Stark Druck, a longstanding innovator in high-pagination web offset technology, will be the first printing company in Germany to embrace the 96-page format when it installs a new Goss Sunday 5000 press system later this year at its facility in Pforzheim.

The four-unit gapless blanket press will feature a 2860 mm (112 inch) web width, Goss Autoplate automatic plate changing and DigiRail digital inking technologies and a PCF-3 pinless gripper folder. The order includes an option to add a second similarly equipped 96-page Sunday press.

"Several suppliers and printers already offer 80-page platforms, so we chose the 96-page format to differentiate ourselves and to offer our customers unique advantages," according to Tino Heer, sales director at Stark Druck.

Heer says the ability to increase per-impression productivity while maintaining product versatility, high print quality and job-change agility creates significant efficiency and cost benefits. "Observing and actually testing the performance of the Sunday 5000 press ourselves convinced us that this was the right choice, as did our experience with our recently installed Sunday presses," he explains. "Print quality advantages of the DigiRail digital inker, and a shorter cut-off, made possible by the gapless blankets, were also important factors."

Before finalizing the new order, Stark Druck tested one of its own magazine jobs utilizing the full web width on the first Sunday 5000 press, which was installed in Italy last year.

Goss International installed short-grain, 48-page Sunday 4000 presses at Stark Druck in 2006 and 2008 to create a versatile duplexed system. Heer notes that the Goss SG?3 folder on that system produces 96-page stitched signatures, giving the company confidence in the gripper folder technology for the new press. Stark Druck used the Sunday 4000 presses to produce a travel catalog that earned the company top honors in that category in the 2009 Druck & Medien Awards.

Goss International introduced the 96-page Sunday 5000 model in 2007. The first press has been in production in Italy since last July. The second press will go into production this spring in Spain.

"The latest investment by an innovative industry leader like Stark Druck further validates the Sunday 5000 technology and the differentiating business opportunities it can create," explains Bert Schoonderbeek, senior vice president Commercial for Goss International. "We are proud of the success we achieved together with Stark Druck with the Sunday 4000 presses and we are grateful for this chance to collaborate on another innovative high-pagination press project."

The new press at Stark Druck will be equipped with a Goss Contiweb FD paster, Ecocool dryer and the Goss Web Center automated control and workflow system.

"The 96-page Goss press is compelling, but Goss International's proven ability to support this type of advanced system and provide an integrated solution that includes the paster, auxiliaries, folder and workflow are equally important to us," explains Heer.