Rotary printing press in Shreveport, Louisiana to be modernized
Gannett, one of the leading US media companies, puts its trust in the retrofit expertise of the wifag//polytype Group. Gannett Publishing Services, a subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. , recently contracted //wifag to modernize a //wifag OF790 offset rotary press in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The machine upgrades under this contract will help significantly reduce waste quantities and setup times.
Along with the installation of four new //wifag control consoles, the retrofit contract covers the modernization of six autopasters, improvements in web threading and some new drives and control electronics. The new control consoles will feature the production planning system EAE Print, among other things.
The work is being carried out by automation experts from //wifag (Fribourg, Switzerland) and their US subsidiary Polytype America Corp. (Mahwah, New Jersey). It is slated to start in June and should be finished by the end of October 2014.
The line of printing presses was originally part of a larger production plant put into operation at Ringier in Switzerland in 1991. It was dismantled in 2008 by the Dutch company GWS and reconfigured for a new installation. The //wifag OF790 went back on line in Shreveport in 2010. It was only the third rotary press in Berliner format for the US market.
"The Times" printing plant in Shreveport is one of 43 printing and further processing facilities operated by Gannett Publishing Services. "The Times" has a circulation of about 35,000 (Mon – Sat) and 50,000 on Sunday (2012 figures).
www.wifag-polytype.com
