The Post Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho began installing a new 32-couple Goss Magnum press in February. Editor and publisher Roger Plothow calls the project logical and essential in order to serve the 26,000 subscribers to the daily paper as well as an increasingly vital group of commercial customers.

"We are convinced that our investment will be offset by the customer retention and customer acquisition that the new press will allow," according to Plothow, whose flagship daily publication reaches readers in Idaho as well as parts of neighboring Montana and Wyoming.

Plothow expects to start seeing that return on investment almost immediately. He projects that automation features will reduce labor and that lower waste levels will combine with a shorter cut-off to drive paper costs down by as much as 20 percent.

The new Magnum press, with a 21-inch cut-off and 35-inch web width, will continue an upgrade program that began in 2006 at the Post Register with installation of a shaftless Goss Magnapak inserting system in a new production facility. Press installation will take place in two phases to minimize production disruption, and the project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2009.

"Commercial printing customers are demanding a much higher level of quality along with full color throughout their jobs," Plothow explains. "Our Urbanite press has reached the point where it is not capable of delivering this kind of performance. Consequently, even some of our most loyal clients indicated that they might have to start looking elsewhere for their commercial printing work."

Post Register pressroom supervisor Mike Burkhart, who is overseeing the Magnum project, concurs and says the new press offers technological advantages that will translate into competitive advantages. "We could probably keep the Urbanite press performing well for another 30 years, but we were starting to have challenges with tight registration, fan out and adjustment of manual brakes," he explains. "We took a serious look at upgrading that press but, in our case, replacing it was the better long-term investment decision."

Burkhart says he looks forward to entering the Post Register in industry competitions to demonstrate the ability of his crews in maximizing print quality with the new press.

The Magnum press at the Post Register will feature four four-high towers and a single-color tower. Goss International will supply an N40 folder capable of delivering broadsheet, tabloid, quarterfolded and double parallel products. "The Magnapak inserter also accommodates quarterfolded products, and that versatility is important, especially for commercial work," Burkhart explains.

The new packaging installation completed in 2006 at the Post Register included Goss Omnizone supervisory controls and an NP200 press gripper that will be reconfigured to serve the new press.

Burkhart emphasizes the advantages of system integration and of shifting from one Goss press model to another. "In terms of technical expertise, parts and availability of people in the field, Goss International is far ahead of all the other vendors that we talked with," he says. "There is no doubt that going from a Goss press to a Goss press will make the transition more seamless and make it easier to integrate our Goss packaging and supervisory control components."