Dayton (Ohio) Newspapers fortified its postpress with a sheetfed press from Heidelberg.

The publisher, which prints weeklies and four dailies including the Dayton Daily News, is using the press to produce color preprints and other commercial materials, according to George Bomberry, manager of Dayton Newspapers’ packaging and print department.

Bomberry said the new machine, an 8-color perfector equipped with Heidelberg’s Prinect Axis Control color measuring system, replaces an existing 4-color sheetfed press.

The former press “was an excellent fit for us initially, and our business grew at an astonishing rate,” he said, adding that in a little more than two years, Dayton Newspapers produced more than 120 million pieces.

Upgrading to an 8-color perfector, the first installation of this type in North America, will permit Dayton Newspapers to boost the number of finished pieces to more than 25,000 per hour, Bomberry said.

 “Overall, we are very pleased with the results and feel that the small-format perfector was definitely the best choice for our needs.”

Better for advertisers

The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., is another daily reaping benefits from using a sheetfed press for its postproduction operations, according to Fred J. Stanton III, production director.

“The press has helped us with our advertisers and we can capture some business from companies that want a quick turnaround time,” he said.

The paper installed the Sakurai sheetfed press last spring, linking it to a postpress upgrade that increased inserter capacity and automation.

Since commissioning the press, the Times Herald-Record has been able to offer advertisers additional zoning capabilities and a wider variety of paper alternatives.

“Instead of getting a (narrow) web, we think a sheetfed press gives us more flexibility and lets us provide more services.”

The postproduction upgrade boosted capacity and control through the installation of four inserters from Quipp Systems Inc. unit Newstec.

Smaller zones

The deployment included Newscom inserter software, which enables the Times Herald-Record to produce and distribute more precisely zoned bundles. The software also lets the paper mesh the sheetfed press to the postproduction foundation, Stanton said.

Next up for the paper: a web cutdown, which will trim the length of the tabloid paper from 16 inches to 14 inches. Times Herald-Record crews are overseeing the modification on two Goss International Corp. Metroliner presses in a project that will be completed late this year.