The largest newspaper publisher in
the United Kingdom, Trinity Mirror plc, is investing $85 million in a new press
site for its Midlands Regional Newspaper operations near Birmingham and
Coventry.
Trinity Mirror is building the press
hall on the Fort Dunlop development in Birmingham, England, and plans to have
the new facility up and running by the end of 2004, following staged delivery of
the presses next year.
Trinity has chosen Goss to supply a
single shaftless Colorliner 70 pressline, made up of 12 four-high towers, four
2:5:5 jaw folders and 12 reelstands. This is the largest single order for Goss
presses in the U.K. since 1990.
 |
A
typical Goss Colorliner 70 newspaper press system similar to that
ordered by Trinity Mirror. The new press will consist of 12 Goss
Colorliner 70 four-high towers, which will be located at the new
Midlands Regional Newspapers facility near Fort Dunlop.
Photo courtesy of Goss |
“There have been other U.K. orders
(that were) almost as big, involving multiple press orders for more than one
site, but nothing quite as big as a single order,” said David Stamp, director
of marketing for Goss International.
The Midlands facility will print the
Birmingham Evening Mail, the Birmingham Post, the Coventry Evening Telegraph and
the Sunday Mercury, as well as more than 30 weekly newspapers. Trinity publishes
more than 250 titles in total and has several other print sites around the U.K.
“Nearly half the U.K. population
reads a Trinity Mirror newspaper,” said Chris Wade, Trinity Mirror’s press
officer.
The pressline will also feature Goss
digital inking in keeping with Trinity’s goal to provide increased color to
readers and advertisers.
“It was important to the Trinity
Mirror Midlands operation that our choice of new press provided us with full
color capability for our Midlands regional titles, plus the opportunity to take
full advantage of the latest press technologies in delivering operational
flexibility, efficiencies and enhanced quality,” said Colin Davies, regional
operations director for Trinity Midlands.
A diagram of the press configuration for
the new Colorliner 70 at the Midlands facility.
Photos courtesy of Goss
The project is a tall order, but Goss said it fully anticipates meeting its
target date at the facility.
“We firmly plan on achieving this
customer production date,” Stamp said. “Goss European operations have a
history of achieving our customer promises on start-up dates. Indeed, in some
cases we beat our promises.”
The order for 12 Goss Colorliner 70 four-high
towers was confirmed by a visit to Trinity Mirror’s new Midlands Regional
Newspapers facility. (l-r): David Richardson, of Goss U.K. sales, Geraldine
Aitken, managing director of Coventry Newspapers, Colin Davies, regional
operations director for Trinity Mirror Midlands, Alistair Nee, regional managing
director for Trinity Mirror Midlands and Keith Malcolm, European vice president
of sales for Goss.
Photos courtesy of Goss
In addition to a new building and new presses, the Midlands facility will
feature a new publishing environment.
Trinity Mirror also recently
announced its selection of ProImage’s browser-based NewsWay solution for
managing automated computer-to-plate workflow between some of its other
facilities, including Canary Wharf.
NewsWay will output to 10 Krause LS
Jet platemaking lines and to an existing Agfa Polaris CTP machine for digital
daily, Sunday and regional newspapers. A decision from the Midlands site as to
whether or not it will implement NewsWay is expected later this year.
The 10 Krause lines will be
installed at Trinity Mirror’s sites in Watford, Oldham and Cardonald, all in
England. All of the lines will be capable of running single and panorama plates.
Throughput will be about 210 plates per hour, per line.
