Photo Feature – Newspaper Printing – Concordia Neighborhood Association

For this month’s photo feature, we learned firsthand how newspapers are printed.

Every month, the media team at Concordia News finalizes the layout of the newspaper and sends it for printing. Blake Jensen is the Operations Manager at Pamplin in Gresham, where the majority of Concordia News editions have been printed.

“The printing process has changed very little in 70 years,” says Jensen.

The issue is scanned using publication proofing software.
A raster is created using a raster image processor (RIP). A raster is a type of file that can be read by a printing press.
The plate setter generates plates for the printing press. One plate holds four pages of content. The plates are etched and can only be used once, so they are recycled.
Ink from a large ink tank is pumped into the printing press. The printing press prints, cuts, and folds the newspapers. This machine can print up to 21,500 newspapers an hour.
The paper is checked for print quality.
After the newspapers are printed, the stacking machine stacks them in bundles of 100.
The strapping machine adds the straps to the bundles.
Finally, the newspapers are put on pallets and shipped out to doorsteps.