09.02.12 - In December 2011, the Hearst Corporation announced its investment in a new newspaper press for the Albany facility in New York State. From the Spring of 2013, it will be replacing a letterpress machine that's more than 40 years old.

70,000 copies (140,000 on Sundays) of the Times Union newspaper plus other publications are set to come off the new production installations. To pick up and transfer the copies to bundling, a TTR conveyor system from Ferag will be connected to each of the two folder deliveries on the printing machines. Straight-run production means taking up a maximum 80,000 copies per line and hour. At such peak performances, the Ferag technology will be running in 2:1 mode at half chain speed.

There's more than solid engineering behind the choice of the Ferag solution. As Project Manager Brad Calhoun says, the company will continue to apply new advertising formats to the front page of the newspaper. Soon, the relatively slow application technology currently in use is set for an upgrade with a high-speed Accraply labelling module, designed for application rates up to 80,000 copies per hour. Future plans could see the integration of inline stitching and the three-side trim in order to utilize further added-value potential in the commercials market.