Improved project management has helped Goss win an order for new Colorliners for Northcliffe Newspapers worth more than 21m ($30m).


Northcliffe is installing two new press lines and additional printing units at its Stoke-on-Trent and Derby sites as part of a drive to expand colour production for The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.


The new Colorliner 80 ordered for Stoke will include four four-high towers, one two-high unit and a 255 jaw folder. The Colorliner 70 for Triangle Print, Derby will include four four-high towers, two two-high units and a 255 jaw folder. Both presses should be operational by autumn 2002.


Northcliffe is also expanding an existing Goss HT70 at Derby. A new Colorliner 70 two-high unit and a four-high tower will enable the HT70, first installed in 1995, to match the capacity of the Colorliner. Installation should be complete in the spring of 2003.


Northcliffe Press technical director Mark Ellington described some of Goss installations in the past as being "poorly managed".


"But the last Goss that was installed at Stoke in January 1999 went far better than it had on previous occasions," he added.


Although project management is only a small part of the buying decision it is an important one, he said.


Goss presses make up the bulk of Northcliffes kit at its UK sites although it has a "huge variety of vintages" said Ellington.


The Northcliffe investment is part of a 91m press enhancement programme announced last year. Harmsworth Quays 55m deal with KBA for five presses is also part of the total investment (PrintWeek, 12 April).


Story by Sally Nash