One year after Manugraph DGM Inc. purchased a West Coast-based press remanufacturer to expand its national service footprint, business is blossoming.

“It’s worked very well,” said Russ Syracuse, president of Sacramento, Calif.-based Offset Services Inc. MDGM purchased Syracuse’s company in early 2007 to expand its service capabilities and also tap into the remanufactured and reconditioned press business.

To that end, in the past year OSI wrapped up a rebuild of a 20-unit Goss International Corp. Urbanite at the (San Francisco) Examiner, and it is in the process of retrofitting another Urbanite for placement at McClatchy Co.’s Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star.

Photos: MDGM
The (San Francisco) Examiner tapped OSI to rebuild its Goss International Corp. singlewide presslines.
 

The Examiner project spanned the reconditioning of a 20-unit press, which was configured as six three-highs and one two-high, with two folders with upper formers. The design gave the Examiner increased color options and also improved overall print quality, Syracuse said.

“We built the units here (in Sacramento) and then we used MDGM to handle the engineering and installation of the press,” he said, illustrating how the companies mesh their operations.

No problems

The rebuild, said San Francisco Newspaper Printing Co. Vice President of Operations Thomas J. Farrell, came off without a hitch. “(OSI and MDGM) provided continuity and the availability of parts and key installation personnel that kept the project on track. We could not be more pleased.”

The rebuild was an extension of an existing contract with the paper in which OSI reconditioned 30 Goss Community press units.

At the Sun-Star, OSI is adding an Urbanite decommissioned at McClatchy’s Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette and stitching it to the Sun-Star’s current Urbanite machine to give the paper more color.



Ed Heim, a 20-year-veteran whom Manugraph DGM transferred to OSI’s Sacramento, Calif., facility to oversee parts, checks on an order.
 

MDGM crews were responsible for shipping the press to OSI, where engineers performed some light repairs and prepared the machine for transport to Merced. It will be installed next month, Syracuse said.

For the future, Syracuse said OSI will examine offering other retrofit services, such as adding UV printing capabilities. It’s also performing some web width modifications, and has had some preliminary discussions about offering a service that will permit singlewide press users to print three pages across a cylinder.