Japanese daily Oita Godo Shimbun will equip a new print centre in the city with two Mitsubishi 4x1 presses.

An order signed last month covers two DiamondSpirit presses to be delivered next year.

Currently 440,000 copies are produced daily at a plant located in Oita which houses two presses. Mitsubishi says reliability was a high priority in the quest fornew equipment.

The 4x1 presses for Oita Godo Shimbun are rated at 80,000 cph and will have a web width of 1626 mm. Each will be configured with three towers, two mono units, five reelstands and a 2:2 double rotary folder.

Mitsubishi press control systems will include automated features including ink presetting with prepress interface, various press presets and automatic colour register control. A rail-type webbing up system allows individual webbing up of two ribbons through turner bars and bay windows up to RTF without manual intervention.

Oita Godo Shimbun was founded in 1886 and since the merger of Hoshu Shimpo and Oita Shimbun in 1942, has been the only local newspaper published in the city with a market share of almost 60 per cent.

Pictured at the signing are Oita Godo Shimbun president Takeshi Nagano (centre) and vice president Keichi Nagano (right) with MHI-P&PM president Masami Shimizu