As Kauai Publishing Co.’s fiscal year comes to a close today, the distributor of The Garden Island will start 2008 with a leg up in terms of infrastructure and equipment. In the past year, Kauai Publishing has invested more than
As Kauai Publishing Co.’s fiscal year comes to a close today, the distributor of The Garden Island will start 2008 with a leg up in terms of infrastructure and equipment.
In the past year, Kauai Publishing has invested more than half a million dollars on renovations in order to improve its publications, according to Publisher Mark Lewis.
“I’m excited about the investment and the future of the newspaper,” Lewis said.
The $550,000 investment funded a number of key purchases in the press room, including a seven-pocket, computer-controlled inserter.
Production Manager David Tao, who was promoted to the position last week, said the inserter can place seven extra items — loose advertisements and special sections such as “Best of Kaua‘i” — into the newspaper during a single run, whereas the old equipment could only place one at a time.
In addition to saving on time, the machine will improve quality control, Lewis said.
Also in the past year, the press and water system were overhauled. Rebuilding the former allows for better color registration, while the latter makes for cleaner color.
Equipment repairs aside, the Kauai Publishing building received a face lift in fiscal year 2007, and The Garden Island focused on enhancing its Web site, as encouraged by parent company Lee Enterprises.
Richard Stein, TGI’s IT and online manager, said the purchase of key video equipment and software will soon allow www.kauaiworld.com to regularly feature slide shows, video links and accept video submissions from readers. And within the next year, the entire site will be redesigned.
“The goal is to add more dynamic content to our online version,” Stein said.
According to Lewis, upgrading TGI’s infrastructure and equipment means better publications for the reader.
And as the only daily newspaper on Kaua‘i, Lewis said, “We have a responsibility to provide the best product and information we can.”
The total investment since September 2006 is around $550,000, Lewis said, the majority of which stayed on Kaua‘i with local vendors.
“I believe that Kaua‘i is a great market with great people,” Lewis said. “The newspaper has been here for 104 years, and I have no reason to believe that we won’t be here another 104 years.”
