DOVER, NH - August 28, 2003 - With a new contract to print more than 50,000 copies of Women’s Wear Daily, a daily international fashion newspaper owned by Fairchild, AFL Web Printing will more than double the size of its Heidelberg Mercury press. The 29-year-old commercial web printing company located in Voorhees, New Jersey will add 36 new printing couples by September. The expansion will give the press a total of 68 couples configured within 11 towers. "Our decision to expand the Mercury was based on the the volume demands of the new daily contract and the tremendous success we have had with this Heidelberg press," according to president, Dennis G. Forchic. AFL Web Printing installed the original Mercury with 24 printing couples and two JF-35 jaw folders in 1996. The company added eight couples in 2000. AFL Web Printing produces 900 different titles annually for close to 300 publishers. These non-heatset jobs include daily, weekly, monthly and specialty publications. Along with Women’s Wear Daily, the Mercury press will continue to print the Philadelphia-area Metro newspaper. With a circulation exceeding 160,000 copies, the free paper is believed to be the largest daily circulation newspaper in the United States printed on a single-width, one-around press, on one folder, according to Forchic. "The Mercury delivers superb print quality and reliability, but for the type of work we do, the versatility and makeready speed are equally important," Forchic explains. Each week AFL Web Printing completes an average of 300 press transactions, a term Forchic uses to refer to complete job changeovers and edition changes. For added flexibility of webbing, the new system will increase the total number of pasters located on the gear side of the press to 16. Forchic cited engineering, technical support and service as critical factors in his company's relationship with Heidelberg. "They have worked side-by-side with us over the past eight years to help us customize a press for our unique requirements and then expand it as those requirments have evolved," he explains.