Stimulus package for print media extended
Under the general budget 2009-10, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has further extended the ‘stimulus package’ for the print media for another six months from Jun 30-Dec 31, 2009.
In February 2009, the print media was given a stimulus package comprising waiver of fifteen percent agency commission on DAVP advertisements and a ten percent increase in the DAVP rates to be paid as a ‘special relief’ subject to documentary proof of loss of revenue in non-governmental advertisements.
Strategic partnership between KBA and The Printers House
To expand their business globally, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), Germany, and The Printers House (TPH), India have joined hands, with a two-way tie-up wherein KBA will promote TPH products in most of the countries and TPH will promote KBA web presses on the Indian sub continent. The marketing consortium formed by both the companies will be the biggest of its kind in newspaper industry.
With this strategic alliance, both KBA and TPH will have capabilities to cater to any requirement ranging from 16,000iph to 90,000iph web offset presses in their respective territories. KBA, apart from their standard product range, will now offer TPH’s Orient range of web offset presses from speeds of 16,000iph to 50,000iph, while TPH will promote the complete range of high speed KBA web presses.
“We are delighted to join forces with KBA to serve the web offset printing industry under one umbrella. We hope that KBA’s excellence combined with world class price competitive machines from TPH will open new vistas in the web offset printing industry globally. It will not only reap benefits in terms of technology but also improve economics for new projects,” commented M M Kohli, director of TPH.
“It is an exciting time. TPH with their brand name ‘Orient’ is a highly respected company worldwide. The tie-up between us will complement our product range, thereby further strengthening our standing in the global market. We have complete trust in TPH and their products, and expect it to be a significant alliance for the newspaper and commercial web offset printers worldwide,” stated Christoph Müller, member of the KBA board.
Amalgamation of WAN and IFRA
After discussing all pros and cons of the merger for over five years since they have built up several similar products and services apart from registering an increasing overlap in membership, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and IFRA decided to merge into a new organisation, namely the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The merger became effective from July 1, 2009.
Representing more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, the new organisation will maintain the two current headquarters in Paris (France) and Darmstadt (Germany). Gavin O Reilly, the president of WAN and Group CEO of Dublin-based Independent News and Media, will serve as president of the new organisation through 2010, while Horst Pirker, president of IFRA and CEO of Styria Medien AG in Austria, will serve as first vice president until becoming president in 2011. The new organisation will also appoint a chief executive officer shortly. In the meantime, the current CEOs of WAN and IFRA, Timothy Balding and Reiner Mittelbach, will jointly manage the merged association.
Under their mission, as the world-wide service and representative organisation of newspapers and the entire news publishing industry, WAN-IFRA is dedicated to support the industry as well as its technology and service providers: to defend and promote press freedom and the economic independence; to improve editorial quality and promote ethical journalism; to provide expertise and research in publishing strategy, editorial, advertising, marketing, technology, production and distribution issues to the industry; to provide a world-wide center for industry research and implementation and a platform for the exchange of ideas, information and experience between all parties of the news publishing industry; to foster international co-operation to encourage the culture of reading newspapers through the establishment and development of Young Reader and Newspapers in Education programmes; and to provide opportunities for senior news executives to exchange ideas and information about editing newspapers.
“Both IFRA and WAN are strong organisations providing key services to our industry. We believe that combining their strengths will allow us to be even more resourceful and effective in responding to the growing needs of our members and industry partners in the fast-moving and evolving media matrix. This is a necessary merger which, indeed, has been on the cards for some time,” commented Gavin O Reilly. “Like the whole news publishing industry, WAN and IFRA are currently facing serious challenges. We need to concentrate our resources to support our members in the best possible way,” added Horst Pirker.
The two organisations have a long common history. Paris-based WAN, founded in 1948, was instrumental in the creation of IFRA, which emerged in 1961 under the name of INCA (International Newspaper Colour Association), an organisation to aid newspapers in their widening use of colour printing in newspaper production.
In 1971, IFRA was established as a separate entity to treat the rapidly developing technical side of the industry. The acronym stands for INCA-FIEJ Research Association - FIEJ, the French acronym for the International Federation of Newspaper Publishers, is the organisation now known as WAN.
Presently, WAN comprises 78 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives and companies in more than 120 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional press organisations; while IFRA - with headquarters in Darmstadt apart from regional offices in the United States, Asia and Europe - represents more than 3,000 publishing companies and suppliers to the publishing industry from over seventy countries.
Vijay K Chopra becomes chairman of PTI
One of the leading figures of media industry, Vijay Kumar Chopra, editor-in-chief of Hind Samachar group has been elected as chairman and Vineet Jain of Times of India group as vice-chairman of the board of directors of Press Trust of India Ltd (PTI). A Padma Shree awardee and former president of Indian Newspaper Society (INS), Chopra succeeded an eminent physicist Prof EV Chitnis.
Solna receives yet largest order from China
Nanfang Daily Media Group has recently signed a contract with the Swedish printing press manufacturer Solna Offset AB and their agent Ekpac Graphics Ltd (Hong Kong) for purchasing new printing equipment. The new 70,000cph press for the group’s facility in Guangzhou consists of twenty four 4-high towers Solna D390 and ten folders F480C, and will be ready for starting of production early summer 2010. By this investment, Nanfang Daily Media Group will be the yet largest customer of Solna in the world. Also, it will be one of the biggest orders in the history of the Chinese graphic industry.
