Take as many Community parts as you can, add components for auto plateloading, compact slide-apart sideframes, smart software and more… and it’s the new Goss Magnum Compact.

The evolutionary revolutionary made its first appearance at China Print on Monday, timed with the Chinese-owned maker’s official launch announcement.

A tower is at the Beijing show, and the press will also be seen at Printtek in Istanbul, Turkey (May 17-22) and Poligrafia Expo in Poznan, Poland (May 21-24).

GXpress understands the highly-automated single-width press is largely a project of the company’s team in Shanghai, where Community presses have been built for some years.

And the idea of using as many components from its familiar predecessor is key to keeping the cost down. At the same time, technologies have been drawn from Goss’s high-end ranges and systems.

Marketing director Eric bell says it is another example of Goss using its decades of engineering and technological expertise to smaller operations. “This latest innovation will deliver more flexibility and opportunity for printers of newspapers, as well as books and specialised or niche publications,” he says.

Key elements include:

• low profile towers which at 2.2 metres will fit into standard industrial buildings, but slide apart for maintenance;

• 30-second automated plate changes – with the plate still reusable – to make the press a viable competitor to digital printing;

• start-up and slowdown software adapted from larger newspaper and commercial presses to simplify operation and cut waste;

• options such as Goss DigiRail inking, semicommercial dryers and the potential for non-stop changeovers using paired towers.

In summary, it delivers a range of automation features not currently available elsewhere in the 2x1 press segment.

Bell says Goss recognises the changing habits of readers and emerging opportunities for printers in launching the “first-of-its-kind” press.

Inclusion of of automatic plate changing as standard is seen as a crucial factor in delivering new capabilities. Plates for the next product or edition can be loaded while the press is running, with the full sequence of old plate removal/new plate loading requires taking less than 30 seconds.

“That will produce a dramatic impact on crew requirements, makeready waste and press uptime,” says Bell. “Additionally the removed plates can be reused – making this technology ideal for repeat small-batch production of books and other publications.”

The ‘multi-shaftless’ drives are also standard, with each cylinder level and inker module driven totally independently, as is an infeed roller.

Bell says the combination of automation technologies makes the Magnum Compact press ideal for producing run lengths from as low as 500 copies through to more than 250,000: “Today’s cost pressures on printed media mean that printers of every size and variety need to streamline production, reduce overheads, and keep their presses running round-the-clock,” he says.

The web leads through the compact towers bring print quality benefits, and the issue of access is addressed by towers that slide apart… but only for maintenance. Inker units open to access to blankets, rubber rollers and ink ducts for cleaning and setting.

It’s likely that the low height will also remove most of the need for upper-level staging. Folders accommodating up to 16 webs, quarterfolder and double parallel options, heatset and UV will also be available.

Goss claims makeready time reduced by as much as 90 per cent, enabling printers and publishers to reach into new markets and new applications. “Short run lengths and low pagination can be produced cost-effectively,” says Bell.

“Tackling the main sources of cost in printing, the Magnum Compact design incorporates features for reducing overheads – including crew sizes – and materials consumption into a press design that facilitates a wider application range,” says Bell. And he says the greater substrate flexibility and use of standard inks and consumables, makes it “a compelling alternative to inkjet presses” for a number of applications and business models.

• See our March GXpress story revealing the new press