ET Heron hopes to gain "a few USPs over our competitors" by investing in a new 64pp press plus CTP and binding kit.


Sales director Keith Amos said Heron would move its 16pp Baker Perkins G14 to accommodate the MAN Roland Lithoman IV, which should be up and running next Spring.


The G14 will take the space currently occupied
by Heron's 16pp Baker Perkins G12, which will be decommissioned.


The firm will also install a second 18-station Muller Martini Corona binding line by mid-2001 along with high-speed stitching kit. The stitching room will move to create space for the Corona.


Amos said the 64pp press would allow Heron to move further into the consumer magazine market.


"There's plenty of scope within our existing customer base to exploit it," he added. "We may have had doubts in the past about the ability of the presses to do the necessary quality but technology has moved on."


Heron, which prints PrintWeek, is installing its Agfa Galileo violet diode platesetter this week and hopes to have it up and running before Christmas.


The firm has also signed up for Luscher CTP systems, which should be running by the time the new press is installed.


* Heron has won the contract to print InStyle, the Time Warner-owned magazine set to launch in the UK in spring 2001. But the firm is still unable to reveal the identity of its 27m magazine contract (PrintWeek, 3 November).
Story by Gordon Carson.