“D390 is now the world’s fastest single-width single-round printing press, and this order has put the cooperation between Solna and Nanfang newspaper to another climax, after the first breakthrough in 1983,” stated Jorgen Karlsson, president & CEO of Solna.
In India, Solna is represented by NBG Printographic Machinery Co (P) Ltd, New Delhi(www.nbgprintographic.com).
Mitsubishi DIAMONDSPACE becomes operational at Yomiuri Shimbun
At the Sakaide plant of The Yomiuri Shimbun - said to have the world’s largest circulation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has recently replaced the first of the two shaft-driven press lines with the new shaftless-drive DIAMONDSPACE, retaining the existing five RTPs and automatic reel loading system. Replacement work was completed on schedule, and the press line is now in commercial operation.
The first of the two press lines at the Sakaide plant is configured with two 4/4 tower printing units, two 2/1 tower printing units, one 2/2 tower printing unit, one double 2:2 rotary folder and the five existing RTPs, which were mechanically and electrically modified to match the new 75,000cph DIAMONDSPACE press line. The press has also been equipped with the Mitsubishi Diamond-Eye automatic print quality control system.
In addition to conversion from the shaft to shaftless drive system, another key element of this project was the uninterrupted operation of the second press line, which continued daily commercial operations, while modifications and replacements were safely and timely carried out on the first press line. Work on the second press line will be undertaken in the same manner and is expected to be completed in October this year.
The reuse of existing RTPs results not only in equipment cost savings, but also eliminates the requirement for new foundation work and significantly shortens the overall press installation time.
Twenty years ago, Mitsubishi installed two press lines at the Sakaide plant of The Yomiuri Shimbun, and eight years later, added a five-over-four colour tower unit and corresponding RTP to both lines. In March 2008, they awarded Mitsubishi the replacement project at this plant. The order followed similar projects undertaken at the publisher’s four press lines in their downtown Tokyo Koto plant in 2003, and Tosu plant in western part of Japan in 2007.
Baldwin and QI join hands for Japanese market
One of the leaders in process automation technology for the global printing industry, Baldwin Technology Company announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with QI Press Controls to represent the full range of QI press control equipment in the Japanese market. The agreement covers all sectors but will initially focus on the newspaper market.
manroland users triumph at Newspaper Awards
Winners of the 2009 Newspaper Awards, recently conferred in London, represented a good cross section of manroland’s market leading newspaper printing solutions. Colorman, XXL user Newsprinters Knowsley was in effect four-time winner at this year’s Newspaper Awards. The company scooped the prestigious Newspaper Printer of the Year Award for their work on The Times Literary Supplement (TLS), while The Times and The Sunday Times, also printed by Newsprinters Knowsley, were awarded National Newspaper of the Year and Weekend Newspaper of the Year respectively. The Sunday Times was also handed the Most Outstanding Use of Colour Award in the newspaper category.
“In judging The Times as National Newspaper of the Year, we were impressed with the colour, printing and production and its superb unmarked print quality,” commented Gary Cullum, director of the Newspaper Awards. Newsprinters Knowsley uses a total of five triple-width Colorman, XXL press lines. Each press line consist of five eight-couple satellite-printing towers with one 4:7:7 folder, inline stitching facilities as well as Pecom press controls. Furthermore, manroland installed a fully automatic reel handling and storage system, type Aurosys, for the entire plant.
Besides, The Church Times, printed by manroland Uniset customer, Mortons in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, was named as Niche Market Newspaper of the Year award.
“We are delighted by our customers’ success. Users of manroland presses are so successful in this industry because of the machines’ speed, accuracy, reliability and flexibility of design. But, of course, this counts for little without skilled operators,” stated Andrew Latham, manroland Great Britain.
Ferag India inaugurated
Swiss mailroom specialist strengthens its commitment to Indian market
To effectively serve Indian newspaper industry with a wide range of additional services and products ranging from XtraWin to MemoStick and MemoFlag, a newly established subsidiary of Ferag AG (Switzerland), Ferag India Pvt Ltd’s office was formally inaugurated in New Delhi on September 02, 2009. Susanne Rau-Reist, owner and president of Walter Reist Holding AG, and Guido E Steffen, CEO, WRH Marketing AG cordially welcomed the attendees.
After the inauguration of their office located at: Suite 3C, third floor, M6 Uppal’s Plaza, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi, the company celebrated the rejoicing moments at Hotel Crowne Plaza, with gathering of eminent guests from leading Indian newspapers including Dainik Jagran, Deccan Chronicle, Hindustan Times, The Telegraph and The Times of India. Philippe Welti, ambassador and Daniel Freihofer, head of economic & commercial section, Embassy of Switzerland also joined the celebrations.
On the occasion, ‘innovations and increased revenues’ was a key message delivered by Ferag India. Now, the spare parts from Ferag would be easily available locally and the service needs of newspapers can be fulfilled promptly.
