For years, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) had relied on the same printing presses and internal handling system to get papers to the shipping docks. That was fine to a point.

Today, the newspaper, owned by the media giant Gannett Co., maintains a circulation of more than 225,000, with copies surging to more than 350,000 on weekend editions. Furthermore, the paper produces three daily editions to meet the regional demands of readers in different geographic locales.

For Michael Przybylek, The Courier-Journal's vice president of production, the decision to replace the aging presses and handling system was a no-brainer.

"We were working in an environment where we could not produce good quality printing," says Przybylek. "Printing with the old presses was like driving a horse-drawn stagecoach when everyone else was driving automobiles at 60 miles an hour."

And because of the increased output capabilities of new printing presses, the newspaper needed a handling system up to the task. Instead of purchasing a buffer system to help ease the onslaught of produced newspaper from the new press, the new handling system has no problem directing thousands of papers an hour to different lines, damage-free.

Installed during the mid-1940s, the system of conveying newspapers from print to delivery was more than a bit outdated, says Tony Smithson, production director. "It was ahead of its time when it was installed," Smithson says, "but the system was not what we needed going forward." The old system relied on a series of pneumatic pulleys and was manually operated—every day for the past 50-odd years. Despite a series of improvements during its tour of duty, a complete system overhaul was necessary.

Since the old system's inception, The Courier-Journal's business had changed. No longer offering only a single edition, the paper now offers many editions with multiple advertorial and insert sections by region.

"We realized that we needed flexibility. The old system had been running since 1948 and had some problems—bundle integrity was compromised, it jammed a lot," Smithson explains. "It didn't give us the flexibility we need in terms of inputs and outputs. We needed multiple inputs and outputs for our many editions."

Now, the newspaper's operation features multiple inputs and outputs (FKI Logistex, 877-935-4564) and dedicated shipping lines for delivery to distribution centers serving a myriad of regions in suburban Louisville. No longer does the system require constant manual attention—the programmable logic controller (PLC) directs bundles, guiding them to the appropriate locations.

And although Smithson won't offer a payback date on the $85 million capital upgrade expenditure, the manager is thrilled with the results.

Now, The Courier-Journal is operating at full capacity 24/7/365—in a more than 135,000 square foot expansion of the previous facility.

A conveyor system is able to handle all incoming newspapers and divert each one to its appropriate line for bundling. "The system is able to handle both the newspaper itself and a bundle of 40-plus newspapers without any tearing or delay," Smithson says.

Counterstackers form bundles, which are then sent to strapping stations. Once strapped on both sides, the bundles are assigned a predetermined shipping destination by the PLC—programmed before the paper's run. They then ascend a spiral conveyor where they are sent to an accumulation belt.

On the accumulation belt, newspapers are collected in groups of 10, called "slugs," where they are conveyed toward their shipping destination. Upon reaching the shipping conveyor, a sliding shoe sorter diverts as little as a single bundle to any lane in need of a certain edition.

The sorter, with a maximum sortation capacity of 132 bundles per minute, can sort bundles from any line to any destination with no restrictions on rate or destination. Similar solutions offering pushers would run at maximum speeds of 60 bundles per minute, requiring two sorting lines, Smithson explains. "The sorter provides us with flexibility during transfer that we didn't have before," he says.

Finally, five cartloaders fill orders for 12 satellite distribution centers— push carts help to load trailers manually and then off to the DCs, he adds.

Smithson explains that project planning started all the way back in October 2001.

With the old system, bundles would get jostled to the extent that many were severely damaged en route to shipping. Yet, despite the drawbacks of the old delivery system, the newspaper attempted to overlay a new system using components from the old installation—such as a number of existing conveyor lanes.

Also, unlike most other industries, newspaper production has no off days. The conveyor system had to be installed during production, with no downtime to make necessary adjustments. "Implementing new equipment in the same building working with old equipment was difficult," Smithson notes. "Timing and phasing were critical."

To successfully implement the new system, a section of the old conveyor would be shut down, with other areas compensating for the fluctuation. Within 24 to 36 hours, the replacement conveyor was installed and running at full capacity. "This phasing went on until the system was completely overhauled," Smithson says.

Due to the many editions published at a daily paper, the new system had to feature multiple inputs at the beginning of the conveying system and multiple outputs at the end to facilitate direct delivery to the appropriate shipping station. The old system featured single inputs on both ends, making alterations on the fly difficult, Smithson adds.

Reliability was at a premium for the newspaper when choosing an appropriate system. "There's a lot of redundancy in our processes so the equipment had to be reliable," Smithson says. When glitches do arise, there is a "cascade effect. When something down the line goes wrong, we are backed up everywhere in the system in a matter of minutes," he explains. "But, I can count on my hands how many minor issues we've had since installation over a year ago."

Despite some of the drawbacks of the system—the fact that it's installed 17-feet in the air and the two-building distribution approach makes for problematic communication among workers in the different buildings—the system has helped push throughput rates through the roof, Smithson adds. In the near future, he says a series of catwalks offering enhanced access to the overall system are scheduled to be installed. He also expects that the PC-controlled system will see some upgrades as well.

In terms of statistical reporting of the system's throughput, Smithson is hopeful that those processes, as well as remote access, will be enhanced and introduced, respectively, in the coming years. A story of success, like this one experienced by The Courier-Journal, is worthy of front page news.