Goss International unveiled the Goss Magnum Compact 4-Hi tower on the morning of 14 May 2013, right at the start of the China Print exhibition in Beijing this week. Naresh Khanna, publisher of Print21’s sister magazine, Indian Printer & Publisher reports from Beijing.
Goss has been discussing the new machine with prospective customers over the past few months. In the presence of Chinese government and print industry officials as well as the Asian media, Goss president, Rick Nichols (pictured right), introduced the highly automated single-width tower followed by a brief demonstration of its standard built-in auto plate loading system.
The 4-Hi press tower is only 2.2 meters high and is constructed on rails so that the two ink and dampening trains on either side of the central cylinder configuration are pushed apart for easy maintenance.
The opening of the inker units allows simple, single-level access to blankets, rubber rollers and ink ducts for cleaning and setting. The extremely ergonomic automatic plate loader is a flat waist-high horizontal table that also removes the old plate in a reusable condition – all in 30 seconds.
The compact tower has multiple shaftless motors with the result that each cylinder level and inker module is driven totally independently, as is the infeed roller, providing maximum flexibility and control over changeover waste.
With its low height, the 50,000 newspaper copies an hour press can be easily installed in plants already running single width presses. The Magnum Compact is also targeted at the book printing that can benefit from re-use of plates and the sem-commercial print market for which UV or heatset curing systems can be installed in line.
The Magnum Compact product management and design team from three continents was present at what clearly represents an innovation based on listening to the colour quality and productivity needs of the huge number of single width newspaper and book printers around the world.
Chris McPherson an Australian newspaper publisher and printer based in Shepparton Victoria said, “As the head of a family-owned newspaper organization and a long-time Goss Community press customer I am impressed by the new concept design that speaks to our modernization needs.”