly and monthly publications.
Still, newspaper printers have found ways to remain profitable. One option is to produce commercial work during press downtime. Some coldset printers have added UV drying systems to their presses to enable the printing of advertising inserts and related materials.
Take Eagle Web Press of Salem, OR, for example. The company, which traces its roots to 1970, boasts a staff of more than 90 employees and 50,000 square feet of production space that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It is also a company that is no stranger to change. Once known as Blue Mountain Eagle Web Press, the firm's original location suffered an explosion resulting from a gas leak that destroyed the building. The company, however, endured.
Eagle Web Press was built on printing local weekly newspapers. Once making up almost 100 percent of the overall business, broadsheets now consist of less than 20 percent of today's production. Catalogs, brochures, saddlestitched books, telephone books, college class schedules, magazines and small digest books are now the norm.
"We are a newspaper plant with a large segment of our work coming from commercial accounts," notes Mike Connor, plant manager. "It is very important to us to have this work."
Coated Stock Options
The pressroom at Eagle Web Press is equipped with Goss Community S/SC units fitted with Prime UV lamps. The company utilizes inks from Flint Ink and Joules Angstrom. It has been offering the coldset UV process for two years.
"Many of our current customers have changed to printing on coated stocks with UV inks," Connor says. "We have also attracted many new customers with the technology."
The addition of UV capabilities has allowed Eagle Web Press to cash in on jobs such as grocery inserts, real estate magazines and various monthly publications, he points out. It is seen as another value-added service to offer clients.
"I think many more (coldset printers) will gravitate towards the UV process because the startup costs are a fraction of heatset," Connor predicts. "Because print buyers are demanding better and better print quality, UV will be one way to provide that to them."
Another such company is Blue Island Newspaper Printing (BINP) in Harvey, IL. The company, founded in 1971 by Gary Rice Sr. with three Goss Community units and a Suburban folder, now operates 64 units including 13 four-highs to serve three daily newspapers and numerous weekly and monthly publications.
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