The Morning Star has got a lot more colourful lately — literally.
Four-hundred-thousand dollars worth of new equipment in the press, located at the rear of The Morning Star’s 25th Avenue building has ramped up the colour quality for the 35,000 newspapers that get sent out every issue to residents of the North Okanagan.
“We have three new four-highs (printing units four levels high) and a new SSC folder (the machine that cuts the paper off the end),” said Gus Tonnellier, regional press manager for Black Press, which owns The Morning Star.
“They were bought for their colour capacity. All of the papers are asking for more colour these days.”
The Vernon press is used for far more than just The Morning Star.
The press handles 22 different newspapers a month, not to mention around four million inserts.
Among the communities served by the press are New Denver, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Kamloops, Merritt, Clearwater, Invermere Kelowna, Lumby, Nakusp, Barriere and Lake Country.
The high demand on the press means that it runs almost all of the time.
“We run 24 hours a day, from Sunday night to Saturday night,” said Tonnellier.
It is a challenge that requires 52 employees to keep it running.
The new equipment made it necessary to hire four new employees as well, two apprentices and two labourers.
Trucks are heading out at all hours to bring the publications all over the Interior.
In a technology centric society, it seems an almost impossible task to keep up with the latest developments in any industry. The best you can hope for is to not fall too far behind.
“I think this puts us a bit ahead,” said Tonnellier.
Not only is the technology new, the Black Press division is the only one in the area with the capacity to print as many publications as it does.
