Coldset Web Presses -- Newspapers Staying Cool

by chris bauer

Managing Editor

As printed media, especially newspapers, battle outside competition from a growing number of digital sources, non-heatset web press manufacturers have to keep up with the technology that will help newspapers compete and survive. More color, faster speeds, and versatile and automated presses are now needed in most newspaper pressrooms.

"Coldset printing—particularly newspapers and semi-commercial newspaper supplements—remains an extremely effective, economical and accepted medium for delivering advertising and editorial content," points out Greg Norris, marketing manager for Heidelberg Web Systems. "Advertisers will continue to demand more color and higher print quality. Newspapers and coldset printing specialists will continue to respond by investing in press technology that allows them to meet these demands."

Presses are a long-term investment, Norris admits, so the recent short-term economic climate may have forced some operations to delay or scale back press investments. However, the pressures to increase color capacity, productivity and efficiency in order to compete with other media for advertising revenues and readership are compelling, he says.

Gapless Technology

The 1x4 Heidelberg Mainstream with gapless blanket technology allows publishers to print high-quality newspapers faster, more economically and with increased versatility. This double-wide press delivers premium print quality at up to 80,000 copies per hour (cph), matching the output of a 2x4 press, while reducing plate requirements by 50 percent.

Mainstream presses are now in operation at The Roanoke Times in Virginia and Transcontinental Printing in Montreal, as well as several sites in Europe.

Of course any talk of Heidelberg Web Systems brings thoughts of Goss International, which intends to acquire Heidelberg's web offset division. As of press time, it is expected that this impending transaction will include Heidelberg's commercial web and newspaper press activities, as well as the web finishing business in the United States.

"We offer a wide range of new press systems plus a full range of enhancement products to benefit and provide the most cost-effective solutions to today's publishing challenges," says David Stamp, global director of marketing for Goss International.

Goss Community presses are now available in web widths up to the new 40˝ size, providing maximum flexibility for regional titles and contract printers. The Community press is rated at up to 35,000 cph, while the Magnum press can operate at speeds up to 40,000 cph. Both have the latest in automation features, folders and control consoles.

"The Goss Community press has continued to show great success worldwide," Stamp adds. "Its new web width makes it even more flexible and its ease of upgrade makes it ideal for both new press investments, as well as for tower additions to existing presses, including competitor presses."

Another big player in the web printing market, MAN Roland, has introduced new 6x2, 3x2 and 3x1 models to provide newspaper customers with more printing output, while streamlining their operations.

"Our customers need to achieve higher utilization from every printing unit, so that less equipment will do more work," explains Vincent Lapinski, senior vice president of web operations. "Our new configurations help them achieve that goal, equipping newspapers to do more in less space, with less people and in less time."

The new 6x2 press is called the Colorman XXL, and it has a top operating speed of 90,000 cph, depending upon the cutoff. Compared to a 4x2 press producing 48 pages, it gets the job done with one-third less units and one-third fewer reel stands. The Colorman XXL can produce a 72-page paper utilizing one-fourth fewer units and one-fourth less splicers than a 4x2 system producing a 64-page edition.

Push for More Advertising

Some newspapers are adding new towers to existing presses to bring in additional advertising revenues, suggests Mike Shafer, national sales manager for TKS. "Not all markets can support this, but some newspapers can definitely achieve an ROI with the additional printing units," he says.

According to Shafer, the added flexibility in printing various products—other than their usual newspapers—and the automation that new press units provide, justify press purchases. "We see good opportunities in the traditional newspaper market, as well as the semi-commercial/newspaper market," Shafer contends. "News-papers still get the majority of advertising dollars and will seek ways to provide their advertisers value for their expenditures."

Shafer notes that TKS offers press control systems that do much more than just preset ink and water. This includes variable web width capabilities; flexibility in plating up the printing cylinders independent of adjacent cylinders; and more automation like registration and cutoff controls and blanket wash systems.

"We see the quality demands increasing in all areas of printing," assesses William Gordon, sales manager at Solna Web USA. "There is a lot of interest in UV equipment, particularly to print on a wider variety of papers. UV technology improves quality and opens up opportunities in previously untapped markets. It actually helps a non-heatset printer capture more jobs in the fringe area that has always existed between coldset and heatset."

Gordon finds that more printers are also investing in closed-loop color and register controls. These innovations reduce makeready times and boost consistency of the print job, while improving productivity and throughput.

But color capabilities still seem to be the main ingredient necessitating growth, adds Web Press Corp.'s Gary Palmer. "Advertisers want their product presented in the brightest, clearest, crispest colors," Palmer remarks. "Newspapers are competing with the Internet for readers, and a well-designed front page with a color photo that draws you in is a definite plus."

Pressrooms Popping Up

Palmer reports getting a number of phone calls from publishers who have been contracting out their print jobs, but would like to start printing their own papers. A portion of these startups purchase a mix of used and new equipment, he adds, in order to obtain the necessary financing. "Several of our most recent sales have been startup facilities of this nature," Palmer reveals.

Web Press Corp.'s Quad-Stack 4+4 color printing unit is now being offered with a new exterior design package. It incorporates a sleek, two-door design that replaces the old eight-door model. The new paint colors are various shades of silver and grey, and were chosen for their durability and resistance to chipping. Web Press Corp. is offering customers the option of purchasing complete presslines, including perfecting units, rollstands and folders in the new design color.

"In both the semi-commercial and newspaper segments, the emphasis is on color, color, color," agrees Don Gustafson, president of the Tensor Group. "The coldset market has always demanded color, but the trend is definitely to increase high quality four-color capabilities. The improvements achieved over the old one-color products ultimately results in greater marketability and ad sales for the publisher."

For semi-commercial segments, Gustafson has seen an increasing demand for printers to improve quality on four-color book products such as TV guides or phone directories. On the newspaper side, a growing trend has emerged for printing regional newspapers on single-width, one-around presses, as opposed to two-around presses, he says. The one-around configuration provides lower capital investment for the total overall project, again improving the bottom line.

"Along with high print quality, high page capacity folders are required—folders with the ability to run as many as 12 single-wide webs into as many as four separate formers," Gustafson says. "This creates four-section broadsheet newspapers on a single-width, straight running press."

The trend is toward higher and higher quality levels achieved through a variety of technologies, explains Dave Moreland, vice president of sales and marketing at Dauphin Graphic Machines (DGM). Printers are now looking to prepress technologies such as CTP devices utilizing stochastic screening for non-heatset printing, he says. "Printers are equipping non-heatset presses with commercial printing technologies such as tension infeeds, closed-loop color-to-color register, and CIP3-driven remote ink systems."

Looking for Advantages

More and more printers are getting specific with their needs—requiring press technology that gives them an advantage in their respective print markets. "The DGM 440 product line is doing this by providing a high-speed, solid print platform equipped with a three ink form, three ink oscillator commercial inker with absolute consistency and repeatability," Moreland lauds.

Another press option, the KBA Prisma, is an eight-page offset press for flexible and up-to-the-minute newspaper printing. While doing away with the option of collect production possible on double-circumference presses, it combines the high output of a double-width press with the flexibility of single-circumference presses. The Prisma offers output of up to 70,000 cph and supports late editorial closes; the same heavy-duty reelstands and folders as for the Colora and Commander presses; and console technology for press presetting and production monitoring. The 4x1 tower press is designed for targeted newspaper production.