Offset Printing
Grafiche Mercurio starts up Goss Sunday 4000 press in Angri (SA), Italy
Tuesday 08. April 2008 - - Open house showcases new features to customers and trade press - First 48-page press in southern Italy will provide benefits for high productivity in shorter run lengths
Having recently launched production from its Goss Sunday 4000 press, Grafiche Mercurio of Salerno, Italy, showcased its new capabilities at an open house on April 4. The press is the first 48-page model to be installed in southern Italy and is expected to provide Grafiche Mercurio with a distinct competitive advantage in the high-pagination print market.
“We are very satisfied with our choice of Goss International and the Sunday press, which has proven to be a reliable, versatile, high-performance system that is especially well suited for fast makereadies,” Gerardo Mercurio, technical and operational manager and co-owner of Grafiche Mercurio, explains.
Diodato Mercurio, managing director and co-owner of Grafiche Mercurio, adds, “Many supermarkets and other high-volume print buyers in this region source their promotional print material from suppliers in the north of Italy because those printers are better equipped to handle the high page counts and multiple versions necessary for this type of work. Our convenient Salerno location combined with the excellent print quality, productivity and faster makereadies provided by the Sunday 4000 press will allow us to compete better in this market and produce shorter runs at very competitive prices.”
Sold by Macchingraf SpA, exclusive distributor of Goss commercial press systems in Italy, the four-unit, 620 mm cut-off press was installed by Goss International into a purpose-built facility. The installation includes a Goss PCC-2 folder with integrated stitching capability, a Goss Ecocool dryer and Autoplate automatic plate-changing technology.
“Some colleagues advocated for other presses,” Diodato Mercurio explains. “However, I believed the Goss press would be a winner and so far my instincts have been confirmed.”
Gerardo Mercurio comments, “The Autoplate system has already made it possible for us to change a job version in just three minutes and a complete job change in less than ten minutes. Plus the print quality provided by the gapless technology in conjunction with the Ecocool dryer is excellent.
“The whole process from the initial order of the press, to the installation, training and trial runs, has been very smooth,” he adds. “With the press room now fully operational, were increasing shifts and escalating production and we want to demonstrate to our customers just what we can achieve.”
Grafiche Mercurio has previous experience with Goss technology through an M-300 press, and according to Diodato Mercurio, the company has been very happy with its productivity and performance.
Francesco Rapisardi, general manager for web systems at Macchingraf, comments, “The new facility in Angri (SA) is very impressive. This investment, combined with the companys clear principles of innovation, reliability, expertise, flexibility, and their proactive approach, will produce great results for its customers.”
Established in the 1960s, Grafiche Mercurio is a family-run business founded by Salvatore Mercurio, father of the current owners Diodato and Gerardo. Today, the third generation is represented by Diodatos son, Salvatore, currently the companys sales manager.
Grafiche Mercurio works with a number of large distributors and retailers in the Salerno area and employs around 60 people across two sites, offering web and sheetfed printing in addition to prepress and bindery services.