April 21st, 2007 – The Roanoke Times will double packaging capacity in July 2007 with the installation of a second shaftless Goss Magnapak system. The newspaper in Virginia typically inserts six to eight preprints daily and as many as 35 on Sundays and is the first repeat purchaser of Magnapak technology. Grace Abbott, packaging manager, and Lucas Tuning, packaging operations manager, say the performance, productivity and ease-of-use of the existing Magnapak system led directly to the purchase of the second one. They credit the Goss technology with enhancing insert advertising capabilities while decreasing labor requirements. “We’re pleased with every aspect and feel this is the best technology available to meet our packaging needs,” explains Tuning. “Our operators and maintenance staff are extremely pleased with the operation and performance, and the support from Goss International has been nothing short of outstanding, from installation to the present.” The new Magnapak system with 32 stations, dual delivery and a 30,000-papers-per-hour cycle speed will be used for Sunday packages as well as daily inserting for The Times and two community newspapers. A similar 32-station, dual-delivery system was installed in 2002, followed by a Goss Mainstream 4x1 press. Goss International will update the existing Magnapak system to mirror the latest-generation controls on the new one. Abbott says the Goss Omnicon machine control and Omnizone supervisory control systems are vital to reducing labor, simplifying recreation of repeat packaging run profiles, and managing overall inserting operations. Preprint advertising insert volumes have grown by close to five percent over the past year at The Roanoke Times, with a trend towards more inserts on weekdays and the first Sunday of each month. The paper has also seen increasing demands among insert advertisers for finer zoning, special positions, and unconventional product formats. “The Magnapak and Omnizone technologies have allowed us to meet these demands while still increasing the number of inserts flowing through the packaging center,” Abbott concludes. “The efficiency gives us an impressive operating margin in relation to our labor expenses.” An ability to build accurate, zoned packages has also been impressive, according to Abbott. “We take great pride in the integrity of our packages. We received a 99.96 percent accuracy rating from the ABC audit in 2006, the highest rating to date for any newspaper inspected by their auditors.”