The East Valley Tribune in suburban Phoenix tapped Tensor Group Inc. to supply it with a singlewide press to produce zoned tab editions of the daily paper.

The paper (daily, 82,951; Sunday, 70,025) is buying a T-400BE machine configured as four four-high towers, a two-high tower and an H-50 heavy-duty jaw folder, said Jack Blankenship, the Tribune’s chief operating officer.

The 45,000-copy-per-hour press, capable of producing up to 32 pages of color in a 48-page print run, will be installed at the Tribune’s Mesa production site and go into production this summer.

The machine will feature six zero-speed festoon splicers with five arranged at right angles and one in-line, with turnbars under the towers.

It is shaft-driven and will be equipped with a remote inking system and oil cooling, according to Tensor.

The press will primarily be used to print tabloid editions distributed in the Scottsdale, Gilbert and SanTan areas of the metropolitan Phoenix area, Blankenship said. The editions are now being produced at a sister facility in Sun City, Ariz., and trucked the 45 miles to Mesa.

The editions range from 24 to 32 pages, which means the Tribune will be able to print color on every page of the tabs using the Tensor press.

Back to Mesa

“We want to bring production back here,” he said. The Tensor press will also enable the Tribune to add more zoned tabs as well as pursue commercial work it can’t accommodate with the doublewide Goss International Corp. Metroliner press it uses to print the broadsheet Tribune.

In addition to the press, the Tribune also upgraded postpress operations with the purchase of a press belt conveyor delivery system from Cannon Equipment.

 The Tribune launched the Gilbert and SanTan tab editions last year as part of a move that also included the conversion of its front local news section into a tab that’s offered free in selected areas.

Paid subscribers continue to receive the broadsheet version of the Tribune.

Blankenship said rolling out the new products “has been successful.”

“We’re excited about the momentum.”