February 14th, 2008 – Installation of continental Europe's first Goss Flexible Printing System is now well underway at F.D. Hoekstra Boom in Emmeloord, the Netherlands.

The newspaper publisher expects to bring the 90,000 copies-per-hour press into production on schedule this spring.

"We're truly excited to be at this stage of the project," comments Hans Emmink, technical director at Hoekstra Boom. "Watching the press take shape, we can't wait to operate it."

The compact Goss FPS press was chosen to provide a future-proofed solution, perpetuating Hoekstra Boom's position as a leading industry innovator. The press is being installed into a new low-height building, purposely designed to provide maximum flexibility and to allow for changing requirements in the future.

Hoekstra Boom is the first Goss FPS press customer to specify provision for changeable cut-off on the units and the folder at the time of the order. Future addition of a second set of cylinders both for printing units and folder, will allow the publisher the flexibility to accommodate a wider variety of work.

When fully installed, the Goss FPS press will comprise two 4 x 2 four-high towers with 58 cm cut-off and 1680 mm web width, two Goss Contiweb FD pasters and a 2:5:5 modular jaw folder equipped with stitcher, skip slitter and quarterfold capabilities. The press has also been specified with a fully integrated Goss press control system, including extensive presetting capabilities, predictive maintenance and self-learning technologies.

"The FPS press fits our company philosophy perfectly; our entrepreneurship and our quality standards," explains Emmink. "Hoekstra Boom is driven to optimize processes and capabilities to ensure we can always maintain our high standards, no matter what the future may throw at us. For us, having such production flexibility within clearly defined, sustainable parameters of quality and consistency is the ultimate goal."

Ongoing progress at the Hoekstra Boom site can be viewed via the company's webcam, linked to the Goss International website at www.gossinternational.com or on www.hoekstra-boom.nl.