Courier Times has new press up and running

By Erin Auci
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association 

The Bucks County Courier Times' has been using its new press for more than a month and Tom Spurgeon, general manager, says there has been a "quantum leap and substantial improvement in the paper."

The press went live on May 31 to print the following day's paper, which Spurgeon said was the original date set for production to begin.

In 2001, the Courier Times announced plans to begin construction of the production facility that would house the $11.5 million MAN Roland Geoman press.

Two years and two months later following a change of location and weather problems, the $34 million facility was completed. The building sits on 12.6 acres in Penn Warner Industrial Park, four miles north of the paper's main office in Levittown.

"[The new facility] is neat, clean, modern and safe," said Spurgeon. He also said it is the largest and most expensive project undertaken by Calkins Media, which owns the Courier Times.

Inside the facility sits the Geoman, an offset press, which Spurgeon said is a "huge leap in technology" from the Goss letterpress unit used at the Courier Times up until now.

According to Spurgeon, the new press offers a greater number of color applications that are more vibrant and clearer, so reproduction of advertisements has greatly improved. "We can now offer many extra options to advertisers which has increased ad sales," he said.

Spurgeon said the Courier Times will offer commercial printing services after solving the minor problems that come with the new hardware and software without further complicating things.

Another important piece in the production of the Courier Times is a Graphic Management Associates inserter capable of inserting circulars, coupon books and other items at a rate of 50,000 papers an hour. This process used to be done by hand.

During construction, employees who would be working in the production facility were trained to use the new equipment by the machines' vendors. "Both MAN Roland and GMA provided training as a stipulation to our contract," Spurgeon said. 

On any given day there are between 40 and 50 employees working in the new facility.

The Courier Times held an open house on June 9, which showcased the new facility to the 275 attendees. "Because we were already in operation, people were able to see how things works," Spurgeon said. "You could tell they were as impressed as we were."