1. Consultant helping papers improve air systems
The International Journal
of Newspaper Technology
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Several newspapers are seeing production benefits blossom from thin air following advice from a long-time industry consultant.
Industry veteran Wes Greavu is offering his consulting service to help newspapers concoct the correct amount of air lines and pressure needed to
support today’s exacting publishing demands.
“The advent of color to the industry, though not entirely a new development, has lead to an unanticipated deficiency in the air systems that control
the presses, continuing on down the production line through the mailroom and even into the truck bays,” Greavu said. “Many (newspapers) are
unaware of this air-pressure deficiency because when the air systems for (their) plants were first designed, they were designed correctly for the time.”
In a nutshell, Greavu, who’s based in Crawfordsville, Ind., said older plants don’t have the appropriate air systems in place to run today’s additional
color press units.
“In some cases, an air line that was used to feed one press now feeds one press with multiple color units,” he said.
Efficiency drops
Greavu said that as the air pressure and volume of air that these lines carry declines, so does the efficiency of the machines supported by each line.
“The simple fact is that when you divert or split the air line among more and more machines, you create more stress on the machines, increase their
need for maintenance and risk considerably more downtime,” he said.
Over the past six months, Greavu said he’s helped nine newspapers improve their operations by reformulating their air systems.
At one site, The Spectrum in St. George, Utah, Greavu helped the newspaper re-engineer its air system to accommodate two strapping machines
being installed by Ovalstrapping Inc. “He explained the need for the volume of air and not just air pressure,” said Scott Porter, production director.
“The concept was simple but brilliant.”
Porter said Greavu’s advice also proved helpful when they worked together at USA Today’s production site in Las Vegas. There, Gannett installed a
“loop” of 3-inch and 4-inch copper pipe that was engineered to extend a 1-inch pipe capable of feeding air and removing moisture from each piece of
equipment.
At the end of each loop, Greavu advised the publisher to build 200- to 300-gallon reservoir tanks able to supply the volume of air necessary to feed
“today’s air-hungry equipment,” Porter said.
For The (San Francisco) Examiner, Greavu conducted an audit of compressed air systems supporting the paper’s pressroom and mailroom.
“We are in the process of adding a GMA SLS-2000 inserter and reconfiguring two Mueller 227’s in the mailroom and we are also bringing up a Goss
Universal press in our pressroom,” said Thomas Farrell, vice president of operations for The Examiner. “Wes provided us with several solutions that
will enable us to handle this expansion while making our air system more efficient.”
Loss of air supply
Gannett Offset in St. Louis, meantime, is just beginning a project to improve air volume, said Nancy McNiff, General Manager.
“(Greavu) recommended a number of changes that would improve air volume in general and provide air storage for times when peak demand or air
compressor shutdown might cause loss of air supply to equipment,” she said.
Those recommendations include increasing the diameter of certain supply lines and adding holding tanks in strategic locations, she said.
McNiff said the project should result in better paster performance and reduced misses on Gannett’s inserters and stackers. Greavu worked with
Gannett Offset’s maintenance and production staff to make sure they understood what the improvements would accomplish.
“In one case, he incorporated a recommendation from our technical services manager into his proposal,” McNiff said.