Why IFRA Expo 2009, Vienna is so important in today’s difficult time?
“Self-proclaimed prophets seem to repeatedly predict the impending death of newspapers. Yet the fact is that printed newspapers are actually enjoying increasing number of readers worldwide. Circulation figures, which represent the total number of papers sold every day, increased by 1.3 percent in 2008 to almost 540 million. And if we include free publications, newspapers have seen a 13 percent increase in circulation in the last five years,” says Gavin O’Reilly, president of WAN-IFRA, in his welcome address to the IFRA Expo 2009 show.
Of course, no-one can afford to ignore the impact of the financial and economic crisis – yet the newspaper and media sector is no worse hit than other sectors. There can therefore be no talk of demise, particularly when we consider that 37 percent of all money spent on advertising worldwide goes to the press. The media landscape is changing at an ever increasing pace, but innovative newspaper publishers are able to pick up on the signs of the times and exploit their strengths – adapting to the desires of their readers. Attractive print media, prepared correctly for the respective target groups, also enjoy a high level of interest and attention in difficult times – and are excellent platforms for the messages of our ad customers. Publishing houses offer exciting digital services and can thereby massively expand their effective range, stated O’Reilly further.
“Technical progress stops for no man. New technologies add to our business, while new tools simplify procedures and create space for creativity. The innovative power of our supplier industry is exemplary. When it comes to making our products more attractive and producing them more efficiently, our technology partners have the latest solutions ready and waiting. Orientation is now more important than ever in discovering the right paths to a successful future. And the navigation needed for this is already available – in the form of IFRA Expo, the leading trade fair for our sector. If you would like to know where the journey is heading, who can support you on the way and from whom you can learn, there is simply no alternative to IFRA Expo anywhere in the world,” he explained further.
“This will be the second time for Vienna to host IFRA Expo. This year, for the first time, the fair is being organised by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. By bundling our strengths, we can cater to the ever increasing requirements of our members and industry partners even more dynamically in the quickly developing media matrix. For IFRA Expo, the fusion means that the trade fair can now be further developed and play its part as the annual highlight in the sector even more effectively,” O’Reilly concluded expecting record participation in IFRA Expo 2009.
Leading Chinese media group orders new Goss Magnum press
The Hunan Daily Group, one of the largest media groups in southern China, would install a new Goss Magnum 8 press this summer at a brand new printing plant located within their 700-acre cultural development center. The group confirmed the order for the 12-unit press at recently concluded China Print, Beijing. The new press will print up to 75,000 copies per hour and be configured with three four-high towers, a Goss Universal 2:3:3 jaw folder with upper former, and three automatic splicers.
The shaftless Goss Magnum 8 press model is equipped with advanced automation features including infeed, outfeed and remote ink, dampening as well as register controls. A modular design allows printers and publishers to configure systems based on specific pagination and colour requirements and expand easily in the future. “We compared other competitive presses in the same range and found that the new generation Magnum 8 model offers the best value and performance. Its new automation features will bring us lower waste and competitive colour printing quality,” commented Liu Shulin, deputy general manager, Hunan Daily Group, adding, “The new press reflects our ongoing investments to retain a leadership position within media industry.”
Since 1998, the Hunan Daily Group has ordered 60 Goss Community SSC, Magnum and Urbanite single-width press units from Shanghai Goss Graphic Systems, the joint-venture company of Goss International and Shanghai Printing and Packaging Machinery. “High performance, reliable quality and trustworthy service have been the standards of Goss products and the foundation of our long-term business cooperation,” stated Liu. “We look forward to starting the new press to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Hunan Daily.”
With their flagship publication Hunan Daily, the largest newspaper in the province with the circulation of 256,000 copies per day, the Hunan Daily Group publishes five newspapers, including Sanxiang City Express, Family Guide, Science and Education News, Wencui Bao and People’s Health. Besides, the Group also prints and distributes eighty other newspaper titles on contract basis and has a comprehensive internet portal titled Voice of China (www.voc.com.cn), publishing electronic versions of all its printed titles.
Muller Martini–changes at the top
Rudolf Müller takes over as chairman of the board, Bruno Müller becomes CEO
With big changes at top positions in Muller Martini, Rudolf Müller, former CEO of the company, has become chairman of the board, while Bruno Müller assumed the responsibility of head of corporate management (CEO) at the same time. Current president Hans Moor, who retired at the end of April after 37 years service in the group, will remain as vice chairman of the board.
Rudolf has taken up this new position after eighteen years working at the front line. While Bruno Müller (45) has been part of the Muller Martini Group for twenty years with several years being spent working in the USA for various Muller Martini companies. On his return, he was heading the Mailroom Systems AG division and in 2005, took over management of the new OnDemand Solutions division.
New print-media awards announced
The Press Institute of India (PII) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently announced the creation of the PII-ICRC awards for the best stories in Indian print media on the theme ‘reporting on the fatal victims out of armed violence’.
The article or a series of articles that fit the theme should have been published in an Indian national, regional newspaper or magazine in any Indian language (with translation).
