PACKAGING & ASSEMBLY
At 100,000 square feet of floor space, the largest work area in the plant is Packaging and Assembly. This department is between the pressroom and the delivery trucks, and performs two primary functions. The first job is to create packages of advertising inserts to be included with the newspapers; the second is insuring that the correct version of each newspaper, with all the correct inserts, gets into the right truck for delivery.
Inserting
The four inserting machines allow us to make packages of up to 22 different pieces, from advertising flyers to our Sunday TV Time book. Different packages can be created by ZIP code, giving advertisers the opportunity to target their messages to readers. Zoned editions of the newspapers are matched up with the appropriate advertising material to create complete newspapers.
The Distribution System
Small hand-like devices called grippers pick up the newspapers from the press or inserting machine and carry them on a track through the building. From there they are counted, stacked, bundled and labeled. Two bundles of newspapers drop into each cart in the yellow roller coaster known as "the tray system." The tray delivers the bundles to designated chutes at the loading dock according to computer assignment. The cart tips and the bundles slide down the chute onto a conveyor and into the truck. The tray system allows us to send any version of any paper to any truck, speeding up loading times.
The Loading Dock
Trucks arrive at any of 16 doors on the loading dock. Drivers check in by inserting their I.D. cards, load numbers and truck numbers into the tray computer system. Then the computer sends the right number of bundles to a designated bay on the loading dock for that particular truck and route.
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