Houston paper outsources pre-press

Under the five-year pact, the Hearst Corp.'s Chronicle will pay $27 million to Phoenix-based American Color. In return, American Color will assume responsibility for all Chronicle color production and pre-press services for advertising and publishing.

The contract, which took effect June 4, also included provisions for 39 employees of the Chronicle's color pre-press operation to become employees of American Color.

And there's more: American Color is buying the existing color pre-press equipment from the Chronicle, adding new equipment and systems, and establishing a digital link between the Chronicle's facility and the American Color plant in Houston.

Both companies think this is a win-win situation.

American Color jumps to the front in this developing market by signing the Chronicle, the first large newspaper to become an American Color client.

The Chronicle's senior vice president of operations, Jack Stanley, calculated the bottom line for the newspaper: "In the face of rising newsprint costs, perhaps the best part is that American Color's facilities management will also provide us with a significant cost savings."

The corresponding corporate-speak from American Color goes like this:

"The newspaper market represents an important opportunity for our company, and the use of our facilities management services is the key," said Ray Dittrich, senior vice president of sales and marketing.

According to American Color's Amy Tallarico, the Chronicle employees had enthusiastically welcomed American Color, and time for needed additional training had been scheduled.

As The Cole Papers went to press, the agreement was less than two months old. But early indications point to a quick way around a rapidly changing and hard-to-grasp technological jungle for the Chronicle, as well as a quick boost to its bottom line.

American Color, (602) 275-4347

-- GP

From THE COLE PAPERS, August 1995, Copyright © 1995, All Rights Reserved.