HT Media scoring high:
moments to remember
Under further expansion plans, places orders for MAN Roland
Regioman web and mailroom systems from Muller Martini
A day before NexPo taking place this year, it was a
proud moment with officials of New Delhi-based HT
Media Ltd, receiving award for being included as the
member of International Newspaper Color Quality
Club (INCQC) (2008-10) from India. The award was
given jointly by NAA (Newspaper Association of
America) and IFRA (Europe) in Washington DC, USA.
Prior to this, just few weeks ago, HT Media also got
Best in Print Awards during the glittering ceremony in
Macau (Publish Asia ’08). In fact, these awards
coming to HT Media as a testimony of their being on the fast tracks in
terms of new technology adoption. There has been a long journey for HT
Media having reached what they are today. A brief report by AAN, based
on the conversation with Harish Nagpal, AVP-materials, HT Media Ltd.
It was second of February last
year that HT Media proudly
launched a new financial daily
under the title ‘Mint’ in
collaboration with Wall Street
Journal of USA. Initially, it was
published from New Delhi and
Mumbai, which has now extended
to Bangalore as well. Lately, the
quality of this financial daily has
been appreciated well from all
corners, thus attracting lots of
colourful ad campaigns. The fact
was endorsed by IFRA as in
Publish Asia in Macau, where Best
in Special Coverage – Gold Award
and Best in Newspaper Design –
Silver Award were awarded to
‘Mint’ in the category of
newspapers with circulation of at
least 1,00,000 copies. Behind its
high quality standards, the role of
8-unit heatset commercial web,
Baker Perkins G-16, cannot be
ignored. This is a used web press
acquired from UK, which has been
commissioned only in Dec 2007.
With a cut off size of 630 mm, capable
of producing 32 pages in Berliner
size (470x315mm), this web press
provides high quality printing,
using thermal (CtP) plates.
As per Harish Nagpal, who handles
production, quality and job work,
"With the very success rate in terms
of high quality on Baker Perkinson
web press, HT Media also plans to
accept job work, which shall bring
us additional revenues by running
the machine in non-peak hours as
well.”
Officials of HT Media receiving 2008-2010 INCQC awards |
Another eventful moment came for
HT Media very recently i.e., on April
21, 2007, when their Hindi
newspaper Hindustan got
revamped with gala celebration
taking place in a prestigious
Meridian Hotel in New Delhi. With
attractive new layout, interesting
play around colour through out, the
new edition from Chandigarh was
also launched simultaneously.
Seeing the tremendous growth in
vernacular language newspapers,
HT Media also never liked to be left
behind. With earlier editions from
Delhi, Patna, Bhagalpur,
Muzzafarpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad,
Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Varanasi,
Kanpur and Agra, HT Media is all
set to take up Dehradun,
Ahmedabad and Barely soon.
To keep the flags of quality printing
high as well as to meet the needs
of growing circulation, the ever growing
needs of new state-of-theart
printing equipment bundled with
efficient mailroom system became
the priority area. And for HT Media,
after having evaluated all
equipments available in the market,
in terms of special features, all
parameters and following open
systems, the final decision went
towards MAN Roland Regioman
web press for meeting its high
demand of increased circulation in
Mumbai.
MAN Roland Regioman web press(left)
The modular design of Regioman from Man Roland offers
various options towards further expansion (right) |
The selection of MAN Roland
Regioman web press was not of
much difficulty as the manufacturers
are the world leaders in this category
and HT Media has already installed
a Colorman press in their Greater
Noida facility. This Regioman press
is double width, single
circumference; having 55" web
width and 546mm cut off providing
80,000 cph. With a total capacity to
produce 6.5 lakh copies of 32 pages
everyday, the machine will have 8
towers (8 H over H type printing
units for printing one web 4/4
colours). Supplied with 8 CD-13 reel
splicers, this machine shall have on
its delivery side double jaw type
folder system 2:3:3/2:3:3. PECOM
Press Manager (PPM) with CIP3
interface is yet another important
feature coming with the press.
