Following a rebuild project completed by Goss International in December 2008, insert printing specialist Atlantic Press in Bedford Park, Illinois reports that its 12-year-old Goss Magnum press now delivers the registration accuracy of a new press.

The company, which also installed its second Goss C550 insert press in 2008, had run the Magnum press virtually around the clock, producing almost 1.8 billion impressions prior to the rebuild.

"The rebuild undertaken by Goss International was an outstanding job, and we are extremely pleased with the result," explains Bob Skubic, co-owner of Atlantic Press.  "The quality of workmanship and the attention to detail was first rate, and this was particularly evident when we put the press back into production without any hitches. Goss International knows how we treat our presses and what we expect from the equipment, and when they had finished, we literally had a brand new press with perfect registration that meets today's highest print quality requirements."

Wayne Gardner, production supervisor at Atlantic Press says the decision to rebuild was driven by competitive pressures in the insert printing market, and the selection of Goss International to complete the project was driven by the supplier's experience and tailored solution.

"The commercial insert business is very competitive, and our presses have to be running at optimum performance," explains Gardner. "When we cannot run a press to its full potential we take it to heart. We have a slogan in the pressroom called preventative maintenance – when it prevents us from running, its time for maintenance."

Gardner says that, when his crews discovered that they were losing registration because of excessive wear to the cylinder bores in the sideframes of the press, the company approached a number of vendors to see what could be done. "Goss International came up with the perfect solution," he says.

The rebuild project involved analyzing each part of the press and replacing those components no longer performing at maximum efficiency. The Magnum units where completely stripped, re-bored and sleeved onsite in just under three months. "When we started the process, we found the previous borings in the frames were out of tolerance substantially in some cases when compared to the original specifications. Now, every operating side cylinder bore meets the extremely precise tolerance of the original Goss specifications," confirms Gardner.

Wesley Clements, vice president of Goss Lifetime Support services in the Americas concludes, "We are delighted to have been able to support our long-term partner Atlantic Press, providing them a cost-effective way of improving print quality. The project demonstrates our focus on high-ROI opportunities to extend the competitive life of existing press systems."

Atlantic Press was founded in 1926 as newspaper publisher Atlantic Printing & Publishing. In 1936, the company changed its name to Atlantic Press and evolved into a specialist in four-color insert printing with a current staff of 160 employees.