WoodWing Publishing Conference
Organized in Athens, Greece with theme ‘The fast track to Online’ this year’s WoodWing Publishing Conference emerged as one of the leading meeting points of publishing experts from all over the world. More than 130 attendees from leading publishing houses, printing companies, ad agencies and authorized solution partners around the globe took the advantage of the event to get the latest on workflow strategies especially for the future of the convergence of media.
Demonstrating a lively feed to Twitter, FaceBook, Flickr, YouTube, mobile, web and e-mail, WoodWing presented new strategies to enable publishers to streamline their workflow and at the same time facilitate almost any publication channel.
Paperex 2009 - bigger, better and more diversified
International exhibition and conference on pulp and paper industries
With three months left for Paperex 2009, it is all set to become the most sought after business destination for the paper and pulp industries. This is once in a two year opportunity for all industry leaders and professionals.
The ninth international exhibition & conference on the pulp and paper industries scheduled from December 4 – 7 is poised to help generate sales, raise brand profile, launch new products, network with key industry figures and develop powerful new sales & distribution channels.
The prospect of a liberalized trading environment is making the South Asian region a large potential market for international as well as domestic suppliers. In 2007, the Paperex event was attendedby 32,429 trade visitors from52 countries.
The show over the years has become the traditional meeting point for the manufacturers, professionals & suppliers in the pulp, paper and all the related industries. Paperex caters to the exact need of the industry within the sub-continent by bringing together the biggest manufacturers & suppliers from across the world under one roof and allowing them exclusive platform for the exchange of information, views, news & technology.
There will be numerous launches, new technologies & products at display during this edition of the event, expected to attract more than 350 domestic as well as international exhibitors and over 25,000 visitors from over 40 countries. All leading paper manufacturers will come together under one roof: Abhishek Industries, Ballarpur Industries, Bindal Papers, Bindlas Duplux, Century Pulp & Paper, ITC – Paperboards & Speciality Division, Magnum Ventures, Narsingh Dass & Co, Orient Paper & Industries, Pudumjee Pulp & Paper Mills, Rainbow Papers, Rama Shyma Papers, Saber Papers, Seshasayee Paper & Board, Shree Krishna Paper Mills & Industries, Shreyans Industries, Silverton Papers, Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Paper, The Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills, The West Coast Paper Mills, Yash Papers and many more…
It is the organizers endeavour to keep ‘Paperex’ a dynamic and exciting event that evolves in response to market needs. The show guarantees to deliver a real return on the investments.
If you are in the paper industry you can’t afford to miss this show.
Visitor pre-registration now on
www.paperex.in
World’s first Goss Sunday 5000 press powers into production in Italy
The first Goss Sunday 5000 press began printing on schedule at Grafiche Mazzucchelli in Seriate (near Milan), Italy. The new 2860mm (112 inch) wide commercial web offset press allows printing of 96 full A4 magazine pages per cylinder revolution at up to 40,000 impressions per hour. Comprising four units with DigiRail digital inking, the press is also equipped with a Contiweb FD paster, an Ecocool dryer with integrated chill rolls and the Autoplate fully automatic plate changing system.
Newstech assumes distributorship for Schur-WAMAC in India and Sri Lanka
Mumbai-based Newstech (India) Pvt Ltd, who is currently holding exclusive distributorship of the former IDAB WAMAC products for India and Sri Lanka, will assume the full agency for both Schur and the former IDAB WAMAC products from December 1, 2009. After the acquisition of mailroom supplier IDAB WAMAC, Schur announced to continue the successful cooperation with Newstech (India) for offering a constant support, experience and in-depth knowledge through them.
With the merging of the Schur and IDAB WAMAC product lines, they are able to offer more extensive range of solutions within post-press mailroom, direct mail handling and palletising providing an optimized packaging efficiency. Furthermore, Schur Packaging Systems has consolidated its position in the business with an increased market share and a strong and extended product portfolio within post-press mailroom. The new situation has given the opportunity to take the best from both of the companies and thereby present the strongest possible solutions.
For more info, log on:
www.newstechindia.com
First ‘Manvadhikar Shiromani Award’ conferred
The Global Human Rights Council (R&C), Chandigarh, a branch of World Human Rights Protection Council conferred upon Vijay Kumar Chopra, editor-in-chief and chairman-cum-managing editor of Punjab Kesari Group with the first ‘Manvadhikar Shiromani Award’ for his relentless service to the mankind.
STALWART!
Goss International’s president Richard Sutis poised to retire
After 44 years of service to the printing industry, Richard (Dick) J Sutis is ready to retire from the position as president of Goss International on July 31, 2009, while he will retain his positions as vice chairman of the board of directors of Shanghai Goss Graphic Systems, a joint-venture of Goss International and Shanghai Electric Group in China, as well as a member of the board of directors of Goss Graphics Systems Japan Corporation. In the past few years, Sutis has transitioned out of direct management control of Goss International and focused on continuing the company’s successful initiatives in Asia. He was appointed president of Goss International Corporation in 2002.
