August 2nd, 2005 – Innovative Goss International technology that allows non-stop web offset printing without stopping for conventional makereadies, has earned one of the prestigious 2005 Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) InterTech Technology Awards. The Goss Automatic Transfer (AT) feature, available for the company''s gapless Sunday commercial web press models, allows operators to bring one or more idle printing units on impression while simultaneously taking another unit, or group of units, off impression. The on-the-run print transfer capability significantly reduces paper waste, operator effort and downtime. A Goss Sunday web press with eight AT units allows printers to complete four-color job changeovers without stopping the press and with minimal waste. With two AT units, printers can complete single-color changeovers, such as edition or language changes, on the fly. PIA/GATF judges cited the technical accomplishment as well as the market application potential of the Goss Automatic Transfer feature. "Web Printers can now efficiently and cost-effectively compete in today''s shorter run versioning markets," commented one judge. Goss has installed three Sunday presses equipped with the Automatic Transfer option to date and has orders for an additional three AT presses. Goss Sunday press and Autoplate automated plate changing technologies, both previous InterTech Technology Award winners, complement the Automatic Transfer technology breakthrough. Sunday press cylinders do not require bearers, allowing a wide blanket-to-blanket throw-off for the web to pass through idle units with a simple, straight web lead. Presses from other suppliers require diverting rollers or air bars which adversely impact print quality and limit automatic transfer to single-color edition changes. With the Goss Autoplate system, plates for the next job can be loaded into cassettes on the AT units while they are printing. As the units are brought off impression, a single operator can complete the plate change automatically with the push of a button. An independent panel of judges selected Goss Automatic Transfer technology as one of 17 InterTech Award winners from among 52 technologies that applied for the award. The GATF designed the award program to honor excellence in the development of technology predicted to have a major impact on graphic communications. The GATF established the InterTech Technology Award in 1978. Innovations from Goss International and Heidelberg Web Systems, which was acquired by Goss in 2004, have earned a total of nine InterTech Awards. The most recent winners were the Goss DigiRail digital inking system, Magnapak newspaper packaging system and Ecocool heatset dryer with integrated chill rolls.