Ahead of the March SWUG conference, NSW members of the Lithographic Institute of Australia are set to visit Fairfax Media's North Richmond print site.

The visit on the evening of February 23 is an opportunity to visit one of the most modern and diverse newspaper and commercial print plants in Australia. Fairfax North Richmond was named PANPA 'print site of the year' in 2014.

The company's publications include the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, The Land, Sunday Life, Good Weekend and some 200 local and independent mastheads.

Members and guests will have the opportunity to view the prepress, press and postpress production areas. Prepress equipment includes three Krause platesetters capable of producing 200 plates per hour.

A single press line includes both single-width manroland Uniset and double-width Geoman lines: two horizontal four-unit semicommercial heatset lines, two dedicated UV and six coldset four high towers. The four folders are also fed by four towers of double-width Geoman. Postpress is Ferag, with Müller Martini equipment used for commercial binding.

After the tour, members will have dinner at The Panthers Club in North Richmond, where the guest speaker will be Bob Lockley, Fairfax's group director for print and distribution.