Morris Printing Services partners with ProImage NewsWay to centralize production

ProImage NewsWay announced that Morris Printing Services, LLC (MPS) will use ProImage's NewsWay workflow solutions in all of its print facilities.  MPS is the new printing division of Morris Publishing Group, LLC,  a privately held media company based in Augusta, Ga.   MPG owns and operates 11 daily newspapers as well as non-daily newspapers, city magazines and free community publications in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Alaska.

ProImage NewsWay controls and manages production workflow from a variety of front-end systems through to output. The highly modular NewsWay software solution is packaged as a core product with multiple add-on modules that allow for flexibility and customization for individual print site requirements.  

As part of the centralization, ProImage will replace all local systems at all four production sites and centralize edition planning, RIPing, imposition, ink presetting, ink optimization and output management.  

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle will function as the main HUB and will house the Windows® servers. In addition, an undisclosed backup HUB location will provide system redundancy and disaster recovery. The Savannah (Ga.) Morning News and The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) will receive upgrades, and the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal will be the fourth, newly integrated site.

Benefits of production workflow centralization
With the highly customizable modular system, each property will have its own custom workflow based on its individual production requirements. Since NewsWay is completely browser based, the properties will log into the centralized server via a standard web browser. A unique login and password will allow each site to view only its publications and different levels of access also will be given to each location to provide different views into production and to ensure user security.  

All four properties will have a streamlined NewsWay Receiver footprint for more efficient and secure plate TIFF transmission which furthermore significantly reduces network traffic. In addition, the internal connections provide higher efficiency data transfer rates, which ensure accurate file delivery and real time data status.  

The HUB in Augusta will RIP, impose and send the plate-ready TIFF to each property individually, the plate will be replicated at the respective site for multiple instances of the plate based on production needs. The local duplication will significantly decrease network traffic, having to only transmit each plate image only once. Furthermore, each of the four locations will have an integrated RIP for disaster recover purposes and can plan, RIP, impose and output locally if needed.  

In order to reduce ink consumption on the press, the OnColor ECO Ink Optimization software was added. ECO will automatically analyze PDF files and determine the exact amount of ink needed to produce a flawless output using less ink.  

Centralizing the production workflow brings significant advantages to a production group with multiple print sites and markets. Besides the above-mentioned efficiency and time savings, having the same system across the board builds a unified skill set of employees regardless of their physical location. Each location is working with the same software and version eliminating the need for different skill levels and creates a flexible, educated work force that has expert knowledge on NewsWay and provides cross level support to other locations when needed.  

In addition, centralizing production replaces local software systems – often from various suppliers, versions and footprints – and eliminates the upgrading and maintenance of local hardware and software. Besides the administrative upkeep of different versions and systems, support contract costs will also be significantly reduced.

Morris Publishing Group, LLC has a concentrated presence in the Southeast, with five signature holdings: The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), The Augusta Chronicle, Savannah Morning News, The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record and Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald.

Morris Publishing Group's other daily newspapers are: Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News; Juneau (Alaska) Empire; Log Cabin Democrat (Conway, Ark.); Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; Peninsula Clarion (Kenai, Alaska) and The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal.