Today’s edition of the Austin Daily Herald was printed earlier than normal for a very good reason: We are getting a new motor for our printing press.

The old motor is a 50-horsepower DC motor, and the new one is a 60-horsepower AC motor.

What was wrong with the old one?

“Our motor is fatiguing from age,” said Terry Thissen, our press production director.

The paper you hold in your hands today is a Sunday edition, but it was printed Friday night to allow the press work to take place Saturday and Sunday.

We purchased the new motor and a modern control panel from Tatum Press Services in Joplin, Mo., and we thank Albert Lea Electric and Alliant Energy for working with us to bring more power to our building.

The new motor is part of several steps we have taken to improve our 1970s-era web offset presses manufactured by Web Leader in Seattle, which were installed in the Albert Lea Tribune in 2007. We recently have replaced portions of the drive that transfers power from the motor to the press units, and last winter we replaced a few of the units themselves.

All these steps allow us to maintain standards of quality our readers and advertisers have come to expect.