Dauphin Graphic Machines Inc. said it sold four UV-equipped towers as the production technology gains additional traction among publishers.

Trader Publishing Inc. bought three DGM 440 towers for installation at its Phoenix and Loganville, Pa., print facilities, said Bill Shoup, group plant manager.

The first tower is being installed at the Arizona plant, he said, with two earmarked for the Pennsylvania site later this year.

The Carroll County Times in Westminster, Md., recently went on-edition with a DGM 440 tower equipped with UV curing equipment from Prime UV. Photo: DGM

Each of the towers is equipped with UV curing systems from Prime UV and will be attached to existing DGM 430 presslines, Shoup said.

They will join an existing UV-equipped DGM tower now in operation at Trader’s Clearwater, Fla., plant.

“We commissioned that tower a little over a year ago and are using it to produce coated covers and inserts,” he said.

Trader is converting to UV coldset to eliminate costs associated with heatset presses the publisher formerly used to produce its coated products.

“We had purchased heatset presses to satisfy clients, but then added the 440 tower to produce those covers and inserts more cost effectively,” he said. “We’re doing national covers with the tower and you can’t tell the difference” between those covers produced with UV curing and those printed on heatset machines, Shoup said.

Trader prints millions of coated covers each year for its various publications.

Good value

“We’re getting good value from the DGM presses,” Shoup said. “We’re running them 24 hours a day, six days a week.”

The Carroll County Times in Westminster, Md., meantime, purchased a DGM 440 tower to produce coated stock commercial work.

The standalone tower is also equipped with Prime UV’s curing system and will be used to print the Times’ stable of real estate books, mailers and special sections, according to Ron McGee, pressroom manager. It went into production last month.

UV-equipped towers are growing in popularity, said Dave Moreland, DGM’s vice president of sales and marketing.

“Users are looking at a lower initial capital outlay and they are getting better quality equipment,” he said.

“Users are getting dialed in a little better as far as realizing how to use UV curing and how to run the presses.”

Other sales

Elsewhere, DGM said it sold two DGM 430 printing units to The News Enterprise in Elizabethtown, Ky.

It’s the third press the paper has purchased from DGM.

In addition to the core daily, the paper produces seven weekly publications and commercial work. The press will also be used to print The Turret, a publication produced for Fort Knox, Ky.

DGM installed the presses in April. The units were added as stacks to two existing two-high configured press systems to create two three-high systems.

Meantime, DGM sold a separate 430 press to The Marlborough Express in Blenheim, New Zealand. The press will be configured as three four-high towers and will print The Express as well as some commercial work. The press will be on-edition this fall. DGM agent Webco Ltd. of New Zealand handled the sale.

Additionally, DGM sold 430 printing units and 1035 folders to four publishers in South and Central America.

Jornal da Cidade de Bauru Ltda. of Bauru, Brazil, purchased two DGM 430 units, with installation slated this summer, DGM said. The publication has a daily circulation of 25,000, according to DGM.

Another Brazilian publisher, Diario Do Para Ltda. in Belen, bought two 430 units and one folder, while Grupo Editorial Matul in Venezuela purchased five 430 press units and one folder. GEM prints Diario La Voz, a daily with a circ of 50,000. Installation was expected to conclude in August, DGM said.

Finally, DGM said Editorial AA of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, bought one 1035 folder. Installation will be complete in August.