Spokane, Washington, daily the Spokesman-Review is replacing its double width presses in the city with an all-colour eight-tower single-width press in a new factory.

General manager of the new Northwest Offset Printing operation Rick Sant says the move from the large press format to a "right size" press was obvious: "We knew we wanted to continue to print our own newspaper and we needed to be more competitive to get commercial print jobs."

The 32-unit Goss Community SSC Magnum pressline is being installed by ImPressions Worldwide, which has a base in nearby Burlington.

The new line will deliver full colour on every page - including one web of heat - with Universal jaw and quarter folders. The move will allow the privately-owned Cowles Publishing to lease out space in the North Monroe Street.

The current press is configured for broadsheets and press runs of up to 200,000 copies, "gigantic enough to print the Los Angeles Times," Sant quipped, with publisher adding that the move and the new press would improve paper's bottom line. "Because we aren't printing 200,000 newspapers, we had a lot of downtime on the press."

ImPressions refurbished and reconfigured the eight-tower line, which was previously at NYT Press in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"We'll be positioned well to print newspapers and commercial jobs," says Sant, who joined the company from the Orange County Register's Freedom Printing in Anaheim, California - now owned by Digital First Media since its acquisition of Tribune Publishing - and has driven the project.

A new concrete pad has just been poured in preparation for the installation of the press - which has remote ink and auto register - with the new production building "generally complete". New press and mailroom equipment should be working in time for a switchover early next year.

President Impressions Worldwide Tom Loesch says projects which replace double-width equipment with single-width are becoming "very typical".

Pictured: A concrete pad is readied for the Magnum installation;

The Spokesman-Review's downtown double-width press in February, when the project was announced (photo Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review)