Stuart, Florida --June 25, 2002 -- A pair of MAN Roland Regioman web offset presses will be at the heart of a new $45 million production center that is being developed by Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing. The new plant will consolidate production of the company’s three daily newspapers, and also produce zoned editions, several community papers as well as a variety of niche publications. Scheduled for delivery in January 2004 and start-up by the third quarter of 2004, Treasure Coast’s Regioman systems will be configured with a total of 82 printing couples, a double 2:3:3 folder and one single 2:3:3 folder. Fourteen reel splicers will feed the systems, which feature a 21-inch cutoff and a 50-inch web. "The main advantage of the new presses is that they will enable us to print and package all of our newspapers from one centralized location," says Becky Freeman, Treasure Coast’s General Manager. "Currently each of our three dailies operates out of its own production facility, which is not the most cost effective way to print and distribute multiple products." Scripps has owned the 40,000+ circulation Stuart News since 1965. In 1996, it purchased the Vero Press Journal with 34,000 daily circulation. The third daily, The Ft. Pierce Tribune, was acquired in April 2000. Meanwhile, community papers, such as the twice-weekly Jupiter Courier and the weekly Sebastian Sun also are part of Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing’s portfolio. Two niche publications — 50 Plus and the Treasure Coast Business Journal — are also on board. Treasure Coast also produces TMC publications and specialty publications. Adding to the logistical challenge of producing all of those titles in a single plant is the fact that Treasure Coast also zones two of its dailies to better match its newspapers to the communities they serve. The Port St. Lucie Tribune is published as a zoned edition of the Fort Pierce Tribune, and The Port St. Lucie News is the local edition of The Stuart News. Treasure Coast’s market spans some of the most affluent communities in the world, from Sebastian in the north down to West Palm Beach, creating a geographic and demographic profile that’s ideal for Regioman’s zoning capabilities. The new presses will feature direct drives, which enable zoning changes to be made on the fly. Their one-across, four-wide, straight-printing format further enhance production flexibility, adding to Treasure Coast’s pagination, sectioning and color options. "Regioman’s color capabilities will be essential to our operation," Freeman says. "We absolutely need more four color pages because our advertising customers are demanding it. To be competitive in today’s marketplace, you not only need color, you have to deliver high quality reproduction." The print quality of the Regioman will also come into play for commercial printing opportunities Treasure Coast plans on developing. "We certainly will promote our new printing capabilities to prospective customers," says Freeman. Treasure Coast had decades of operational experience on which it based its choice of a press supplier. Its three dailies currently use a Goss Urbanite, a Heidelberg Harris 435 and a MAN Roland Uniman. "We selected MAN Roland because we have experience with them," Freeman states. "The Uniman press in our Stuart plant has been producing the Stuart News since 1984. The speed of the Regioman and the quality of the color it produces were also important factors." Regioman can produce up to eight pages per web at speeds up to 70,000 copies per hour. That high output rate will be crucial because Treasure Coast plans on printing all three of its dailies and their zoned editions between midnight and 3 AM everyday at the new plant. By consolidating production into that three-hour window, the papers will extend their editorial and advertising deadlines. MAN Roland’s PECOM operating system monitors and controls Regioman, allowing pressmen to adjust and operate most press functions from digitally driven consoles. Treasure Coast opted for such extras as PrepressLink, which lets PECOM preset ink zones directly from electronic page files, and ProductionManager, which produces in-depth productivity reports. The prepress and mailroom systems that will join the new presses will be selected in the months ahead, but Treasure Coast Publishing is close to finalizing the location of its new $45 million production center. "We have entered into an option in St. Lucie West, which is part of Port St. Lucie," Freeman notes. "We’re in the due diligence stage right now, so the site situation is still tentative." What’s becoming certain is that U.S. newspapers are flocking to the flexibility, speed and print quality Regioman provides. Treasure Coast’s two Regioman presses bring the total to 15 sold in America so far. "Our engineering team has really hit a home run in developing Regioman," says Vince Lapinski, Senior Vice President of Web Operations at MAN Roland Inc. "It’s a good feeling to know that you can help solve a variety of production challenges with one highly efficient system."