RR Donnelley, the giant printing company, says it's too early to tell whether a new technology to be installed at its Reno plant will boost employment.
The company's facility at 14100 Lear Blvd.
in Stead currently employs about 400.
Chicago-based RR Donnelley said last week the plant has been selected as the first of Donnelley's 26 facilities to the United States to test a technology known as thermal gravure technology.
Katherine Vitita, a spokeswoman for the company, said the Reno plant was selected for the new technology because its production already includes a large portion of work notably, newspaper advertising inserts that will be handled by the new technology.
Thermal gravure equipment is expected to provide sharper type and color with more consistency across the pages of a press run.
RR Donnelley said the new system also is expected to reduce the amount of time it needs to get a printing job to the press, allowing its customers more time to sell advertising space or complete the content of their printed materials.
The thermal gravure equipment was developed by Creo Inc.
of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Acigraf of Milan, Italy, in partnership with RR Donnelley.
The new system uses a single laser to replace a diamond stylus which traditionally is used to engrave printing cylinders.
A diamond stylus undergoes tremendous stress during the engraving, increasing the chances of variability in a printing job.
The potential for quality problems grows larger when printing jobs involve use of several styluses.