With lifetime commitment to the graphic arts industry, Sutis started his career as an engineer in 1965 with the former Miehle-Goss-Dexter (MGD) company that later became Rockwell Graphic Systems. He has personally contributed to many technology breakthroughs in the printing industry during the last four decades, being involved in the development of the first four-high configuration single-width newspaper press (the original Goss Community press) in the1960s and the first stacked commercial heatset press in the 1970s, apart from being instrumental in the development of the first four-high double-width press (Goss Colorliner) in the1980s, as well as the successful high-speed compact double-width Global Newsliner press in the late 1990s. In recent years, Sutis has continued to strategically lead key company research and development efforts such as the award-winning digital inking, automatic workflow control system, and the enhanced Magnum press series.
Peru’s largest newspaper again opts QuadTech
With a circulation of over 120,000 issues daily, Peru’s largest newspaper El Comercio has chosen to install QuadTech’s ICON integrated platform which allows operation of automated press controls from a single, centralised station, increasing overall production efficiency and reducing waste.
To automate and meet the higher quality demands of their commercial customers, El Comercio is installing the advanced technology on a manroland 48-page Lithoman press, including QuadTech’s colour control system, register guidance system with MultiCam, and ribbon control system with MultiCam.
No significant change in readership in a year: Indian Readership Survey
No significant change in readership of newspapers and magazines has been absorbed at national level this year compared to the last year survey in the same period, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2009 Round 1 report, released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).
Amongst top ten English dailies including TOI, HT, The Hindu, The Telegraph, Deccan Chronicle, The Economic Times, Mid-Day, The New Indian Express, Mumbai Mirror and DNA, somehow every newspaper has shown declination in readership except DNA which has shown a marginal growth (1.78 lakh) in this regard. In Hindi segment, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan, Rajasthan Patrika and Navbharat Times have shown a marginal growth in terms of their readership at national level.
Also, top five Bengali, Kannada, Tamil and Telgu dailies have shown declination, but a few Assamese, Gujrati, Malayalam and Marathi dailies have shown marginal growth. While in top ten magazines (overall), there is no sign of growth in readership excluding fortnightly Vanitha (Malayalam) which has registered marginal growth.
ECRM releases productivity-enhanced RIPMate 8.1
One of the global players in imaging technologies for the graphic communications industry, ECRM Imaging Systems has recently announced the release of RIPMate v8.1, offering advanced capabilities including: support for PDF v1.7 and PDF/X-4, accelerated PDF processing, PDF raster, multi-threading, migrate feature, and greater operating system compatibility.
Powered by the latest in Harlequin RIP technology, ECRM’s RIPMate 8.1 and its complementing counterpart WorkMates provide an ideal workflow solution for a wide variety of commercial printing and publishing applications. Users will benefit from major performance enhancements for rendering and trapping complex transparencies, as well as several new features that accelerate the incorporation and processing of PDFs in production workflows.
Goss Sunday presses save
2.2 million trees
With carbon footprints, resource consumption and costs under increasing scrutiny, the paper savings achievable with Goss Sunday presses are emerging as an important environmental as well as economic advantage for printers. In an interesting study made, these presses have saved 1.5 billion pounds of paper equating to 2.2 million trees since 1993 due to shorter cut-offs made possible by their cylindrical ‘gapless’ blankets and pinless folders.
Gapless Sunday press blankets increase the printable area on the cylinder by eliminating the gaps required to secure flat blankets, allowing printers to select a Sunday press with a cut-off that is 0.5 inches or 10 millimeters shorter than the cut-off of a gapped press, cutting paper consumption by 1.5 to 2 percent per cylinder revolution while still producing the same finished product sizes. Pinless folding preserves the advantages of the added printable area by eliminating pin trim requirements.
The paper savings calculations are based on conservative estimates of typical production schedules for the more than 300 Sunday presses installed worldwide. Industry-accepted averages were used for calculating trees consumed in paper production. Since being introduced in 1993, the range of Sunday presses now includes Sunday 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 models for virtually all printing applications, with formats ranging from 16 to 96 magazine pages per impression.
Press operators and managers challenged with online game for ink settings
Setting up ink keys manually on offset presses not only consumes operator time, but also generates paper waste. To demonstrate just how much waste is involved, Swiss software developer Digital Information has developed an animated, interactive game which is both fun to play and educational.
Every visitor who submits the correct ink settings for production via the game will be automatically eligible for participation in a draw for attractive prizes. The top prize winner will enjoy a one-week winter vacation for two in the Swiss Alps. Nine runner-ups will receive a Digital Information watch of Swiss quality with an integrated USB stick.
The InkZone interactive game is accessible from now until September 30, 2009 at www.inkzonegame.com.
First Goss FPS press in US to be equipped with QI Press Controls’ mRC
The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg (Virginia) has become the first newspaper printer in the US to invest in the Goss Flexible Printing System (FPS) press. For this press expected to be operational in early 2010, Q I Press Controls North America was awarded the order for the delivery of the automatic register control. The four towers will be equipped with mRC cameras for closed loop colour register control. In addition, 18 mRC cameras will be installed on the two folders and will automatically control the cut-off register.
Shanghai Electric to become
the second largest shareholder
of Goss International
By acquiring newly issued shares of Goss International preferred stock, the utility and equipment manufacturing conglomerate Shanghai Electric (Group) Corporation (SEC) is set to become the second largest shareholder of the printing equipment supplier Goss International. SEC and the shareholders of Goss International Corporation, including majority shareholder MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners, have reached an agreement regarding the deal.
