The Maui (Hawaii) News said it would install a newly minted Dauphin Graphic Machines Inc. press to improve print and color capacity.

The News, (daily, 21,478; Sunday, 25,938) owned by Ogden Newspapers Inc., purchased a DGM Advantage II press, a single-wide two-around press that will make its industry debut at next month’s Nexpo in Dallas.

“It will be a great press,” said Rusty Hampton, Ogden’s corporate production manager. “We like (DGM’s) commitment to making things right.”  

Hampton said the 21-inch cutoff press, to be configured as three four-high towers, six pasters and one jaw folder, should be on-edition by year-end.

It will provide 24 pages of color and let The News print a single four-section run in one pass instead of the multiple preruns now required to produce the newspaper, Hampton said.

In addition to The News, the newspaper also prints a variety of other publications and guides, all of which should sport improved quality after the press is installed.

For bigger page counts

Dave Moreland, vice president of sales and marketing for DGM, said the Advantage II is built upon the foundation of its existing 850 press, but reengineered to support the needs of small to medium papers with larger page counts.

To that end, the press has new frames and other hardware and can be stacked four-high to permit the press to be installed in space-constrained print facilities. It features a cutoff ranging from 21 inches to 22.75 inches.

“We essentially took an 850 and put it into a much smaller footprint,” he said.

The Advantage II will be offered in both shafted and shaftless versions and features blanket-to-blanket registration and a suite of automated controls that range from remote inking to presets. “It’s practical automation,” said Chris Lunt, DGM’s chief executive officer.

The press is rated at 50,000 copies per hour, faster than DGM’s Advantage I press that was introduced at last year’s Nexpo.

Both the Advantage, a single-around machine, and the 850 will continue to be supported, Moreland said.

The News’ new press comes on the heels of an upgraded mailroom, which now features a K&M Newspapers Services Inc.-remanufactured Goss International Corp. inserter. Hampton said Ogden is also evaluating other improvements to The News, including migrating to computer-to-plate after the Advantage II press is commissioned.