The Irish Times has signed a contract with the German engineering group MAN Roland to build a new printing press, which is expected to be operational by November 2001.
The newspaper is investing about £15 million (€19 million) in the Geoman 8/3 press, which will be located in a purpose-built plant at the Citywest campus in west Dublin.
Planning permission has been secured and tenders sought for the plant's construction. Work is expected to begin before the end of June.
The new press will have capacity to print a full-colour 64-page newspaper in four sections at a rate of 75,000 copies per hour, more than twice the current rate. Capacity to insert additional pre-printed sections or magazines with the core package will also be available.
Overall, The Irish Times is investing some £45 million in the project. Most of the funding will come from the group's own reserves.
Welcoming the development, the managing director of The Irish Times Ltd, Mr Nick Chapman, said the new press would enable the newspaper to meet the challenge of new competition and reflect social and economic change in the market.
"At the moment we don't have any spare capacity. We're actually turning away advertising, which is heartbreaking. We also don't have the kind of flexibility we need to change the newspaper as the market changes," said Mr Chapman.
"I think there is a trend in general newspapers for full colour throughout and that's because readers and advertisers are so used to full-colour in magazines, television and all the media.
"The important thing for me is this new, fast, flexible, high-capacity press gives us the kind of capability to go on being the premier newspaper service in Ireland.
"The market is going to change much more quickly than it changed in the last 15 years. There are all sorts of options out there. Some are obvious, like a Sunday newspaper. Others are less obvious."
Development plans for the newspaper would emcompass its print and Internet editions, said Mr Chapman.
Describing the printing press project as the first step in a big programme of investment, he continued: "Clearly we're not going to invest £45 million in a printing press without also investing in changing how we produce the newspaper pre-press.
"That is an investment in people and it is an investment in technology and the two go hand-in-hand, including, of course, reaching agreement with all our trade unions on how we best utilise this new technology."
He added that agreement had already been reached with the pre-press section of the Irish Print Group trade union on the implementation of new technology. "We will have a programme of negotiations in place with all of the unions whereby we will put in place partnership agreements which will enable us to work together much more effectively."
The new press will also lead to improvements in the newspaper's distribution system, Mr Chapman said. "We'll benefit from having this very fast and efficient new press which will enable us to guarantee getting the newspaper to the right place at the right time when our customers want it."
The project is being led by the Technology and Resources Director of The Irish Times, Mr Seamus McCague. The Irish Times's partners for the project are: project managers J.J. Ballance & Co, architects Scott Tallon Walker and German-based process design group Eurografica, which specialises in print processes.
Construction of the printing press has already begun at MAN Roland's plant at Augsburg, Germany. MAN Roland, which won the contract after a competitive tendering process, also supplied the current Irish Times printing press. Delivery of the new press will begin next April.
"In very self-evident terms it will show how we're going to change as an organisation. It's a big step forward from where we are now," said Mr Chapman.
"What it means is that we have the capability, and will have for the forseeable future, to respond to what is a very fast-changing market. It's a very tangible milestone as we move forward., he said."
