WAN-IFRA: Obviously the market seems to have embraced the semi-commercial products that The Globe and Mail has produced... from a production/technical standpoint, what have been the challenges from your team's side of working with an outsourced printer that is starting up new presses, technologies?

PIRRI: We outsourced our printing over 15 years ago, so the concept of working with an outsourced printer is not new to us. Although I would have to say that one of the biggest challenges was ensuring that all six print sites were ready to go-live on the same day. Some print sites had less time than others to ensure that the operators had enough time to run the presses prior to our go-live date.

WAN-IFRA: How has this change impacted production workflow from The Globe and Mail's side?

PIRRI: In order to optimize the quality of semi-commercial printing we now have two separate specifications for advertising material. (Our editorial department also utilizes the different specs.) We have also created a separate curve for the pages printed on premium. As the pages are ripped to each print site, a curve is applied based on newsprint or premium paper. This process is automated.

WAN-IFRA: What sort of quality control procedures are in place from your side working with Transcontinental?

PIRRI: Some of the quality control procedures:

• Our quality team monitors dot gain adjustments in our RIP and print quality.
• We have colour proofers at each site, that proof pages as they are transmitted. The proofers are configured exactly the same way as our in-house proofers to ensure consistency.
• We provide the print sites daily and monthly feedback. We have monthly quality conference calls to review progress on addressing quality concerns.
• We track the following as compared to the standards and individual targets for each printer and provide them monthly feedback: print defects, general quality, density targets, lab colour of graybar is configured for each print site and monitored, and registration of process colours.

WAN-IFRA: How have producing the new semi-commercial products impacted your production team? Any major issuesthere?

PIRRI: The only way that semi-commercial products have impacted our production team is that they now have to be aware of what ads and editorial pages are printing on premium paper. For the advertisements our team needs to ensure that the advertiser's material meets the specifications we have set up for semi-commercial. Other than that there is really no other impact. As I mentioned before, we have tried to automate as much of this as possible.