In November 2006, the leading Indian web offset press manufacturer Manugraph acquired Dauphin Graphic Machines, Inc. of Elizabethville In November 2006, the leading Indian web offset press manufacturer Manugraph acquired Dauphin Graphic Machines, Inc. of Elizabethville, (just north of the capital city of Harrisburg) Pennsylvania. While this merger possibly holds great things in store for both the companies, we decided to visit Manugraph-DGM's plant in the US to try and understand the synergy of the two entities for ourselves.

Assembly hall at Manugraph-DGM, Elizabethville an hour's drive from Harrisburg DGM began as a company that primarily maintained, serviced, and rebuilt the ubiquitous Goss CommunityTM and UrbaniteTM presses when Goss did not to offer these services. The Goss CommunityTM unit is the most widely sold single width single circumference units around the world, typically sold into small and medium newspaper plants or newspaper startups that need to add units as they grow. Sometimes CommunityTM units that contained integrated reelstands need to be trimmed so that they can be stacked for colour printing. Modern single widths for colour For DGM, it was a natural progression to actually start building their own signature press unit with the Goss CommunityTM footprint that would fit into existing lines for customers that needed to add pages or increase colour. Using their own drawings and designs, the very first DGM 430 rolled off the manufacturing line in 1996. The current version of the DGM 430 is rated at up to 40,000 impressions per hour and has many technologically advanced standard and optional features that include: blanket cylinder bearers with narrow gap lock-ups, pneumatic controls, and motorised side-lay and circumferential controls. Another state-of-the-art option is what DGM calls “footprint shaftless” which means that each stack of units contains a drive motor, and there are no connecting driveshafts in the horizontal spaces between the unit stacks. The increasing design and manufacturing capability of a company that already excelled in customer service after the sale, maintenance and upgrades of existing web installations led to the manufacture of the DGM Advantage. This technologically advanced press features a stronger mechanical framework shared with the totally new press design of the DGM 440. The advantage is still a 40,000 iph press but it has a 20 gallon central oil reservoir with both gear and operator side oiling. The DGM 440 was completely designed and manufactured for quality commercial colour printing at 45,000 iph. This design has both unit and footprint shaftless options in addition to fully motorised and remote controls. For enhanced print quality the 440 units have three ink form-rollers and three oscillators in each of the ink trains. DGM also makes press units that fit into the Goss UrbaniteTM footprint such as the DGM 850 and the heavier duty, option-loaded DGM Advantage II press. The DGM 870 can print up to 70,000 impressions an hour. DGM also has an excellent range of folders including the DGM 1035 ten-web folder, as well as the DGM 1240 12-web 50,000cph folder. UV curing on a newspaper web press On our visit to the Carroll County Times we saw two DGM 440 towers printing on light weight coated stock using UV curing for a semi-commercial print job. This use of UV curing on a newspaper press to print colour is something that we had heard about, and we were surprised by the quality and simplicity of this approach that eliminates the need for an oven and chilling system for printing on glazed or high brightness newsprint stocks. The press uses an infeed tensioning unit similar to that on heatset web presses, but essentially it is a DGM 440 newspaper press with a couple of UV curing units cleverly mounted on the superstructure. It must be said that the DGM 440 is sturdy, designed for colour contains the automation and controls that allow it to print process colour with instant drying on many stocks including 70lb (105 gsm) coated cover stock. During our visit to the Carroll County Times plant, the performance of the DGM 440 was also being evaluated by a Scandinavian newspaper and printing group that is in the process of establishing newspaper plants across Russia for printing colour magazines. It is clear that the advent of UV curing and appropriate ink formulations have opened a new dimension to single width newspaper presses. And from what we could see, DGM is certainly a leader in UV colour on newspaper presses. This is the kind of expertise that Manugraph hopes to gain from DGM. The Manugraph DGM synergy From Manugraph’s point of view there is a tremendous synergy in acquiring a very adept engineering-based company that can manufacture and design such advanced presses and is also known for unparalleled service in the field. One can only imagine how unique DGM is in North America and the customer loyalty it has because of its willingness to refurbish equipment, to repurpose it and to upgrade its customers presslines with their own line of modern press units and folders that can easily transition newspaper plants to increased colour and UV printing. Manugraph will be able to incorporate many of DGM’s capabilities such as their UV printing know-how and their tremendous range of very reliable and very fast folders. DGM in turn will automatically give Manugraph a significant market share in the Americas. Every corporate integration is difficult and to some extent relies on the emotional inputs of both sides. However, from what we can see, both Manugraph and DGM enjoy enormous reputations and goodwill in their respective geographies. The combination of the two design, manufacturing, and servicing capabilities makes them formidable in the single width and single circumference presses where the company already enjoys a dominant market share of around 40 per cent of the world market especially as the new Frontline 60,000 press enters the world market. In addition, look for new Manugraph DGM designs and initiative that could challenge the Germans and the Japanese in the larger press configurations.