The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune last month chose Quipp Systems Inc. to upgrade its postpress operation.

The purchase is part of the newspaper’s move to expand and renovate its mailroom, according to Keith Russell, the Tribune’s vice president of operations.

The Tribune (daily, 74,453; Sunday, 97,407) purchased five PackMan units, three 500C stackers and a manually operated bundle distribution system, consisting of five tie lines and 15 mattetop, rollerslat and spiral conveyors.

The purchase also included two transom spiral lift conveyors that will be used to transport the bundles up 4 feet to the paper’s loading dock.  

Russell said the newspaper selected Quipp because of the PackMan packaging machine.

“It was the only one we saw that would handle ROP runs at press speeds and provide a quality bundle that is full of inserts,” he said.

The machine, introduced in 2003, is a combination bottomwrapper, stacker, inkjet and strapper. It uses Quipp’s laser sensor to accurately count bundles and can process 40 bundles per minute.

Either press products or inserts will be fed into each of the five PackMan units at the newspaper, Russell said.

The Tribune will also install a new inserter from Quipp in order to let the daily process large packages at higher speeds, Russell said.

The 500C stackers will be used primarily for stacking down pre-run press products as well as to build bundles for an existing NP630 inserter.

The Tribune started looking for new mailroom equipment two years ago, according to Russell.

“The project team included people from production, advertising, transportation and subscriber services,” he said.

Russell said he expects a high-quality bundle from the PackMan since it wraps, straps and labels before it leaves the stacker. 

“With the kind of inserts we get in our current system, it is difficult to maintain a quality bundle,” he said.

The postpress equipment is expected to be delivered in first quarter 2006 and should be installed by June 2006, Quipp said.