Townsville’s ‘Ferrari’ all-colour pressline goes on edition early

Nov 22, 2010 at 12:34 am by Staff


A new five-tower all-colour press – the largest in Queensland – is up and running at the ‘Townsville Bulletin’, two weeks ahead of schedule.

“Everything was 100 per cent and everyone felt comfortable with it, so we went ahead,” says plant manager Peter Bull.

Production of the regional daily – plus North Queensland editions of ‘The Australian’ and the ‘Courier-Mail’ – on both shifts followed six weeks of live tests printing preprints and supplements for the titles plus community newspapers in the News Limited-owned group.

The double-width manroland Geoman press of five towers and two folders (plus quarterfold) with stitching and gluing, was originally ordered for an upgrade of News’ Chullora, NSW site. With new Ferag mailroom equipment currently being installed, it is part of a $52 million upgrade of the Townsville plant.

“Everything has gone well with the installation – the quality, the low wastage and the reliability are right, so we went early,” Bull says.

For the past week, issues of the tabloid Bulletin’ have replicated those which would have been produced on the 1986 manroland Uniman/Townsman press, which had been modified on relocation from Queensland Newspapers’ Bowen Hills, Brisbane, site in 1997.

Bull says the project delivers “everything brand new” for the site, “from compressed air at one end to telescopic loaders in the delivery docks at the other”. In charge has been manroland technician George Pfeffer, on his last major project before retirement, “and determined it will be his best,” Bull says.

It’s also a final project for News Limited technical manager Barry Johnson, who hands over to Wayne Bailey at the end of the year.

Next week’s papers will make use of the all-colour capability of the press, which is able to print in colour, some pages from the ‘Courier-Mail’ which are currently published in mono or spot colour.

The new mailroom equipment – including inserting drums, precollators and section trimming – will occupy the former presshall.

Until the mailroom is commissioned in May, Bull says the new Geoman pressline will have to run at a third or perhaps half its rated production speed. “It’s a bit like having a Ferrari with bicycle tyres,” he says.


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