Hi-Liter Is First User

Visitors got a close-up view of the delivery end of a new 4×4 MAN Roland 32-page Euroman at Hi-Liter Graphics, Burlington, WI, at an open house on Feb. 26. With Megtec DLP 2-50 match-speed paster and compact DualDry TNV dryer and recuperative thermal oxidizer, the four-unit single-web press ran its first live job at the 104,000-sq.ft. plant Oct. 28. Hi-Liter produces short- to medium-run catalogs, directories, manuals, books, publications and marketing collateral, including the 1,000-run, 1,700-page SRDS directory updated monthly. It marks the first such 32-page single web model in the U.S.

Other webs recently installed, ordered or moved into production include an 8-unit , two-web Goss M-600 at Trend Offset Printing in Jacksonville, FL. The firm operates three facilities (also Los Alamitos, CA, and Carrollton, TX), and the press is its 11th Goss added in the past decade. The new system expands capacity at Trend Southeast and will be used to print high-quality magazines, catalogs, annual reports and advertising material.

Commercial printing giant Transcontinental Inc. will spend $60 million on a technical upgrade of its Montreal newspaper printing facility, including addition of a MAN Roland Colorman common impression cylinder 8-web press with full color on every page, as well as a new ultraviolet dryer at the plant—which expanded from 80,000-sq.ft. to 145,000 sq.ft.

New York Daily News ordered a 15-tower, triple-wide KBA compact Commander CT, configured for full color on every page—a first for a big-city U.S. daily. To go live in fall 2009, the triple-wide line will have three sections, each with five Pastomat reel stands, five towers (each less than 13´ high) and one KF 7 jaw folder. The deals presage web-related gatherings: newspaper events America East (Mar. 10-13, Hershey, PA) and Nexpo (April 12-15, Washington, DC) and WOA's Offset & Beyond (April 27-30, Schaumburg, IL). graphicartsonline.com/toc-events