US Catalogue Firm Opts For Sunday Press Rebuild

After its first Goss Sunday 3000 press rebuild exceeded expectations, The Banta Publishing and Catalogue Solutions Group called on the company for a second rebuild.

After its first Goss Sunday 3000 press rebuild in 2005 exceeded expectations, The Banta Publishing and Catalogue Solutions Group again called on the company for a second rebuild this year.

That rebuild took place at Banta Publishing and Catalogue Solutions' facility in Maple Grove, Minnesota (USA).

Ron Petzel, pressroom maintenance engineer at Banta, said: "These were the most complex press rebuilds in our history.

I am proud of the fact that we had both of them back in production two to three weeks ahead of schedule.

We now have two presses that run better than when they were new.

We even set a production record on the second rebuild just three weeks after it was back on line." Banta expects to extend the productive life of the eight-unit, two-web gapless presses by seven years.

The company also reports significant upgrades in quality, net speeds, up-time and efficiency following the rebuilds.

The presses were amongst the first gapless Sunday presses installed in the mid-1990s and each has logged more than three billion impressions, added Goss.

After evaluating several suppliers, Banta selected Goss International, acknowledging that the original equipment manufacturer possessed all of the ingredients to make the project a success, said Goss.

Those ingredients included in-depth product knowledge, original drawings and authentic parts, a familiarity with the installation and a direct connection to the expertise behind the original Sunday press design.

Greg Blue, vice president for Goss Lifetime Support services, said: "Rebuilding some of the early Sunday presses requires an organisation with the institutional memory and expertise to understand the entire system.

No other supplier has that fundamental process knowledge." Petzel said the rebuilds affected the entire press, with the side frames being the only parts of the original units left untouched.

He added: "All components inside the eight printing units were inspected, cleaned or replaced.

That included about 150 rollers, as well as hundreds of other parts, all manufactured to the same rigid tolerances as new press parts, with the same quality control standards and sub-assembly techniques used for new Goss presses." According to Petzel, upgrades having the most impact on performance at Banta were improvements to the plate and blanket cylinders.

Demonstrating how an original equipment manufacturer has unique opportunities to incorporate enhancements in to a rebuild project, Goss International said it replaced older-style cylinders designed for nickel-core gapless blankets with cylinders accommodating the latest fiberglass core blankets.

The new-generation blankets last longer and cost approximately US$80 less, added the company.

Banta Corporation is one of the largest printers in North America with more than SU$1.5 billion in sales and 8,000 employees.

Whilst its bedrock printing business continues to serve publishers and direct marketers, the company also has a strong presence in the rapidly developing supply chain management arena.

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