When The Free Lance-Star opens its new production facility this month, the event will herald a sizable set of firsts for the family-owned newspaper. Not only will the paper begin operating the first Goss International FPS press in North America, it will also be the first daily to use specially formulated hybrid ink from Flint Group, the first to use a plant-wide management app engineered by Goss, the first to employ an automated roll-handling system co-authored by Goss and Westfalia Technologies and the first to use a specially tailored plate loading system architected by Nela in concert with Kodak and the press vendor.

Incorporating the slate of new technologies is part of a carefully drafted strategy plotted by Operations Director John Jenkins and Publisher Josiah P. Rowe III. "The technology with the new press doesn't scare me," Rowe said. "What we're doing is visionary."

To that end, The Free Lance-Star's 92,000-square-foot plant is equipped with systems designed to satisfy a single objective: "To complete a printed product in one pass," said Jenkins. "Automation and integration are key, and we have designed a printing infrastructure in which we can get a newsprint roll delivered, a finished product printed, and have that done with only a single touch. We believe that efficiency will make the difference for us."

The 92,000-square-foot building was constructed by Winchester-based general contractor Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. The plant, on 23 acres in south Fredericksburg, will replace The Free Lance-Star's longtime downtown production facility.

The facility adds a new revenue stream to The Free Lance Star Companies, a local, family-owned business which also holds a newspaper, on-line media and four radio stations in Fredericksburg. The Washington Examiner is the first commercial printing client.

Source: News and Tech.com

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