Significant upgrades to printing operations at Lakeside Book Company’s Owensville plant continue into the new year with the installation of a refurbished Man Roland press.

The addition will be supported by a new 60,000-square foot warehouse completed this past fall which eliminates the need for storage in no less than eight off-site facilities around the immediate area and as far away as Bland.

Richard C Dunn, vice president of manufacturing at the local plant, said he was not at liberty to discuss specific costs for the improvement projects but did acknowledge they are “significant.” And, he added, “It’s big. It’s big for Owensville. This is really good for us and for the community.”

The warehouse addition was cited as an estimated $2 million project in paperwork filed with a request to allow construction over an existing city roadway.

New concrete pads to support the behemoth press line were created and the ceiling was raised to accommodate the increased height required to run the folder unit.

Lakeside Book pressmen have completed a portion of their training on the new press, spending a week as a team running presses in Lakeside Book’s Willard, Ohio, plant with Willard’s pressmen. Teams of five to six Owensville pressmen made their first week-long stays in November and earlier in December. Owensville’s pressmen will return to Ohio for another week sometime in early 2022 for additional training. Once the press installation is completed, the local pressmen will receive additional training in Owensville. Dunn is hopeful the press goes on line sometime in February or early March.

“We are very excited to get the press operational by the end of February,” said Dunn this week. “We are fortunate to have an amazing team of operators that have been willing to travel to Willard, Ohio, where they have a sister press to train on the press. I believe we will hit the ground running because of this.”

According to a report being prepared for an in-house newsletter at the Owensville printing plant, “The associates worked with a very welcoming Willard team. The Willard team hosted the Owensville team and shared a lot of knowledge.”

Owensville press crew team members receiving training include Dave Crosby, RJ Brown, Kenny Foster, Andy Wehmeyer, Rob Copeland, Donald Brown, Mike Soltis, Jeremiah Dean, Jeff Oberlander, Dave Amheiser, Galen Sells, Shon Lansford, and Haydien Emo.

Dunn said he’s heard the “hands-on” training was “invaluable” to the pressmen here. He noted they’ve had the chance to work on a system they will be bringing on line in early 2022 which will increase productivity and help streamline their printing capacity.

“We’re excited,” said Dunn recently. “This is a game-changer.”

One of the crew members shared some of his training experience with the company’s newsletter. 

“We did not venture out away from the press too much since we were really focused on using the time we have been given to learn the press, said Mike Soltis, a press operator 3 at the Owensville plant. “On the next visit, there should be more opportunities to explore and visit. We are supposed to be getting a tour.”

Soltis explained in the company’s newsletter  that the Willard facility is much larger than the Owensville plant. The consensus of the visiting pressmen was that, in some cases, that “can create workflow challenges.”

According to the report prepared by Alexa Viehmann, everyone in the training program was impressed with the rack system for storing product — as well as the automated driverless train system which allows movement of much larger quantity of paper roll product without the need for a forklift operator.

“This press will do the work of three of our older, obsolete web presses,” said Dunn this week. “Three old presses have been removed from operation to make room for this press. The press has 50 percent more page output and runs at a much faster speed than our other web presses. The press has incredible color and make-ready automation. We couldn’t be more fortunate with the massive investments our owners are entrusting us with.  New presses, new warehouse, new parking lots…the list goes on!”