Inkjet & Digital Printing
Landmark in digital printing as Daily Mail goes live in New York
Monday 09. February 2009 - High-speed printing of newspapers at full size, in full colour and at a quality level that is indistinguishable from the original litho version has long been a goal of digital press manufacturers. In New York on February 2, 2009 that goal became a reality as Screens Truepress Jet520 went live with the printing of the Daily Mail for the North American market.
The Screen Digital Newspaper Production Solution, has been purchased by UK-based company Newsworld and the machine in New York is the first installation in a roll-out planned to cover four sites by the end of 2009. In the US, the machine is being operated on Newsworlds behalf by Alphagraphics close to New Yorks Newark airport.
Screens European President Brian Forsdike expressed his pleasure at seeing more than two years of planning come to fruition: “Printing newspapers on the Truepress Jet520 was identified as a big opportunity during the machines development cycle. Once we saw the fantastic quality we could then achieve at 128m per minute we knew it was only a matter of time before somebody recognised the machines potential for this application. He continued “We are delighted to be working with Newsworld on this ground breaking project and hope that this will be the first of many installations.
Brian Forsdike was also keen to compliment Hunkeler, the suppliers of the finishing equipment, on their support: “Hunkeler has shown great commitment to this installation and we would like to thank all of their engineers, and those of their US distributor Standard Finishing for sharing our enthusiasm to make this work.
During the first few weeks of production, Newsworld will focus on the printing of the US edition of the Daily Mail. By the end of March the number of titles will have increased significantly and the machine will be running at near full capacity. Newsworlds Chief Executive David Renouf was in New York to see the first few days of production: “Seeing that first copy come off the press was a fantastic moment, everybody involved (Newsworld, Screen, Hunkeler, Alphagraphics) has invested a great deal in making this happen and we all feel that this is just the start of a revolution in the way that newspapers are produced. Mr Renouf also thanked the Daily Mail for their belief in the project adding that “the Daily Mail is now available in New York on the same day as publication in the UK for the first time in the newspapers history.
With newspapers now being added to direct mail, transactional printing, book production and general print on demand, Screens Truepress Jet520 is demonstrating itself to be one of the most flexible digital presses on the market.
In addition to the Truepress Jet520, Screens portfolio of print on-demand presses includes the Truepress Jet2500UV for the display market, the TP-J650 for industrial applications such as instrumentation panels and the TP344 digital offset press.