Central New York Newspaper Group combined the production of the Press & Sun-Bulletin, the Ithaca Journal and the Star-Gazette in Elmira when its $50 million Johnson City, N.Y., print facility formally went into operation in late July.

The Star-Gazette (daily, 26,553; Sunday, 35,472) was the last paper to go on-edition at the plant, anchored by two Colora presses from Koenig & Bauer AG. The paper followed the Press & Sun-Bulletin (daily, 53,068; Sunday, 65,821), which moved to the plant in late June. The Journal (daily, 16,962; Saturday, 20,882) began production at the 96,000-square-foot building June 12.

The new facility, built on the former site of the Endicott Johnson shoe factory, replaces obsolete printing equipment at the three papers’ existing buildings, which will continue to house editorial and administrative operations.

The new presses, configured as eight towers and 60 printing couples, are equipped with two 2:3:3 jaw folders and two folder superstructures, each with five formers, KBA said.

The machines sport EAE Ltd. controls and were engineered with a 21-inch cutoff and a 48-inch web width. With the commissioning of the machines, Gannett Co. Inc. also converted the papers to 27.7-pound newsprint, according to facility Production Director Darrell Sandlin.

“Everything has worked just fine,” he said.

EAE engineered its software to support all three newspapers as well as the publisher’s commercial work. CNYNG also installed EAE’s LMS press maintenance software engineered to proactively monitor press performance.

On the prepress side, Gannett purchased three Kodak thermal computer-to-plate systems and associated punch bending technology from Glunz & Jensen K&F Inc. ProImage’s NewsWay software is being used to manage workflow.

Goss International Corp. supplied two NP630 inserters as well as gripper conveyors and Omnizone control software. Goss said one inserter will be populated by 30 stations and equipped for dual delivery. The second will have 14 stations. A NP125 delivery gripper, NP200 press gripper, on-line transfer components and control software will also be added.