➤ When America’s Dauphin Graphic Machinery merged with Manugraph of India in 2006, it brought together a unique mix of innovation and enterprise, engineering design and capability. Now the fruits of that alliance are being fully supported in Australia and New Zealand by more of the kind of teamwork for which Brendon Whitley’s Webco is renowned. Both the Manugraph DGM brands are now represented across Australasia and the Pacific, and Webco – based in Tauranga on New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty – is in the process of adding sales and support centres in Melbourne and Brisbane. An expanding parts store in Melbourne supports not only Webco’s own product lines but many others as well, including most general consumable parts. The new agency arrangements were announced in December by an enthusiastic Ron Ehrhardt, international sales vice president of Manugraph DGM. “We’ve enjoyed many years of success with Webco in the NZ market, and are looking forward to continued success in Australia as well,” he says. Named DGM’s ‘international dealer of the year’ at DRUPA, Webco has a reputation is based not only on the US-built equipment, but on its ability to supply and engineer a range of newspaper solutions for publishers of all sizes. Recent projects have included a small single-width press to take the ‘Solomon Star’ from sheetfed production to web-offset colour, a four-tower press for a customer in Jakarta, and a refurbished five-unit press for another Indonesian customer. “We aim to provide quality, service and innovation at a fair price,” says Whitley. “Our customers count on us for fast, responsive service to keep their equipment at today’s demanding standards.” The company services the newspaper industry throughout the Pacific region, supplying consumables, single units, ‘cut and stack’ two-highs and complete presslines, backing these with trusted engineering support ... a package it is now bringing to the whole of the region. Currently the cutting and stacking of ten units into two four-high towers and a two-high for a customer in Columbia has begun, and the company is also rebuilding a Community four-high, refurbishing a Ventura four-high and refurbishing a five-unit press for an Asian customer. “Newspapers have come to rely on us to keep their presses rolling day and night, producing products to the highest quality possible,” Whitley says. From its centres in New Zealand and Australia – where it is partnered by Andy Stephens’ Global Press Technologies – Webco offers a full range of new and used equipment. This includes both the Manugraph India manufactured products – Cityline Express, Hiline Express, 430MAX and Frontline presses – and the Manugraph DGM USA manufactured 430, 430MAX, 440 and Advantage II. The new Manugraph DGM 1240 folder – released at DRUPA – is expected to become the standard for many new tower presses, while the upgraded 430 MAX has bearings on oscillating rollers and individual PLC controls in a 45,000 cph bearer design. In the two-around market, a new DGM 1270 jaw folder with its 2:3:4 configuration complements the shaftless DGM 870, a high-quality three ink forme, three oscillator inker, fully oil-lubricated tower. Both are rated at 70,000 impressions an hour. Manugraph DGM has also announced its first double-width press, the 4/1 Smartline, which uses a single-circumference plate cylinder and double-circumference blanket cylinder to deliver quality and consistency at up to 70,000 cph. Also new at the Print Pack 2009 exhibition was the 45,000 cph Hiline Express, a technical extension of the popular Hiline, with three forme rollers and three oscillators (with a water cooling option) and spray bar dampening. With growing interest in semicommercial production, Webco is also well-placed to discuss both UV and conventional heatset presses and upgrades. The company recently commissioned two DGM 430 heatset towers for Guardian Print in Ashburton, NZ. Heatset webs can be delivered to a separate folder or included with four coldset webs via the upper former of a DGM 1035 folder. The option provides a 48-page all colour product with 16 pages of heatset. Through its large number of US installations, Manugraph DGM also has comprehensive experience in single-width UV production. UV is a popular upgrade because of its low cost – about a third of that of conventional heatset – small footprint and environmental advantages. At the Print Pack 2009 show, Manugraph DGM showed UV on a 35,000 cph Cityline Express, and the technology is now available across the whole of its press range. Webco Limited Ph: +64 7 577 0692 Fax: +64 7 577 0672 Email: brendon@webco.co.nz Web: www.webco.co.nz Global Press Technologies Andy Stephens, Ph: +61 400 240 320