VAUGHAN, ON—The Toronto Club of Printing House Craftsmen hosted a tour of the massive Toronto Star press centre on Weston Road Tuesday night, and PrintCAN was there.

The highly-automated print centre, that produces Canada's largest circulation daily Toronto Star has six Manroland web presses capable of printing 55,000 copies per hour. More than 6,000 printing plates are produced on busy days.


One of the massive, 12-unit Manroland web presses

While roughly 400 staff rotate in two shifts of up to 10 hours each, parts of the operation are largely run by robots, including the paper roll prep area and the mail/packaging room.


The robots in the paper roll prep area

Twenty years ago when the centre opened it only printed the Star. Since then, production has expanded to include the National Post, Metro, and several Metroland community newspapers.


Nathan Matheson, director of business administration for Torstar Printing Group, leads a tour of the plant

While circulation numbers for Metro—a commuter daily—weren't available, its circulation is actually expanding, said Nathan Matheson, director of business administration at Torstar Printing
Group. "The commuter papers are doing well," he said.


Preventative maintenance being done on the presses

The Toronto Club of Printing House Craftsmen is part of The Graphic Professionals Resource Network, a global network with an aim to educate and connect graphic communications professionals. The Toronto Craftsmen also hand out student scholarships and printing awards.