One of eastern Canada’s leading sheetfed printers will add its first web press – a Goss Sunday 2000 system with a 57-inch (1450 mm) web width – in mid 2011.
 
Imprimerie F.L. Chicoine, will establish a new Imprimerie F.L. Web division and add a new building near its 22,000 square foot (2044 m²) sheetfed operation in Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, Quebec to house the four-unit Goss press. The family-owned business was founded in 1986 by the husband-and-wife team of François Chicoine and Line Chamberland.
 
“Ultra-modern technology and personalized service is our formula for competing with the larger printers,” explains François Chicoine. He says the Sunday press is the right complement to the company’s sheetfed presses because it can match the print quality and deliver web offset economic advantages.
 
“We have a lot of experience with high-quality perfecting and we look at the Sunday 2000 press as a tool for perfecting at much faster speeds,” according to Line Chamberland. “Goss International has also supported many commercial printers throughout the world in their expansion into web offset, and this gives us a lot of confidence.”
 
The new Sunday 2000 press at Imprimerie F.L. Web will feature Goss Omnicon controls and the automated Goss Web Center workflow system. Goss International will supply a Contiweb CS splicer and an Ecocool dryer with the system as well as a PCF-1 combination folder and a PFF-2 former folder.
 
Gapless blanket technology and the wider 24-page format are expected to provide quality, productivity and efficiency advantages over typical 16-page web presses, according to François Chicoine. “By equipping the press with high-performance pinless combination and former folders, we will also be able to offer our customers a tremendous variety of product formats,” he adds.
 
The location of Imprimerie F.L. Chicoine mid way between Quebec City and Montreal has given the company an advantage in serving both metropolitan areas.
 
Line Chamberland and François Chicoine began their business by producing stationery at their home and gradually grew the company by adding technology while sustaining excellent customer service. Today the company provides comprehensive prepress, printing and finishing service and serves a diversified client base that includes small companies and multinational corporations. The couple’s five children are now shareholders and managers, providing a second-generation of family ownership.
 
“As a family business, we specialize in giving our customers the highest quality products and lightning-quick turnaround times,” explains Line Chamberland. “Expanding into web offset is the next logical step for us, and we are doing it with the most advanced press technology available today.”