Goss Introduces Three-around Option for Newspaper Printing

BOLINGBROOK, IL—December 16, 2008—Goss International has introduced a solution that overcomes barriers deterring many newspapers from converting to a more attractive and cost-effective compact format.

The new Goss Triliner technology converts two-pages-around newspaper presses to print three pages around, allowing publishers to save paper and increase productivity and color capacity while still maintaining broadsheet sectioning and the ability to accommodate standard-size advertising inserts. Plate cylinders are modified to accommodate a single plate containing three shorter newspaper pages imaged around the circumference. A Goss SuperBerliner folder allows off-center folds, and adjustments can be made to postpress inserting systems to accept the smaller, asymmetrically folded papers.

Publishers can modify existing double-circumference presses to produce papers with two-thirds of the previous cutoff. The Triliner technology is also available for new presses. Equipping a press with two folders will provide the versatility to produce both two-around and three-around products by simply varying the number of pages imaged onto the single-around plate.

“Triliner technology offers the convenient, compact size previously reserved for tabloids, while retaining key advantages of the broadsheet format, including multiple sections and premium advertising positions,” explains John Richards, Goss International director of newspaper product management.

Richards points out that the unique off-center SuperBerliner folder is vital to Triliner technology, giving the folded product a familiar size and shape while allowing the larger flap to cover standard-size inserts produced on 21-inch presses. “With web widths shrinking, Triliner technology also brings cutoffs into a more familiar and pleasing proportion to page widths,” he adds.

Paper savings and operational advantages
Converting to Triliner technology saves paper by reducing the cutoff of the finished product by 33.3 percent. Operational advantages accrue in both straight and collect production.

In straight operation, each cylinder revolution produces three papers rather than two, with no increase in web speed. “A publisher producing a 22-inch newspaper at 50,000 copies per hour, for example, could produce 75,000 papers per hour in a 14.67-inch Triliner format,” explains Richards. “That added productivity can shorten the production window, allowing later press starts or earlier finishes, and it could open up time for commercial or contract printing opportunities.” Richards says that the added speed could also allow a newspaper to retain its current print window, while producing the full run on fewer presses.