International Paper is distributing a series of brochures under the title of  DOWN TO EARTH, A Practical Look At Environmental Issues And Trends. They are thought provoking and well-designed. I tell you this upfront because it is always good to know the source. In this case it is a paper company making a case for paper, so be sure to take it with a grain of wood pulp.

The brochure I have on my desk in front of me asks the question, Are Pixels Greener Than Paper? I never really thought about it, but if I had I suppose my answer would be, “Of course, pixels are greener than paper.” After all you don’t have to harvest a tree for a blip on the screen.  Right? Well I was surprised to learn:

• 

  20% less CO2

  “Twenty percent less CO2 is used per year by a person reading a daily printed newspaper versus a person reading  web-based news for 30 minutes a day.”

• “On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce 440 lbs. of paper, the typical amount of paper each of us consumes annually. That’s the equivalent of powering one computer continuously for five months.”
• 

  60% energy increase

  “It costs an estimated $2.8 billion [in] energy to leave computers sitting idle overnight in the U.S. alone. On a CO2 basis, that’s 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, about the amount produced by four million cars on the road.”

• “A government study estimates that the rise in gadget ownership and the switch from analogue to digital TV could boost the electricity usage of the consumer electronic sector by 60 percent by 2010.”

There is more to report on this issue and International paper recommends the following sites for further information: ipsustainability.com ; abudantforests.org ; epa.gov ; fsc.org ; iea.org ; pefc.org ; sfiprogram.org ; iplifeoftheforest.com

Next: Sustainability and Recyclability

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Almost all paper is made from either wood pulp, cotton, or a combination of the two. It’s not the base that is the significant factor in the wide variety of paper on the market. The processing at the paper mills makes all of the difference. Developing a new product line is a monumental task. Decisions have to be made at the very beginning. For example, before sheet one is produced, marketing must be considered. Who will buy this paper? Will this new line increase total sales or erode sales from another paper in our product line? How much will it cost to make it, including possible new tooling? How do we position this paper in the marketplace? What will we emphasize most, price, uniqueness, printability, or quality?

Why should the paper making issues  make any difference to you as a consumer? If you were to see the figures the printer has to consider in estimating  a printing bid, you would note that the cost of paper is routinely 30-60% of the cost. The bigger the job the greater the percentage of paper cost. Why is it so much? In addition to all the R&D, the short answer is that it takes a big expensive facility to manufacture paper in the volumes needed to supply the needs. Just how expensive? The cost of building a new mill today is well over a billion dollars. To give you an idea of how much real estate is needed for a typical mill here is a photo of  the Blue Heron Paper Mill in Oregon, USA.

Blue Heron Paper Mill

Paper mills have been subjected to the same pressures we all experience in this business climate. Their manufacturing costs have increased dramatically, in part because of  raw materials. Environmental laws have made harvesting of trees more expensive, and mills have been forced to comply with demanding clean air and water regulations. Regulations which have forced retrofitting the plants with new equipment to meet EPA standards. Some mills, unable to afford the retrofits have shut down. Mills in United States face world wide competition that keeps the sell prices low even in the face of these higher costs. So the paper mills are squeezed.

Again, why should this matter? It matters to all of us because we have enjoyed a golden age of amazing paper options. If new mills are unable to be built, and older mills close up shop, the availability will decrease. In steps that old law of supply and demand, with decreased supply, a steady demand will force the costs up. The final buyer of printing will see their printing bills increasing, and more companies will  consider options other than printing. When companies slow orders of printed materials, printers will suffer. With a drop off of paper orders, more mills will close. It’s the proverbial vicious cycle. I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready to see printing become a quaint curiosity is some dusty museum. There is still something  to be said about the feel and permanence of a printed piece that just can’t be duplicated with electronic blips on a computer monitor.

I’m not just talking out of my hat here, my wife really likes it when I take clients on a tour of a printing company. To her it is the equivalent of Robert De Niro acting, or Barbara Streisand singing. She believes, and I’m happy she does, that no one can do it better. I don’t know if that is true, but I can say that I really enjoy printing, and I know that my enthusiasm can’t help but shine through when I’m on point.

A few years ago I thought I might get out of the business. It had temporarily lost its luster for me. All I really had to do to restore it was to stand at the end of a press and watch the printing roll off the press. You see, I know the steps it takes to create this little miracle of in-the-palm-of-your-hand communication, and it doesn’t start at the press. It starts in the forests where trees are harvested for wood pulp and taken to the paper mill for processing. It started 5,000 years ago in China where soot from pine smoke, lamp oil, and gelatin from animal skins and musk were combined to make the first inks. When I stand at the delivery end of the press I’m experiencing history in motion.

Every plant tour begins with the customer’s artwork. Nowadays art is prepared on computers and delivered on disk or via electronic transport to the printer.  How it arrives requires a whole other set of miracles that boggle the mind. Let’s set aside that discussion and concentrate on the work flow through the print shop.

When the art arrives, someone, usually a customer service person or sales representative prepares a job ticket. This job ticket is the production bible for the job. In most companies, as it should be, the project will not proceed without a completed job ticket.

Customers rarely understand how important it is to have all the information complete at the very beginning. By the time a print order reaches the printer the customer has had to work very hard to get all of the approvals needed to proceed. Often that means that by the time the printer gets it, it is already behind schedule. If you think I’m kidding about that, just ask anyone in the printing business. “I know it is late, but..” is the way most customers begin their request to have the printer still honor the original commitment. They could be a day, a week, or a month late and they’ll still ask. We in the printing business do understand that their you-know-what is in a sling and they are praying that the printer can turn back time and get them out of trouble. With a lot of tweaking and rearranging most of the time we find a way. And hopefully when the printer needs patience and understanding the customer will reciprocate. That’s what we tell ourselves anyway.

Back to the job ticket. In all of the hurry up, makeup time, and crunching the job through if something is missed on the job ticket, you can bet that the project gets ruined. Now everyone is mad at the printer. You’ve heard the phrase, “printer’s error,” most errors occur because of trying to do things too darn fast.

I really got off the subject of a plant tour. I’ve used up today’s blog space and I haven’t even gotten past the job ticket. If you’ll bear with me. This plant tour will continue. Thank you.