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Granite Publications
About five miles north of Taylor in a new building at 2675 CR 374, on a thick slab of concrete, a brand new Goss Community SSC printing press is humming along, churning out newspapers each day. Granite Publications hosted a grand opening for the new printing plant on March 18.
Constructed to run full-color on the outside web, the front and back and the inside front and back, the new press runs about twice as fast as Granite's old press that was housed in the Taylor Daily Press building at Taylor.
Granite's old press was engineered for black and white and was converted to run color. "This new press gives us more flexibility in the different formats of jobs we can run, providing more customized service," said Granite Publications President Rick Reynolds.
The press can handle up to a 20-page broadsheet section with four-color on four pages. Maximum press speed is 30,000 per hour. The press has four units on the slab floor, a folding unit above in the middle of the line and a four-high unit to produce full color. Having color units stacked on top of one another arranges the printing cylinders closer together, allowing color to be printed more precisely.
The press features a computer-to-plate (CTP) system, improving color reproduction and efficiency by eliminating many of the pre-production steps like negatives and stripping. In addition to the improved quality, it also reduces time and waste.
"Our color capacity is much better now, and our gain, because it is coming directly off of the CTP, means the color is very sharp," said Production Superintendent Jorge Perez. "The reproduction on this press 50 percent better than the old press because of how it is configured and the dot gain. We can offer better quality and more consistent color."
The press offers remote register, motorized ink fountains, blanket cylinders, pneumatic controls and a central grease lubrication block, all of which help ensure quality printing.
"The Goss Community SSC is built and was always designed to run newspapers. It is a newspaper press that has commercial capacity," Perez said. The new press makes Granite Printing more versatile and helps get customers in and out faster with a quality product in hand. "We can do quick turnaround on short runs between 2,000 to 10,000, and we are very flexible with multiple formats," Perez said. "We also have the capacity with this press to run tall tabs, providing just one more new print option."
While the press is the shiny, new feature at Granite Printing, the years of know-how and customer service are what set the operation apart. The Granite Printing staff of eight boasts more than 100 years of combined experience.
"For us, the customer always comes first," Perez said. "Our goal is to satisfy our customers. We have knowledgeable staff in prepress to assist customers in building projects."
The press weighs between 60,000 and 70,000 pounds, Reynolds said, which in the expanding Blackland soil of Williamson County required a unique concrete slab design. The press sits on 27-foot concrete piers buried into the ground, and the slab supporting it floats above the soil. Around the press, the slab for the press building sits on the ground as normal. "The slab is designed that way for the structural integrity of the press," Reynolds said. "It has to be on a solid surface. The slab has to be very stable on which the press sits. If we were west of I-35 sitting on bedrock, we wouldn't have to do that."
For more information, contact Granite Vice President Brandi Guy at
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