Gannett Berliner to be First with PowerWrap

By: E&P Staff The Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind., and GMA, the Allentown, Pa.-based newspaper post-press systems subsidiary of Switzerland's Muller Martini, have reached agreement on a project to process and contain the 35,837-circulation Gannett daily in the Berliner format next year.

Besides installing an 18:2 SLS3000 inserter capable of handling the compact European version of the traditional broadsheet layout, GMA will supply its new PowerWrap, a system for enveloping and containing packages once they leave the inserter. The PowerWrap will include two feeder positions to place premium onserts before wrapping.

Sales of both machines are firsts for GMA in North America. GMA will deliver the new system when the paper's $24 million plant is completed next spring.

The Journal and Courier bought a MAN Roland Geoman one-plate-around doublewide press slated to be in production by early next fall, when the paper will move from conventional broadsheet format on its 54-inch wide letterpress to Berliner format, using a 48-inch wide web and a 18.5-inch cut-off (E&P Online, Mar, 21, 2005). The paper also will produce and process quarterfold commercial work with GMA equipment.

The contract also calls for two CombiStack all-in-one devices, to bundle and strap wrapped newspapers neatly and consistently, and NewsGrip A single gripper conveyor to run from the press to a stitcher/trimmer system.

Of concern to newspapers has been incorporating advertising, especially freestanding inserts, into a Berliner's smaller design, which folds to 9.25 inches by 12 inches.

In a statement announcing the contract with GMA, Journal and Courier President and Publisher Gary Suisman listed the concerns he said GMA met: "Can we automatically repair missed inserts when the Berliner jacket is shorter than the inserts? Can we deliver the package to tie lines without having inserts fall out? Will the inserts that are larger than the Berliner be torn when the bundle is tied? What will the bundle quality be? How will we ensure all the inserts stay in the single copy racks and our vendors store racks, thus maintaining product integrity?"

GMA said it demonstrated clean, consistent processing, transfer, and containment of Berliner product at high inserting speeds, with from one to 45 inserts per jacket with perfect results.