Oil and water don't mix: The difference between popular offset newspaper printing and the flexographic process basically boils down to plates and ink. An offset press uses plates that attract oil-based ink where there is type or dots and repeals ink from the rest of the plate with water. The plate is then 'offset' onto a rubber blanket which is pressed onto the paper. In flexo, the plate is photopolymer and is 'type-high' meaning that the actual type and dots touch the paper. The anilox roller distributes a water-based ink to the flexo plate, which then touches the paper lightly. Infographic: Joe Shoulak

Flexo fans few and far between, despite raves and enthusiasm

Whatever the reason, flexographic printing has made few inroads in newspaper pressrooms. Fifteen or so years after the decades-old commercial printing process -- which uses photopolymer or rubber plates with a raised image, similar to that employed by letterpress -- was adapted to meet newspaper needs, only 35 of the nation's 1489 dailies have gone flexo.

These 35 have a combined circulation of 3.5 million, or a little more than five percent of the total circulation (69.7 million) of all U.S. dailies. Eighty percent or more of the other papers use offset printing, and a dwindling number of smaller papers still have letterpress.

Nor is flexo gaining ground elsewhere in the world. The largest operation is at Associated Newspapers in London, which prints 1.4 million copies of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and Evening Standard. A dozen dailies in Italy also use it, but beyond that flexo newspaper presses are hard to find.

The largest flexo operation in the United States to date is at the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, which prints 564,000 copies of the city's morning Chronicle and evening Examiner.

Other papers with flexo printing range from the 256,000-circulation Boston Herald and the 244,000-circulation Charlotte (N.C.) Observer to the 21,000-circulation Concord (N.H.) Monitor and 20,000-circulation Globe-Gazette of Mason City, Iowa. Most flexo newspaper operations are at papers printing from 30,000 to 90,000 copies.

Of the major newspaper groups, San Jose-based Knight Ridder leads the way in flexo plants with six out of 33 papers. They are in Charlotte, Akron, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Ind., Wichita, Kansas, Monterey, Calif., and Duluth, Minn. Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa, uses flexo at four of its 21 dailies -- in Racine, Wis., Decatur, Ill., Mason City and Lincoln, Neb. Three of the 11 papers owned by the Sacramento-based McClatchy Co. are flexo -- Raleigh, N.C., and Fresno and Modesto, Calif. Just one of the 81 Gannett Co. Inc.'s dailies -- Louisville, Ky.'s 227,000-circulation The Courier-Journal -- is printed on flexo presses.

Yet no paper that has gone fully to flexo has discarded it. The only partial exception would be the 428,000-circulation Miami Herald, which jettisoned a flexo "sprinkle" system in favor of offset printing. The sprinkle system provided color for section fronts.

Otherwise, publishers, production managers and advertising managers at papers that print daily with flexo say they like it, a lot, and that advertisers and readers like it as much as they do.

"I love it. It's phenomenal," said James Granata, manager of the San Francisco Newspaper Agency's Union City printing plant, one of the three operated by the agency. His enthusiasm was echoed in the midwest by Dennis Ray, director of operations for the 71,000-circulation Evansville (Ind.) Courier And Press. "I have run a lot of offset presses, but I'll take flexo any time. I am very proud of our color."

John Rodney, director of production for the 75,000-circulation Press of Atlantic City in Pleasantville, N.J., is one of the flexo newspaper pioneers. "It's great," he said. "Our colors are clean and bright, and the ink doesn't rub off."

Supplier support still lagging
So, if flexo is so wonderful, why have so few papers selected it over offset?

"The biggest problem is the lack of vendor support," said newspaper consultant Ray Reinertson, of Sturgis, Mich.'s Rein Tech Inc., who has worked for press manufacturer Goss and advised the 1-million-circulation New York Times and other papers on how to convert to color. "There is only one supplier of plates out there -- Napp Systems. Nobody else is prepared to sell you anything. And the flexo plates are much more expensive than offset -- $4 versus $1."

Another newspaper consultant with long and wide experience, Charles Blevins of Vienna, Va.'s Chuck Blevins & Associates, agreed. Blevins was responsible for developing the excellent color printing at plants around the country that has made Arlington, Va.'s Usa Today the envy of so many other production managers.

"Flexo has not been a success," he noted, "and I am afraid it will never be the dominant process. It has its strong supporters, but it is not the process of choice."

A former vice president for production for Gannett, Robert Burns, now director of production for the Charlotte Observer, noted that "offset has been around a much longer time. So it is the safe choice.

"But flexo has worked very well here," he added. "We have very clean printing and strong colors that just can't compare with offset. The ink is water-based so the process is environmentally friendly." Flexo presses can be washed with water instead of solvents, and Burns said his paper even reclaims its waste water. But that's not all.

"Also, there is less newsprint waste because the flexo system is keyless and you get good copies faster," said Burns. "Our waste is down to three percent from four percent, and helps offset the increased cost of plates." Additionally, Burns said flexo presses require fewer workers.

Thomas Moore, the East Coast representative of Napp, which is headquartered in San Marcos, Calif., believes that more newspapers will move to flexo "when more suppliers get into it." Napp currently supplies 97 percent of newspaper flexo users, Moore said. He also acknowledged that a computer-to-plate system needs to be developed for flexo. His company is working on such a system, he said, but so far has been able to produce only 30 plates per hour while newspapers need a speed of up to 60 per hour.

