Goss International Corp. recently announced that it was awarded orders to add new Colorliner towers to presses at two newspaper groups in Europe.

Aberdeen Journals Ltd. placed an order with Goss Graphic Systems Ltd. for two shaftless Goss Colorliner 80 four-high towers to extend its existing Colorliner press for increased color capacity and pagination.

The towers will be placed at a 90-degree angle to the existing press line.

The two Colorliner 80 towers at Aberdeen Journals will be placed at a right angle to the existing Colorliner pressline because there is no room to add the towers at either
end of the press.
Photo courtesy of Goss

“Our full color capacity is being used every day and for some time now we’ve been experiencing demand for color advertising greater than we could supply,” said Raymond McRobbie, operations director with Aberdeen Journals. “Due to the size of the products we print, we have to use all units of the existing press practically seven days a week, which gives us very little room for maneuver. It also makes press maintenance problematic. With the existing Colorliner press still functioning perfectly satisfactorily, we didn’t want a new press, but it became clear that we could no longer delay a decision regarding production capacity.”

Part of Northcliffe Newspapers Group, Aberdeen Journals’ key title, the Press & Journal, is a daily morning broadsheet, which was originally founded in 1747, making it one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Today, it has a circulation of around 100,000 copies across seven separate editions.

The company’s other daily title, the Evening Express, is a 70,000-circulation tabloid, published in five editions. The company also prints a number of contract titles throughout the week, including 150,000 copies of News International’s News of the World for local distribution.

A vast distribution area is the principle reason for the number of editions of Aberdeen Journals’ main titles. Encompassing the whole of northern Scotland, including all the Scottish islands, as far down as the Scottish central belt, the papers are delivered to a wide range of communities, requiring targeted editorial, as well as advertising. Catering for these varied requirements is a complex procedure, according to McRobbie.

“From our first edition of Press & Journal in the day to our final seventh edition, there can often be as many as 60 broadsheet page changes for a total pagination of 40 pages,” McRobbie explained. “The majority of that is advertising driven. We’ve had to devote considerable resources in the past to imposition planning, using bay window techniques, and all other methods available for repositioning color. With the new shaftless towers, we will have a great deal more capacity and flexibility.”

The two new towers will double the color capacity at Aberdeen Journals from 96 pages in a single pass, with 32 in full color, to 128 pages with 64 in color.

For Goss, gaining the order required an innovative approach to the problem of available space, as there was no room to make unit additions at either end of the press hall. This resulted in the decision to place the new towers at right angles to the pressline.

The order is also unusual in its combination of couple shaftless press drives on the two new towers with a conventional shaft-driven press. Shaftless drives have been specified for the greater production flexibility they provide, and the order includes new press controls to the whole press, to ensure smooth running at all times.

According to Mark Ellington, Northcliffe’s technical director, the decision to go with Goss for the press expansion was easy.

“Aberdeen Journals has a very good relationship with Goss and the experience of Northcliffe Newspapers is entirely positive. We are currently installing a number of new Colorliner presses in the Midlands and are very pleased with progress, with everything right on program,” Ellington said.

“As Aberdeen is a single-press operation with very tight schedules to maintain, reliability was crucial — it would have been asking for trouble to do anything else,” Ellington continued. “We did investigate whether to buy secondhand equipment, there was very little in it in cost terms, and the advantages of the new towers solution were compelling.”

Guardian to increase color capability

The Guardian Media Group, publisher of the Guardian, the Observer and the Manchester Evening News, is significantly increasing its color capability with new Goss press equipment at Trafford Park Printers in Manchester, England, and West Ferry Printers in London.

Two new Goss Colorliner 70 four-high towers will be added to existing presses at Trafford Park, and two new Goss HT towers will be added to existing presses at West Ferry Printers.

“This investment in new Goss Colorliner press equipment is driven by the need for more color, as well as some more pagination flexibility,” said Jacques de Wit, managing director at Trafford Park Printers. “Additional color is the most important aspect, which will directly benefit Guardian and Manchester Evening News production here in the northwest of England.”

At Trafford Park, Guardian titles are printed on Goss Headliner Offset presses, which have been previously extended by four-high tower and other additions in the 1990s. The new color expansion at Trafford Park Printers involves the addition of two new shaftless Goss Colorliner 70 four-high towers, printing unit relocations to provide stacked mono units, a reelstand upgrade allowing selectability to either folder and an additional angle bar level.

“Three years ago we added two new Goss four-high towers, which have been very productive,” de Wit said. “Adding two new Colorliner towers now, as well as the planned Müller Martini inserting equipment investment, significantly upgrades our capability for The Guardian Media Group.”

At West Ferry Printers, Guardian Newspapers titles are printed on Goss HOT70 presses, which have also been previously extended by four-high tower and other additions in the 1990s.

The new color expansion at West Ferry Printers involves the addition of one new shaftless Goss GT 17-cylinder, four-high tower to press S, and one new Goss HT 13-cylinder, three-high tower to be stacked on an existing mono unit on press P.

The satellite element of each of the new towers is reversible to allow both 4/4 and satellite running. Additionally, Goss digital page packs are specially configured at certain couple positions to allow fast changeover between satellite and 4/4 running.

“The Goss expansion route chosen was the most logical because it provided complete compatibility and integration with the existing Goss HT equipment,” said Bill Wenman, chief executive of West Ferry Printers.

“The Guardian and Observer products have grown tremendously over the past few years in terms of pagination, color and the number of different supplements. We have continued to meet all these challenges as well as consistently printing to a high standard and on time,” Wenman continued. “It is important to West Ferry and The Guardian that these standards are maintained with the additional color facility that this expansion will provide.

All the new Goss four-high and three-high towers at Trafford Park and West Ferry feature the Goss digital inker system for high-quality color and presetting capability.