Both companies have a successful, longstanding relationship through Shanghai Goss Graphic Systems, a joint venture company of Goss International and the SEC subsidiary Shanghai Electric Printing and Packaging Machinery Group (SPPM). Established in 1993, the joint venture company produces several Goss web press models for the global market.
New agreement for Metro Portugal
Metro International announced that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement in Portugal with Holdmédia and Metro News Publicações, through which Holdimédia will become the majority shareholder of Transjornal-Edição de Publicações (Metro Portugal) with eighty percent of Metro Portugal’s share capital.
As a part of this transaction, Metro International has entered into a franchise agreement with the new owners who will continue to publish the Metro newspaper in Portugal. Before entering into these agreements, Metro International acquired the minority stake from Metro Portugal’s former minority shareholder Meglo Média Global.
Technology partnership between WoodWing and eZ Systems
WoodWing - developer of cross-media content publishing solutions for newspapers, magazines, book publishers and corporate customers - recently announced a technology partnership with Norway-based eZ Systems who develops and markets eZ Publish, an open source web content management system.
The integration of WoodWing’s Enterprise content publishing platform with eZ Publish is in the focus of the partnership and has already been developed. This integration consists of an Enterprise server plug-in plus an extension for eZ Publish. It is available at no charge to WoodWing and eZ partners, allowing them to easily and successfully implement crossmedia publishing solutions for customers. From the publisher’s perspective, WoodWing’s client application Content Station allows editors to plan, create, manage and publish their content to any output channel with a single mouse-click. With this new integration, eZ Publish becomes one of these channels.
For more info, contact: Basis Systems - Think Print Group at-
[email protected]
Printers cut more pages, cleaner
Gone are the days when printers typically rely on traditional ‘crush-type’ knives for cutting paper products. Recently, Swedish manufacturer Tolerans introduced a revolutionary alternative in form of the double motorized tab slitter, and several printers are making the switch.
Presently, newspapers all over the world are switching to a stitched (stapled), compact format to stay competitive with readers and advertisers. The Tolerans double motorized tab slitter has been developed to make aesthetically pleasing, clean cuts of printed products with high page-counts. Combined with stitching, the result is a higher-quality newspaper with a more accessible ‘magazine feel’.
The system cuts cleanly at web speeds up to 10.5 meters per second, and can cut up to 12 webs on 55 gsm paper. Since both knives are driven faster than the web, the slitter always ‘pulls away’ from the web and avoids getting tangled, radically minimising the risk of web breakage. Plus, by cutting through a hole in the former, closer to the nose, the web is kept intact longer than with traditional slitting in the RTF roller. This allows printers to have better control of the web tension. As paper fibres are cut cleanly, rather than crushed, the process produces considerably less dust.
Besides, the company also introduced the Speedliner S60 Compact in-line stitcher, with stitching speed up to 60,000 copies per hour in straight production, can run in either straight or skip mode, as it is designed to stitch every second revolution (the stitcher turns two revolutions for every ‘cut-off’). Jan Melin, CEO at Tolerans, pointed out, “For some printers, installing an in-line stitcher may require expensive modifications to the press. But now, the S60 Compact’s tiny footprint means that printers can save up to eighty percent on their investment because of little or no folder modification costs.”
Hindustan Times wears new look
Classy international look with a new masthead has been the outlook that Hindustan Times donned with to energise its readers. The leading Indian English daily headquartered in New Delhi changed into the brand new look on July 11, 2009. Tuning into the altering face of news and requirements of multitasking and information-hungry readers, the new avatar of the newspaper provides a fangled stature of news updates, which would modify the definition of a newspaper. For the extremely user-friendly layout with up-to-the-trend interactive and personalised features, Hindustan Times editor-in-chief labels it as a charm of ‘new world and old strength.’
Pressmart launches first e-edition of Manila Bulletin
One of the oldest running newspapers in the Philippines, The Manila Bulletin announced the launch of its electronic edition in partnership with Pressmart Media Ltd who provides hosted print-to-online publishing services to publishers from over 47 countries. Available at Manila Bulletin Online (www.mb.com.ph), the e-edition contains the same editorial content and advertising in the exact layout as the print edition, giving an unimaginable real feel of the newspaper in reader’s hands.
New solutions from WoodWing
WoodWing Software has released enhanced versions of their Smart Speller and Smart Hyphen plug-ins, offering more features and full support for Adobe’s Creative Suite 4. With the release of Smart Speller CS4 and Smart Hyphen CS4, the plug-ins have been enhanced even more. Using powerful modules, both solutions deliver the most reliable hyphenation and spelling support in the industry for an impressive number of languages.
“Smart Hyphen and Smart Speller have always been tools for those who seek the highest quality. The first solution can understand a language almost intuitively, inserting hyphens in the most logical place and optimizing the text flow, while the second is flexible in learning new words on the fly and easily recognising every variation of a particular word. The new CS4 versions of Smart Hyphen and Smart Speller will improve the quality of any publication, helping them produce copy that’s error-free and easier to read,” commented Erik Schut, president of WoodWing.