Another advantage of flexo that Moore and others pointed out is the commercial work newspaper presses attract because of the outstanding color and clean printing. Moore said the Concord Monitor is even taking work away from commercial printers in Boston. And the Evansville Courier and Press, which won the Newspaper Association of America's color quality award, does commercial printing 24 hours a day, five days a week -- except, of course, when it is printing its own paper.

"It's been good to us," said the Evansville's Ray. "We do work for local stores, utilities, companies that do business with farmers, and we print Sunday comics for our sister paper, the [210,000-circulation] Memphis [Tenn.] Commercial Appeal." But he also noted that flexo "is not as cost-effective as offset."

Gushing about color, cost savings
The Flexo Users Group, made up of representatives of flexo newspapers and commercial flexo printers, meets annually to assess the process and development of flexographic printing. Danny Collins, director of operations for Raleigh, N.C.'s 150,000-circulation News & Observer and the current president of the users group, is -- not surprisingly -- a flexo enthusiast.

"Offset is fine on its good days," he said, "but we can out-print offset every day. Flexo really prints well. People have blinders on. They go to offset without looking elsewhere. Publishers see that all their buddies have offset, so they go with it."

In a speech last year, Collins listed in staccato fashion the benefits he sees with flexo: "Water-based inks, environmentally friendly. Vibrant, consistent color. No ink run-off. No nip roller marks on sheet. No offsetting, no show-through, no paper discoloring. Thinner paper: less cost, less rolls, fewer pasters, less labor. Four-pin, no bend, pre-punched plates (magnetic lock-ups, better register). Simple, low-cost printing. Low paper waste (two to three percent less than offset). Less energy cost. No dummy plates. Easy transition for press operators. Less manning."

Fred Crisp, the recently retired president and publisher of the News & Observer, added: "Our experience has been so gratifying that if we were to build a new plant or add additional press-lines, we would definitely go with flexo. The newsprint savings, the color reproduction and the ability to print on supercalendar paper are just a few of the benefits."

Durwood Canaday, the paper's classified advertising director, gave an advertiser's perspective. "Without question, the improved quality of our color has made it a must-buy, particularly with our automotive dealers. Furthermore, advertisers have a tendency to run larger space when running color. It's also been a long time since we had to no-charge or give credit because of poor color quality. Classified color alone this year will exceed $1 million."

Robin Erskine, director of quality control for the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, said that he would not have taken his job if it were not for flexo, because the system makes it so much easier to control quality. He cited color advertising by department store operator Macy's in the Chronicle and Examiner as an example of outstanding reproduction, and says Macy's has asked why it cannot get such good color in other newspapers. Like some other flexo installations, the ones in the San Francisco operation are on converted letterpresses, some of which are 30 or more years old.

But many flexo installations use completely new presses. The 73,000-circulation Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star is putting in a MAN Roland flexo shaftless press costing $12 million. It will be operational in April, and publisher William Johnston can hardly wait. He came to Lincoln from the 35,000-circulation Herald & Review of Decatur, Ill., where he oversaw one of the Lee newspapers' most successful flexo operations. "I'm certainly sold on flexo," Johnston said.

The 88,000-circulation Wichita Eagle has just ordered a flexo press from KBA North America. The paper has had a flexo sprinkle system since 1987 to produce its color section fronts. Among the many attributes of flexo that appeal to Kevin Desmond, director of operations, is "the production of good papers faster and with less waste."

Desmond added that the Wichita Eagle plans to install the most advanced flexo newspaper press in the world. The paper has decided to replace two existing press lines with new KBA Colormax II flexo shaftless newspaper presses. It will have 50 couples with enlarged color capacity, operating at a rate of 70,000 copies per hour, and will feature a 50-inch web width as well as a 22-inch cutoff. Installation is scheduled to begin next December.

Still, as consultant Blevins pointed out, "No press manufacturer is living on flexo."

KBA North America of York, Pa., and MAN Roland Inc. of Westmont, Ill., are the principal makers of flexo presses. Despite the success in San Francisco in converting letterpresses to flexo, consultant Reinerston said that "conversions generally really haven't worked well."

If there is a revival of interest in flexo, the consultants and Napp's Moore agree, it could come when newspapers start revisiting press installations of the '70s and '80s and begin thinking about replacements or additions. Then the technology might have a reasonable second chance, particularly if more plate suppliers emerge and an efficient computer-to-plate system is developed.

Flexo may indeed be, as brochures touting it proclaim, not only the superior replacement for coldset offset printing but an equivalent, low-cost alternative to heatset printing. But, for the most part, publishers have yet to be convinced.

-- Julius Duscha

Chuck Blevins & Associates,
(703) 883-2200;
e-mail: crblevins@aol.com;
KBA North America,
(717) 755-1071;
e-mail:kbamotter@aol.com;
MAN Roland Inc.,
(630) 920-2000;
e-mail: lapinski@mru.com;
NAPP Systems Inc.,
(760) 744-4387;
e-mail: info@nappsystems.com;
Rein Tech Inc.,
(616) 467-9582.

From THE COLE PAPERS, January 2000, Copyright © 2000, All Rights Reserved.