NELA Announces Large Newspaper Installation and Upgrades in its Field Service Force

OAKDALE, MN--December 01, 2006--NELA announces that Phase 1 of one of its largest U.S. newspaper plate automation project has been successfully installed. The Denver Newspaper Agency received two of five NELA Vision punchbender in connection with its new press and CTP installation.

On the field service side, NELA has added more regional coverage to its already extensive field service force.

The complete newspaper installation consists of five CTP systems with 1,200 plates/hour plate capacity. NELA is providing five Vision Punch/Benders (VCP) which are capable of processing four different plate sizes (48" & 54" web/singles and doubles). A sophisticated plate transportation and plate handling software system will automatically deliver plates into the press room. Plates will be sorted by seven barcode readers according to costumer specifications. The NELA NPS Software (NELA Periphery Service) will sort plates by press, product, edition, and press tower. Five NELA plate lifts will automatically deliver plates to the upper press deck.

The NELA plate tracking system will feedback to PPI and the close loop system will track plates from the image device all the way to the press room. Phase 1 is successfully installed and already in production, and Phase 2 will be complete in April 2007. (Please see 3D-Layout below)

NELA is equally pleased to announce it has partnered with Dow Jones & Company Inc. to provide equipment and technical support for the launch of the new Wall Street Journal. NELA and Dow Jones worked closely on this extensive web reduction project scheduled to officially go live with the January 2, 2007 edition. NELA delivered and installed 17 Vision Punch/Benders (VCP) with plate handling systems for the Journal's 17 domestic print plants for Goss and TKS press equipment. A special feature of the punch and bender equipment enabled the Journal to use the equipment on both 60" and 48" web formats. NELA also modified all of Dow Jones' existing Western OPB punch/benders for the new plate size.

In order to better serve their customers, NELA established several field service offices in the United States. Besides the U.S. field service headquarters, NELA has now offices in Salt Lake City, UT, Atlanta, GA, Madison, WI, and Springfield, MO. The NELA headquarters in Oakdale, MN (Twin Cities) stations seven service technicians. This enables NELA to provide faster service by having regionally located service personnel that have less travel distances to customers. The NELA Service Department now employs 13 service technicians in the US and 18 in Germany, making a total of 31 worldwide. For emergencies, NELA offers its 24/7 service hotline and next day delivery on most parts orders.

About NELA
NELA (USA) together with its German parent company Brüder Neumeister (NELA Germany) forms the largest register control firm in the printing industry. Register systems include inline punch and bending systems for offset printing, clamping systems, locks on press and plate transportation systems. With more than 1,200 Vision Punch Benders worldwide, NELA is the proven leader in register control.