Newspapers everywhere are racing to add more color and capacity in their operations to meet reader and advertising demands. However, the economics of adding press capacity can be a quagmire.

Press vendors throughout the world have been listening to newspaper needs and offering a myriad of choices. Purchasing a new press versus a used press is not just a black-and-white decision at George R. Hall Contracting. They recently introduced the Americolor RHO series, a blended press solution of new and old presses.

The Americolor RHO series, combines the new Americolor shaftless tower with a completely rebuilt and upgraded Goss Headliner offset press. The “RHO” stands for “rebuilt headliner offset.” The Americolor towers provide 4-over-4 color, while the RHO units offer 4-over-4, spot-color and paging flexibility.

Last year, Hall acquired six Goss Headliner offset presses from The Indianapolis Star. Hall completely rebuilt them and upgraded many of the systems to match those in the Americolor tower, resulting in:

• tower and RHO unit having the same digital inkers and spray bar dampeners.

• all plate lockups are “tool-less.”

• all press controls are upgraded and PC based.

“By creating this combination of refurbished and new presses, we are offering newspapers a cost-effective solution for their production needs,” said Ron Ehrhardt, director of sales and marketing for George R. Hall.

“In addition to added color capacity, newspapers can now have better quality and efficiencies in their pressroom. New presses offer many advantages, such as shaftless technology, four-high towers for a straight through four-color web lead, efficient ink and dampening systems and PC-based control systems,” Ehrhardt said.

With a new press, a paper has to think about the facility question. Do you build a new press bay or significantly modify an existing press bay to account for the additional height and increased weight of the tower presses?

Used presses are less expensive, have greater flexibility when deciding whether to rebuild or refurbish the press and lower overall building costs due to height and weight issues. The disadvantages are old technology and longer web leads for four-color printing, Ehrhardt said.

The low profile (less than 16 feet tall) and weight (45 tons) of the Americolor tower allows the press to be installed in existing press bays and foundations, saving millions of dollars in building costs, he asserted.

“In cases where a new facility or press bay is needed, the RHO press still significantly reduces building costs due to height and weight,” he added.

George R. Hall Contracting
440.933.4100