International News & Media said it would add two towers to its Goss International Corp. FPS pressline in Newry, Northern Ireland.

One 4-color tower will be heatset, the other coldset and heatset, said Sir Anthony O’Reilly, INM’s chief executive officer. The towers are expected to be in production in 2009.

 

INM will spend more than $15 million for the project, O’Reilly said. The expansion will let INM print heatset publications of up to 120 pages or coldset newspapers of up to 128 pages in a single production run.

1st customer for press

“This additional investment further underlines INM’s total commitment to Northern Ireland and total confidence in its ability to host large infrastructural projects alongside a well-qualified workforce to make it a success.” O’Reilly said in a speech before the U.S. Northern Ireland Investment Conference last month.

Photos: Newspapers & Technology
Papers wind their way through the FPS press International News & Media commissioned in 2007. The publisher is adding two towers, both capable of heatset production, to permit the publication of glossy magazines.
 

INM was the first publisher to buy the modular FPS, which is used to print the Irish Daily Star, Irish Independent and other titles including the Sunday World.

The 5-by-2 press was originally configured as three coldset towers and two heatset. The coldset and heatset towers each feed into a separate 2:5:5 jaw folder, but the press can be configured to allow one jaw folder to accommodate both heatset and coldset products simultaneously.

INM spent more than $40 million to convert a 60,000-square-foot warehouse to house the press as well as the Ferag-equipped mailroom.

A second FPS is in production at a publisher in the Netherlands and Goss is also placing an FPS at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., scheduled to be in operation next year.