Stitching gives major Indian newspaper
publisher competitive advantages
In-line stitching for six products from
the Hindu group offers neat and smart look.
T
he Hindu, the leading Indian English-language daily newspaper is using Tolerans in-line stitchers for the production of six tabloid products at the printing centre in Maraimalai Nagar, about 45 km from its Chennai headquarter.
“Stitching definitely adds values to our product, and combined with trimming, we can produce magazine-like products directly off the press. With the stitched products, we have established a differentiation from our competitors who don’t stitch,” stated Kasturi Balaji, director at The Hindu. “It gives our products a better position and a higher value to readers and advertisers, a position we are glad to have achieved—especially since the competitive edge we are getting significantly overcompensates the additional stitching cost,” he continued.
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Tolerans AB is the global leader in advanced in-line stitching systems for newspapers and commercial printers. In business since 1947, the Swedish company has installed more than 1,700 stitchers in 70 countries. Their stitchers make newspapers and commercial print easy to navigate, give them a longer life span and secures recycling. Stitching also provides a better packaging of supplements, and increases value for readers and advertisers.
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“If a tabloid product is to have some kinds of lasting value and must stay together for a few hours, I am quite happy to recommend stitching for every publisher in that situation,” added Balaji.
Presently, the six products per week that The Hindu stitches are Sportstar, Cinema Plus (a 16-page tabloid), NXG (a 16-page tabloid focusing on the new generation), Metro Plus Weekend (also 16 pages) Smartbuy, and Ergo (an 8-page tabloid). Sportstar is a weekly magazine for which stitching is a necessity as it is sold separately on news stands. Smartbuy is distributed with the business paper Business Line. Ergo is a free newspaper catering to IT professionals, and distributed five days a week. The other products are distributed with the main section of The Hindu newspaper.