PECOM is MAN Roland’s
integrated electronic system for
control, operation, and management
of printing presses. With more than
1000 PECOM control systems in
operation worldwide, MAN Roland
is the largest supplier of press
MAN Roland Regioman web press. controls in the world. PECOM
handles three primary operations
essential for successful production:
pre-production - including edition
planning and scheduling,
imposition makeup and run-to-run
optimization; press operation -
including automatic presetting,
closed loop quality control and
diagnostic reporting; and post
production - including consumption
tracking, efficiency evaluation, and
maintenance management.
Also, Regioman features a “toolless”
plate lockup design and a
narrow “Micro-Gap” blanket lockup,
which provides a larger image area;
besides an undershot inker, shaftless
drive and Turbo dampener for
superior reproduction. “This
machine shall be installed in Mumbai
facility by the end of this year,”
confirms Nagpal.
To efficiently handle the output of
newspapers from its new press, HT
Media has also placed order for
Muller Martini mailroom systems,
which include: 2 x NewsGripA
lines with 2-in-1 system (2 copies
in one gripper - facilitating reduced
speed of the chain); 4 x CN-80
stackers; 4 x Mosca Integra-I film
wrapping cum cross strapping;
Mailroom Production Control
(MPC); Chain control unit -
performing as a unique diagnostic
tool; and 2 x Sitech stck-on/peeloff
in-line label applicators, the last
being an innovative device can be
easily put on for one off jobs,
creating additional revenue stream
for the newspaper publishers by
offering new advertising
possibilities.
Muller Martini's NewsGrip-A and PrintStack CN-80 |
Muller Martini’s NewsGripA is a
timed gripper conveyor for maximum
reliability in newspaper operations,
with operating speed up to 85,000
copies per hour. With this conveyor,
freshly printed newspapers,
preprinted sections and advertising
supplements are transported reliably
from press delivery to mailroom for
zoned distribution, with additional
customized configurations with
perfectly matched components. The
system is designed for high
performance at low chain speed, large
product size range, gentle
transporation of newspapers
securely held by wide grippers,
simple and reliable handling of
newspaper copies, lower
maintenance since the chain and
grippers require neither lubrication
nor cleaning, durable casehardened
and anodized special
aluminum rail sections for easy
installation and maintenance-free
operation, and copy-specific
ejection.
PrintStack CN-80 so ordered by HT
Media meets the requirements of
every aspect of newspaper mailing:
including mechanical speed up to
80,000 copies per hour; peak
performance and reliability;
standard and variable count
bundles; direct printing and
insertion production; integration in
fully automated production
process; and simple operation. It is
efficient and user as well as
maintenance-friendly stacker, with
various infeed elements. The other
salient features of this PrintStack
include: quick make-ready, variable
infeed, smooth turntable
operations, universally useable and
very interesting multi-delivery
option like roller delivery for manual
pick up, delivery to the right or left
side (or even alternative left/right),
belt delivery for uninterrupted
conveying to down stream
machines.
The Mailroom Production Control
(MPC) system from Muller Martini
networks all partial processes in the
mailroom and ensures that all
processes interact with each other
correctly. It offers very simple data
importation and optimal data
management. Guaranteeing a
continuous workflow, supporting
planning and controlling
production; this system generates
the data for individual production
analysis and reports. Overall, this
system enables efficient use of
whole set-up and increases
flexibility in the zero-specific
configuration of newspapers and
in bundle formation. The Mosca
Integra-I film-wrapping-cum-cross
strapping machine, with its
high speed and reliability, is only a
perfect match to the Muller
Martini Mailroom System so that
the whole chain is uniformly
strong!
“The selection of Muller Martini for
the mailroom systems is a
conscious decision by HT Media
to move over to robust and userfriendly
systems,” conveyed
Nagpal.
With this set of new installations
planned for this year, the journey
for Hindustan Times is bound to
continue ever after.
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