It is rebuilding the Goss HT60 presses that were installed in TNPs South West printing facility on the outskirts of the town in Devon in 1992 in a phased expansion programme.

The upgrades will include seven Goss HT60 double width press units to be added to the existing HT60 footprints in several locations on its presses. Two existing HT60 units will be fully refurbished in new frames to suit the project.

A new shaftless upper folder will be added over an existing Goss 2:5:5 jaw folder together with an angle bar enhancement to the shaftless drive.

When completed later this year the maximum colour capacity of the Plymouth press line will be 144 colour pages collect in a 160-page tabloid in a single pass of the press, up from 48 pages.

The rebuild is required to increase the colour capacity of Northcliffes regional daily papers The Western Morning News, The Evening Herald and Herald Express, and the paid-for weekly titles, The West Briton, Cornish Guardian and Cornishman.

The total production capacity at the plant is 2.5 million newspapers per week, or more than 130 million papers a year covering Devon and Cornwall, plus other areas of the West Country and further afield.

The site also prints more than 40 contract titles a week, including daily production of 100,000 copies of the Daily Mail and 70,000 copies of the Western Morning News.

Tony Grabham, the managing director of TNP SW said: Our daily and weekly customers have been additional colour for some time now and this rebuild will provide up to 128 pages of back-to-back colour which will enable them to further build their business in vital categories.

By Tony Brown.