Sakata Inx inaugurates new manufacturing facility in Gujarat
Sakata Inx (India) Ltd, a subsidiary of Sakata Inx Corporation (Japan) has recently inaugurated its second manufacturing facility at Panoli in Gujarat. It will be the company’s biggest ink manufacturing plant in India, producing high-quality printing inks which will be further customised to cater to the specific demands of the packaging and publishing industry.
Fujifilm launches Brillia LH-NN2
Fujifilm Europe recently announced the commercial availability of their Brillia LH-NN2 high-speed thermal plate for newspaper applications, which is suitable for up to 3,00,000 impressions.
Designed specifically for newspaper production with 830 nm laser diode equipped platesetters, the notable features of the new plate include: high sensitivity for extended laser life, wide exposure latitude for stability as well as repeatability, minimal environmental impact and the benefits of Fujifilm’s patented MultiGrain technology for reducing ink usage and improving ink/water balance.
New-generation Goss Universal press provides solution to Italian printer
Italian commercial printer Union Printing of Viterbo (70km north of Rome) has taken a new strategic direction with an order for a new Universal XL press from Goss to fulfill customer requirements by providing high-quality coldset capabilities for producing supermarket flyers and inserts at lower costs. This press is the latest version of the successful Universal press series, developed to meet demand for smaller circulations of high-pagination products.
The Universal XL press for Union Printing will consist of two towers, 1700 mm wide with a 578 mm cut-off. Equipped with two 1:3:3 folders, each with one former and a quarterfold, it will run at 40,000 copies per hour, printing multiple paginations in production modes of 4–16 full-colour tabloid pages straight and 16–32 full-colour tabloid pages collect. Further features specific to this installation include: blanket wash and colour and register controls as well as additional turner bars above the four-high towers to cut the web in up to four ribbons prior entering the folder. The press will be configured in a T90 layout, with reelstands at right angles to the press. The wider format will allow Union Printing to fulfill output requirements with fewer webs and towers, while maintaining the efficiency and versatility of single-around production.
With a combination of sheetfed, web and digital press equipment, Union Printing is an exclusively commercial printer, producing a full range of products, from brochures and art books to heatset inserts and flyers. According to owner and managing director Roberto Pepponi, the company’s decision to investigate alternative coldset configurations was driven by a desire to achieve a lower price point offering for customers struggling to maintain standards with much reduced budgets.
DRM builds Europe’s most efficient facility with ABB solutions
ABB recently announced an extensive order to supply workflow solutions to the new Druckzentrum Rhein Main (DRM) newspaper print site in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
This order includes: MPS Cockpit for the plant-wide planning and management of the entire newspaper production process; MPS Insight for the plant-wide tracking of the entire production, MPS InsertManager for the support and coordination of sales, production planning, storage and the regionalised fine distribution of newspaper inserts; MPS PlateWorkflow for the fully automated plate production; and MPS Roll Handling for the automation of the reel supply coordinated with the production planning of the press. The scale of the workflow supplied by ABB is impressive, in particular as the presses at DRM are already equipped with ABB’s MPS Control Console and the press management system MPS Production.
New Goss Newsliner to modernise Xi’an Daily printing center in China
Rejoicing moments! More than doubling the circulations since 1980 to 4,50,000 copies daily, the need to expand printing capacity has become high on the agenda for the publisher of Xi’an Daily and Xi’an Evening News. The recent order for a 4x2 Goss Newsliner press is just the beginning of their pressroom modernisation plan. The new 75,000-copies-per-hour Newsliner press consists of two four-high printing towers, one 2:3:3 jaw folder and two load-bearing reelstands. The press will not only improve the productivity of the Xi’an Daily printing center, but also increase their colour capacity, providing 16 broadsheet pages in straight run and 32 pages of broadsheet in collect mode.
Prabhat Khabar orders DotLine CtP and G&J plate processors
Leading newspaper from Jharkhand with headquarters in Ranchi, Prabhat Khabar ordered Nippon Color for four DotLine C35 CtP systems along with four Glunz & Jensen Raptor 68 polymer plate processors to be installed at their facilities in Patna, Jamshedpur, Deoghar and Dhanbad. The powerful workflow of PostRIP with Xitron RIP will drive the DotLine CtP. The daily has been using two Screen Thermal CtP systems since last year.
“We wanted to modernise our plants further and decided to purchase the CtP, but in the beginning, it was difficult to choose which technology we should go: whether thermal or violet. Finally, looking at the trend, we chose violet technology. We opt for the DotLine CtP simply because of Nippon Color who have always given the right guidance and we value them as our long term partner in building our strong pre-press. We have seen the demo of DotLine CtP in India and were amazed by the quality and speed output. It was then very easy for us to take immediate decision in favour of DotLine CtP. Once we finish the installation of these four CtP systems, we will order four more systems as a back-up at our various plants,” commented Kamal Kumar Goenka, vice-chairman of Prabhat Khabar.
“C35 - a high quality, high speed violet CtP system from the stable of German supplier DotLine - produces sixty plates of panorama size per hour. With this CtP, the total plate output at Prabhat Khabar can be produced in less than one and half hour. In the past, they were successfully using Screen thermal CtP, but when we introduced them German violet technology they trusted us and gave this valuable order,” conveyed Jayant Pardiwala of Nippon Color.
