The Houston Chronicle is in the midst of a multiyear project to reinvent its 32-year-old printing infrastructure, reducing web width, replacing controls and installing digital page packs.

Next up: new AGVs and digital RTPs to replace obsolete systems whose parts are increasingly difficult to find.

“It’s going to help us improve our quality, runnability and automate our structure,” said Mike Daniel, The Chronicle’s director of printing and Southwest packaging/distribution.

“We’ll be able to get reports and be provided with better performance data. And we’ll have better mechanical performance, too,” he said, citing the improved quality the upgraded RTPs will provide. “Registration is a huge problem, so that will definitely help us with print quality.”

The retrofit comes as The Chronicle (daily, 507,437; Sunday, 693,228) gets ready to expand its product mix, Daniel said. Last year, it began printing advance runs of The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise, a sister Hearst newspaper. And it is printing Rumbo, a Spanish-language publication that targets first- and second-generation Hispanics.

The project affects every unit of The Chronicle’s six, 10-unit Goss International Corp. Metro pressline, installed in 1976. Among the project’s details:

•Web width reduction: The newspaper is cutting its web to 46 inches in a two-stage project overseen by the paper in conjunction with crews from Goss. The first part of the project, trimming the web to 48 inches, concluded last month. In August, the paper will drop to 46 inches, Daniel said. The culprit: rising newsprint costs, which are expected to rise by approximately $20 per metric ton per month throughout the first half of 2008, according to paper vendors. When the reduction to 46 inches is complete, The Chronicle will be the largest North American broadsheet to adopt the format, eclipsing the Toronto Star, which made a similar move last year.

•Digital inkers: One press is complete and the other five will be upgraded this summer. The Chronicle tapped Production Installation Services to install Goss’ DigiRail systems across the press’ 181 printing couples.

•Console upgrade: The Chronicle is adding Rockwell Automation’s soft proofing and ink presetting modules to its PrintLogix press control software. The upgrade, across 12 consoles, will be completed in June and give operators better management abilities and let them see accurate proofs on their displays.

•Digital RTPs: Daniels said The Chronicle intends to cloak its 60 RTPs with digital controls in a project to begin in 2009. The paper hasn’t yet selected a vendor.

•AGVs. The Chronicle hopes to purchase 10 automated guided vehicles to shuttle newsprint to the Goss presses. The project is also penciled in for 2009, Daniel said.