On a rainy Thursday morning 16 Chapter members gathered for a tour of the Washington Post printing plant in Springfield, VA. After a brief video overview of the Post, our tour guide, Allan Kohan, a long-time Post employee who started as a compositor when printing operations were still located in DC, took us to all major operation centers of the plant. Because the tour was during the day, actual operation of equipment was limited. But at least we could hear Mr. Kohan, which would not have been the case if the presses were running. He expertly answered the many questions the attendees had. The current run is about 650,000 copies nightly, and about 850,000 for the Sunday editions. Generally, presses start to roll at 10:45 p.m., and the last edition finishes between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m.

Those attending the tour: (seated l-r) Ron Schwartz, John and Nancy Johnson, John Labovitz, and Joan Boudreau; (standing l-r) Washington Post tour guide Allan Kohan, Binky Brake, Na’ama Zussman, Jamie Mahoney, Stan Nelson, Pat Manson, Jackie Coleburn, Julie Garcia, George Barnum, Stuart Bradley, and Chris Manson.

Under yellow safelights a Washington Post technician runs tests while Post tour guide Allan Kohan explains the computer to plate process to the group including Binky Brake, Ron Schwartz, Jamie Mahoney, and Stan Nelson. An electronic file is sent to the platemaker which exposes a lithographic plate with a laser and then chemically processes the plate, a sample of which Kohan is holding.

Tour guide Kohan explains how the offset lithographic plates are mounted on the press.

(l-r) Joan Boudreau, tour guide Kohan, Chris Manson, George Barnum, John Johnson, and Ron Schwartz in the pressroom.

(l-r) tour guide Kohan, Pat Manson, Stuart Bradley, Chris Manson, George Barnum, Ron Schwartz, Joan Boudreau, Na’ama Zussman, Julie Garcia, Stan Nelson, Binky Brake, and Jackie Coleburn in the pressroom. Press units are stacked a much as four high to print full color pages.

(l-r) Pat Manson, Ron Schwartz, Nancy Johnson, Jackie Coleburn, Chris Manson, Stuart Bradley, Binky Brake, Julie Garcia, George Barnum, tour guide Kohan, Jamie Mahoney, John Labovitz, Stan Nelson, and John Johnson in the control booth at the delivery end of the presses. Crews control the operation, color, and registration of the press from the console.

(l-r) Ron Schwartz, tour guide Kohan, Stuart Bradley, Jamie Mahoney, John Johnson, and Chris and Pat Manson walk through the roll stand room located under the pressroom. Rolls of paper, each weighing approximately 2500 pounds, are mounted and the paper is fed up through the floor to the press units above. When a roll is almost finished a new roll swings into place and the new paper is spliced onto the stream from the old roll while the press continues to run.

(l-r) Joan Boudreau, Na’ama Zussman, John Labovitz, Ron Schwartz, John Johnson, Jackie Coleburn, Stan Nelson, Jamie Mahoney, and tour guide Kohan in the roll stand room with paper rolls stored in the background awaiting loading on press for that night’s run.

John Labovitz looks at the line of “automated guided vehicles” (AGV) used to move rolls of paper to the presses. According to a Washington Post brochure, “When a press runs low on paper, it signals an … AGV to fetch a new roll. The battery-powered AGV follows low-power radio signals in the floor to the the storage area, lifts a fresh roll of newsprint from its rack, returns to the press and slides it onto empty reel arms.”

Tour guide Kohan explains to Julie Garcia the collating and wrapping of Sunday advertising supplement packages.

(l-r) George Barnum, Stuart Bradley, Nancy Johnson, Washington Post collator operator (in orange shirt), Julie Garcia, Na’ama Zussman, Washington Post collator operator (in striped shirt), Binky Brake, and Joan Boudreau watch collating operations.

It’s a printing plant. With printers. What more can we say?

(l-r) Jackie Coleburn, Ron Schwartz, Nancy Johnson, Na’ama Zussman, Binky Brake, Joan Boudreau, Stan Nelson John Johnson, and Julie Garcia listen as tour guide Kohan explains a collating operation.

The group watches a collator run.

(l-r) Allan Kohan, Ron Schwartz, Stan Nelson, Nancy Johnson, Stuart Bradley, John Johnson, George Barnum, Na’ama Zussman, Jackie Coleburn, Binky Brake, Chris Manson and John Labovitz in the bindery as advertising supplements get collated.