Offset Printing
LUnion installs enhanced Goss Uniliner press in move from broadsheet to tabloid format
Wednesday 05. November 2008 - Latest Uniliner model selected with Goss T90 configuration for ultimate flexibility The highly productive Uniliner press will replace three existing presses
Installation of a new-style Goss Uniliner press began recently in the new purpose-built LUnion facility of French newspaper publisher G.H.M (Groupe Hersant Media). The site at Reims will be used to consolidate the production from two existing plants serving the Northeast of France. The new press will replace three Goss Gazzette presses.
The system is the first full Uniliner press line with a 4×1 format to be delivered by Goss International into France. With six four-high towers, eight reelstands and two folders, it can be configured as a single line or as two presses. Each press has a Goss T90 arrangement, where reelstands and printing towers are rotated through 90 degrees and work side-by-side on the same level. This gives ultimate production flexibility and reduced job changeover times.
“Flexibility was one of our key criteria for choosing the Uniliner,” states François Chaize, Directeur Industriel of G.H.M. “We publish five main regional daily titles, with many editions of each, as well as 1.2 million copies of the freesheet ParuVendu. The one-around, double-width Uniliner is ideal for this diversity of work. It has the firepower for long runs, but fewer plates are needed, compared with a two-around press, to switch editions or jobs. With our latest investment in Goss technology, we will save time, reduce the cost of plates and get more color in the bargain.”
The decision to purchase a new press also came as part of a venture to change LUnion from its current broadsheet format to a 64-page tabloid, with 32 pages in color.
“We will print 180,000 copies of our daily titles, and then on Saturday and Sunday we will combine the output of the two presses into a single folder. Then, we will be able to print 80 tabloid pages in full color of ParuVendu. The production of 1.2 million copies will supplement our other freesheet printing plant in Reims, which prints, on average, 4 million copies of several titles on a Goss Universal one-around press,” explains Chaize.
LUnion is a subsidiary of Groupe Hersant Media, owner of six Goss Universal presses, which are used to support the printing of 13 million freesheets throughout France. “We have a long standing relationship with Goss press systems,” Chaize states. “The Group receives excellent support from Goss International and weve been more than happy with the performance of our presses. Indeed, we had the first ever Universal 45 press, which printed 1.5 billion copies here in Reims, and then still went on to print for another publisher.”
In addition to LUnion and ParuVendu, the G.H.M plant in Reims publishes daily regional titles Est Eclair, Libération Champagne, LArdennais and lAisne Nouvelle.