GOSS Graphic Systems worked on the Wingates press for two years after it was acquired from the Washington Post.

The highly respected US newspaper achieved lasting fame when reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed a political scandal which led to the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon in 1974.

The White house was implicated in a break-in at Watergate, the building which housed the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the 1972 presidential election.

Nixon subsequently resigned rather than face impeachment and Woodward and Bernstein's story was featured in 1976 in the Oscar-winning film All The President's Men.

It was based on the dogged journalists' book and featured Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein.

The new equipment at Wingates is capable of producing 96-page newspapers with half those pages being in double-sided full colour.

This increases the flexibility and colour capability available to Newsquest.

The project represents a significant achievement for Goss Graphic Systems.

A project team worked for 10 months installing the press at the purpose-built facility in Westhoughton.

The press has already run at a peak operating speed of 60,000 copies per hour and has been producing the BEN for the last two months.

It is a resounding success for the project team which has combined new drive and control technology with the fully refurbished units and folders to produce a product of high quality and good reliability.

Goss is an American company, formed in 1885 and is one of the world's leading printing press manufacturers.

Billions of newspapers have been printed on Goss presses around the globe. As well as the Washington Post, they include DC Thomson publications in Scotland, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News.

In 1936, during a period of international expansion, Goss purchased the 100-year-old Preston press-making company of Joseph Foster and Sons.

These days Preston is still a UK base for the company, which is now known as Goss Graphic Systems.