Web Presses Roll On

New web press orders, installations and start-ups have been happening with increasing frequency over the past several months. More than $1 billion in web sales were recorded last year for North America, reports NPES, the Assn. for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies.

The need for greater efficiency and productivity has motivated commercial web printers. The fact that web presses offer numerous automation features, including non-stop changeovers and the ability to handle extremely short runs, is driving the retooling. Newspapers have also been investing to meet the demand for increased color capability and smaller, paper-saving formats and—in some cases—to increase commercial work.

Some of the very wide web contracts recapped in GAM October 2006 have either come online or are in the process of construction. These included Fry Communications (world's first Uniset with a Lithoman folder); Stevens Graphics (KBA Compacta); Transcontinental (64-page Sunday 4000 with Automatic Transfer and KBA Compacta 618). Here's a run-down:

CGI North America, Jersey City, NJ, one of the largest financial printers in the country, is installing a new 4-color Komori System 38S to be used in the company's production of time-sensitive investment research.

Fry Communications, Mechanicsburg, PA, a large privately held printer, is currently installing a new 8-color Komori System 38S press for its publication, catalog and book printing business.The System 38S offers a 243/5´´ cutoff and speeds up to 50,000 iph.

Stevens Graphics, the third-largest printer of telephone directories in the U.S., is expanding its press fleet with a double-circumference KBA Compacta 818 planned for its Birmingham, AL facility. Established in 1880 by H.G. Hastings in Atlanta, Stevens is now a fully owned affiliate of BellSouth Corp. Between its two plants, the 580-member team produces more than 56 million directories per year (570-plus titles) including Yellow Pages, companion and midi directories, inline diecut and folded tabs and specialty catalogs. At present, production is handled by two Commander tower coldset presses (two webs through 16 couples or three webs through 24 couples), three Commander central-impression-cylinder coldset presses, a heatset web and a Mitsubishi sheetfed.

The new twin-web Compacta 818 has a 45.5´´ cylinder circumference, a 75´´ maximum web width and a web speed of over 2,953 fpm. The press will be configured with Patras A automatic reel handling, two Pastomat RC reel stands, two infeed units, four printing units (which will feature semi-automatic plate changing), a super-structure for four ribbons and a P5-T directory folder. A color measurement and control system will guarantee a uniform print quality in 2/2 with two webs or 4/4 with one web. Production start-up is scheduled some time this month.

ColorGraphics, one of the West Coast's leading private commercial printers, has purchased its second 8-color, 16-page MAN Roland Rotoman in four years. The new heatset web press will join an existing Rotoman in Los Angeles in record-setting time. “This acquisition will allow us to honor current commitments and support our customers that plan to grow with ColorGraphics,” says Craig Evans, VP sales. (See complete story on p.60.)

Also this month, Japs-Olson starts up the world's first Goss Sunday 2000 web press equipped to complete 4-color job changes without stops. Installed at the company's St. Louis Park, MN facility, the 24-page gapless press includes eight Automatic Transfer (AT) printing units, allowing on-the-run job changeover on 4-color jobs and up to 8-color printing when the AT feature is bypassed. Japs-Olson bought the press to run more commercial and direct mail jobs, achieve new levels of short-run competitiveness and meet increasing demands for versioning.

St. Ives' U.S. Division, a producer of magazines, specialty catalogs and inserts, continues to expand the capabilities of the company's production facility in South Florida with a recent order of a 4-color Komori System 38S press.

Also notable are retrofits. Insert printer Atlantic Press, Bedford Park, IL, retrofitted a Goss C550 press with a Contiweb FD flying paster.

“We found that splice performance was having an increasingly adverse impact on our overall efficiency,” says Larry McInerney, VP. The paster has reduced web breaks, he says, noting the planned installation took three days. “Our ability to produce at 100% within 72 hours was vital to maintaining a very tight production schedule.”

Mitchell Press, Vancouver, BC, one of the largest commercial sheetfed and heatset web printers in Canada, will soon be installing a new 4-color Komori System 38S press.

Increased demand for efficient short-run production led Infagon Web S.A., Mexico City, to invest in Mexico's first gapless Sunday press: a 16-page, 85,000-iph Goss Sunday 2000 for catalogs, magazines, books and brochures. Installed in March, it is configured with four printing units and a JF-50 folder. Goss International is also supplying its Autoplate system, an Ecocool dryer and Web Center workflow modules for better makeready speed and waste reduction.

Canadian trade printer PointOne Graphics in Etobicoke, ON, near Toronto, opted for a five-unit MAN Roland Rotoman, with an array of inline peripherals. Scheduled to arrive this month, PointOne's Rotoman features a 1:3:3 folder, closed-loop color control, and Pecom Extended operating system, from the printnet family, with Production Manager. “The advanced control systems,” says president Dennis Low, “will allow us to do shorter runs on the web as well, further extending the types of jobs we can run on it.”

Ironstone Media Corp., Pickering, ON, installed Canada's first Mitsubishi Diamond 16 Max-M commercial web press last fall for greater speed and capacity in publication work. The 16-page, 1,800-fpm single web, five-unit press is used primarily for a growing high-quality, short-run magazine business. It features a 22¾´´ cutoff, a 38´´ web width, mini-gap technology, closed-loop control, sheeter and pinless combination folder.

The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA, put a new 48-couple MAN Roland Regioman press on edition last fall in a new production center. The 48´´ press features a 21´´ cut-off and can deliver a 64-page newspaper with as many as 40 pages in full color. The press has allowed The Advocate to reduce color ad prices while maintaining its profit margins and opening up new revenue channels.

Comprint Printing, a division of Post-Newsweek Media's Community Newspaper Group, went on edition in January with a Mitsubishi Diamondstar press line at its new facility in Laurel, MD. The 90,000-cph press—the first Mitsubishi Diamondstar ordered in the U.S.—comprises six tower units, two folders and six reel stands. Also included are quarter-fold and stitch-in-line capability. Comprint's new operation consolidates two other plants with older presses.

At Fort Wayne (IN) Newspapers, installation is currently in progress on a TKS shaftless Color Top 7000CDH 4×2 press at the company's new production facility. The 48´´ web comprises six 4/4 towers with 48 printing couples, two 2:5:5 jaw folders with 21´´ cutoff and TKS roll handling.

The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, McClatchy dailies, were the launch site for KBA's first-in-the-world Prisma 4×1 press at the end of January. Housed in a new Hilton Head, SC facility, the 40-couple 75,000-cph press enables the papers to handle growing circulation and demands for color advertising.

KBA announced in February that a Colora that came on edition a few months previously at Independent Newspapers, Dover, DE, combines the productivity of a double-width press with the flexibility of a single-width. The Colora is said to run with fewer webs and fewer operators than a single-width 2/2 press, while offering a wider choice of production options than a 4/2 press. It can print broadsheet and tabs, semi-commercial work in a range of formats. The press has a 21´´ cut-off and a web width adjustable in half-inch increments from 20´´ to 50´´.

www.kba-usa.com, komori-america.us, manroland.com, gossinternational.com, mlpusa.com and tksusa.com