High-end UK commercial printer York Mailing has placed an order for a new 48-page short-grain Goss Sunday 4000 web offset press.

The press will be installed at the company’s Pindar Scarborough site, which is dedicated mainly to high-quality catalogue production for the retail market.

Scheduled to be in production by October 2013, the press will have four units with a 435-mm cut-off, configured with a Goss SG-3 pinless folder, an Ecoset dryer and a Contiweb FD paster. It will also be the first commercial heatset press installation in the UK to feature Goss DigiRail digital inking.

The gapless design of the Goss Sunday press series combined with a pinless folder will provide York Mailing with sustainability and cost benefits through reduced paper wastage. The Goss Ecoset dryer technology has been shown to minimise energy consumption and emissions by as much as 50 per cent in some applications.

In addition, the high automation of the press will ensure fast and efficient makereadies enabling frequent job changeovers and more run-length flexibility. DigiRail inking – which York Mailing tested at a number of European sites – is a key element of this improved efficiency, using digital on/off pulsing to precisely control the flow of ink in relation to press speed.

Group managing director Mike Newbould Jnr says the new press “slips very nicely” into York Mailing’s existing equipment portfolio, which includes seven web offset presses across the two sites in York and Scarborough.

Along with recent purchases in perfect binding and sheetfed capabilities, he says the investment signifies a very positive outlook:  “Conversely to many industry reports these days, we feel quite excited at the future opportunities for the web offset market and we’re equipping to ensure we can exploit that potential.

“Ongoing discussions with our customers continue to support the assertion that print – including high-volume, web offset print – has a very clear and a vital role in the sales and marketing mix, and that, far from dwindling, it looks likely to increase with investment in the right capabilities.”