Goss International Inc. last month notched the first two sales of its Flexible Press System presses, to newspaper publishers in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.

Irish publisher Independent News & Media PLC and Netherlands-based printer F.D. Hoekstra Boom each bought a double-wide FPS, Goss said.

FPS, introduced in 2004, features a building-block design and changeable cutoff that can enable the production of publications from Berliner size to 24.8 inches in height and from 46 inches to 66 inches in width.

Hybrid press

Dublin-based INM is buying a five-tower hybrid FPS, equipped with both heatset and coldset capabilities. It will go on-edition in fall 2007.

Left to right, Bob Brown, chief executive officer, Goss International Corp.;
Gavin O’Reilly, chief operating officer, Independent News & Media;
and Shane Lancaster, general manager of Goss’ Preston, U.K., facility.
Photo: Goss International
 

The press will consist of three 4-by-2 printing towers and two 5-by-2 printing towers, running 58-inch and 73-inch webs, respectively, Goss said. These will feed into two J2:5:5 folders, engineered with quarter-page and stitching capability.

The 5-by-2 towers will be equipped with Goss’ Ecocool dryers with integrated chill rolls, enabling the publisher to print a combination of products.

The 87,000-copy-per-hour press can produce a maximum of 176 full-color tab pages, with an option of printing up to 96 coldset and up to 80 pages heatset in combination.

Other options

DigiRail inking and semi-automated plate loading are also included in the deal, Goss said. The press will be managed by Goss’ press control software in conjunction with Harland Simon’s Prima management app. Baldwin Technology Co. Inc. is providing spraybars and blanket washing systems, while QuadTech equipment will be used for registration control, Goss said.



Left to right, Bauke Jaap Hoekstra, chief executive officer of F.D. Hoekstra Boom; Jochen Meissner, chief operating officer of Goss International and Eric Bell, marketing manager EMEA of Goss International.
Photo: David Chandler
 

Alan Lambert, INM’s plant manager, said quick plate changeovers were a critical component in selecting the press. The machine will enable full press changeovers in less than 10 minutes, he said.

The FPS press will be installed in an existing building in Northern Ireland. Goss said the facility won’t require any modifications outside of reinforcement of the floor. INM publishes more than 175 newspapers and magazines, including the Irish Independent, The Independent in London and the Belfast Telegraph.

“This order is significant in terms of local capabilities and also a groundbreaking approach to flexible production,” said Gavin O’Reilly, INM’s chief operating officer.

Hoekstra Boom, meantime, will have its FPS on-edition in early 2008, at its Emmerloord, Netherlands, production facility.

The press will comprise two 4-by-2 towers with a 22.83-inch cutoff and 66-inch web width, two Goss Contiweb FD pasters and a 2:5:5 modular jaw folder equipped with stitcher, skip slitter and quarterfold capability.

As with the Independent News & Media machine, Hoekstra Boom’s FPS will be equipped with Harland Simon management software, Baldwin spraybars and blanket washing systems, and QuadTech registration equipment.

“A company like ours buys a press and then when newspaper formats change you have to buy a new press,” said B.J. Hoekstra, chief executive officer. “With the FPS, we are free to select the size we want to print.” Hoekstra also cited Goss’ DigiRail digital inking as another benefit offered by the press.

Hoekstra Boom will house the press in a low-height building adjacent to an existing press hall.

The company prints more than 1.8 million newspapers a week across 70 different newspaper titles. It also owns two subsidiary printers that produce an additional 1.5 million products per week. The publisher said the press’ ability to allow quick changeovers for both web width and cutoffs was a key consideration.

“This is another important, on-schedule step in the methodical (FPS) development program we committed to at drupa 2004,” said Bob Brown, Goss’ chief executive officer, of the FPS sales. “We are excited about providing an entirely unique solution that will break new ground and create new opportunities for print.”