Click here for photos from the event.
The 2.2-hectare Chullora plant produces all the Sensis telephone directories in the country, chewing through 388,000 tonnes of paper and 770 tonnes of ink per year to produce around 30 million books.
On 27 July, three tour groups of visitors were treated to an inside look at how the plant operates. Its three ageing Heidelberg Harris web presses have been upgraded with new closed loop colour management (pictured) while a new packaging line has also made the plant more efficient.
Guests were given an inside look at the press control room midway through a typically mammoth run – the 64pp press was running at 2,200 feet per minute (38,000 impressions per minute) with another 19 hours to finish the section.
After the tour, operations manager Tim Burt, who recently rejoined PMP after a tenure at Geon, gave an insight into how the directories business is rising to modern obstacles.
“The challenges we face are consistent with the rest of the printing industry,” said Burt.
He explained that the Chullora plant had to overcome the issues of an ageing workforce; among its 130 employees, 22 staff have over 20 years service, while one operator in the pre-press department has 52 years unbroken service with the directories business.
As well as retraining, PMP has brought in lean manufacturing initiatives, said Burt – all the more necessary due to the combined pressures of falling volumes and increasing demands for shorter lead teams, to give Sensis sales teams more time to book ads.
The PMP site has switched from a 24-hour, six-day shift pattern down to five days, and while Burt conceded that the trend was toward decreasing volumes “in line with the rest of the industry”, he stressed it was not “all doom and gloom”.
“Sensis are still very loyal to print. While there is an increased focus on digital media, particularly in the metropolitan areas, they still direct their packages toward promoting the printed products.”
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