Flexible Printing System First For US Newspaper

The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia, will be the first newspaper in the United States to install a Goss Flexible Printing System (FPS) press.

The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia, will be the first newspaper in the United States to install a Goss Flexible Printing System (FPS) press.

The independently owned paper selected a configuration with four towers and a 72-inch web-width for triple-width production.

Goss International will also provide Ferag press gripper and storage components and a dual-delivery Goss Magnapak packaging system with 34 stations.

Installation will begin in 2008.

The new FPS press at The Free Lance-Star will have the capacity to produce, in full colour, 48-page broadsheet products running straight, 96-page broadsheet products running collect and semi-commercial products with ribbon widths up to 36".

"We've tracked the FPS press closely, from the Drupa 2004 introduction through live print tests in England at the Goss International facility in 2006," explained John Jenkins, operations director at The Free Lance-Star.

He continued: "The fundamental technologies are well proven but the FPS platform presents breakthroughs in print quality, efficiency and versatility that will allow us to better serve our readers, advertisers and contract print partners well into the future." Goss International chief executive officer, Bob Brown, said: "We appreciate the confidence The Free Lance-Star has placed in our innovative technology and our ability to execute.

This installation will showcase our unique FPS technology, as well as our unique capacity to address printing and packaging in a comprehensive manner." Jenkins said the shaftless design of the Goss press and packaging components was an important factor in the purchase decision, as was the fact that Goss International will manufacture the printing units, folders and Magnapak system at its US facility in New Hampshire.

"The opportunity to install integrated press and packaging systems from a single vendor also provides compelling advantages," he added.

The FPS press at The Free Lance-Star will include two 2:5:5 jaw folders, five formers and four Contiweb FD pasters.

The newspaper will equip the Magnapak packaging system for polywrapping, as well as inserting.

Goss International will install its Omnizone supervisory controls, as well as Ferag press gripper and winding and unwinding storage components as part of the system.

Goss International represents Ferag products in the United States.

The Goss FPS press is claimed to print at up to 90,000 copies per hour.

Its features include independent inker units that slide apart on rails from the plate and blanket cylinder section, that are said to simplify current, or future cut-off change possibilities.

A compact tower design also improves print quality, whilst reducing building height requirements.

The Goss Magnapak packaging system is said to cycle at up to 30,000 papers per hour.

The shaftless design allows automated zoning at full production speed.

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