Violet technology is becoming popular in India due to easy availability of violet plates, capable of producing 200 lpi, apart from cost effectiveness of violet CtP requiring minimum maintenance. “With steep growth in sales of violet CtP, we have already sold 21 DotLine CtP in India comprising both newspaper and commercial segments,” added Jayant.
Saarbrücker reaches to third production stage with ppi solutions
Aiming to link the technical system with the booking system in order to optimise the overall workflow, Saarbrücker Zeitung in Germany has switched to new ad workflow system from ppi Media, a subsidiary of manroland.
Combining all areas of the ad department in a single workflow, along with modules for edition planning and output management, ppi’s AdPag, AdMan, AdCept and ProPag solutions optimise the ad management workflow of the highest circulation daily in Saarland (Germany). ppi was also responsible for implementing a standard interface to the newly installed SAP Media solution.
With the ppi/SAP workflow system, all ads booked in SAP become directly available for ad production in AdMan. For ad production an outsourced subsidiary of the SZ is seamlessly integrated in the automated workflow via the AdMan add-on WebLink. Finished ads undergo a preflight check and are then transferred to the customer for approval or correction with AdCept. Following ad production, the ad pages and editorial part-pages are assembled to digital pages by ProPag. “The joint solution by ppi and SAP offers major savings potential and a transparent, flexible and, above all, secure workflow,” commented Dr Meinhold, CEO of the Saarbrücker Zeitung, justifying its decision in favour of ppi’s solution.
Chinese newspaper group invests again in Uniset
Reinforcing their relationship, manroland, a worldwide premier print technology provider jointly organised an official signing ceremony in Kunming with their valued customer Yunnan Daily Newspaper Group – an influential newspaper in the south-west of China on acquiring another Uniset in order to guarantee their high printing quality and enhance the printing capability.
The newly bought Uniset can be used as an independent production line, or integrated into the Uniset lines already in production at Yunnan Daily Newspaper Group.
Mint debuts in Chennai
After remarkable success of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Pune editions, HT Media, in content partnership with The Wall Street Journal, has launched the Chennai edition of Mint, making it a national business daily. It is available six days a week.
ABB receives another order from Singapore
One of the leading players in automation technologies, ABB received order from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), publishers of titles like The Straits Times, for retrofitting controls and automation systems on their four Goss Colorliner presses.
ABB’s systems are already familiar to SPH. The four presses at their facility were installed six years ago with ABB controls and automation systems. The new order includes: one MPS Production press management system with a geo-cluster server and four clients, ABB production data analysis system, MPS Inform, a total of 16 control consoles, eight of which are to be fitted with calibrated soft-proof monitors, and ABB controls that completely replace the existing systems.
QuadTech unifies brand with subsidiary name change
One of the world’s eminent designers and manufacturers of automated print controls, QuadTech Inc announced the official corporate name change of its Irish subsidiary Vigitek to QuadTech Ireland. Vigitek, the leading designer and manufacturer of hundred percent print inspection technology, was acquired in May of 2008.
Nela offers plate sorting and storage systems
In pre-press segment, the trend towards ever greater automation is quiet apparent in the strong interest in plate storage and sortation systems from Nela, one of the largest register and plate automation companies. The company has recently received five new orders for extensive plate automation and sortation systems in the first six months of this year. The installations in Madgeburg, Mannheim, Regensburg, Konstanz and Straubing (all in Germany) consist of a total of ten Nela VCPEvolution PunchBenders as well as customised conveyor and sortation systems that transport plates directly to the press.
At each of the new installations, the company is delivering extensive sortation systems which place the plates in the correct sequence for the cylinder position on the press. Each system is equipped with large LCD screens to allow the press operators to see which print jobs are already completed and in which bins they have been placed. The newspaper Mittelbayerischen in Regensburg pre-sorts plates into 72 bins, and plate sorting is controlled based on the barcode exposed on the plates.
At R Weeke in Barleben, the sortation system goes to the next level with ‘on-time’ delivery of plates to the press. The system includes Nela PlateFlow software which enables interaction between the press software, the Nela 36 bin sortation system, and with a new Nela plate reorganizer. Plates not scheduled for the next press run are identified by barcode and routed to the plate reorganizer for storage. When required they are automatically retrieved and transported to the sorting system ‘just in time’ for the appropriate press run. Each plate reorganizer unit can store up to fifty bent plates.
Cyril A D’souza passes away
Cyril A D’souza, managing director, S L Kulkarni Cyril Graphics Pvt Ltd passed away on June 25, 2009. He was 66 years old and known for his business acumen and excellent understanding of newspaper industry. S L Kulkarni Cyril Graphics represents Goss International in India.
D’souza, a qualified printing technologist with over thirty years experience in the printing field in various capacities, started his career as a senior printing technician at Metal Box India Ltd who was the erstwhile world leaders in high quality printing and packaging. Prior to establish his own technical consultancy firm in 1987, known as Cyril Graphics Pvt Ltd, with exclusive agency of Goss International in India, he also remained associated with Gujarat Samachar, Indian National Press (Mumbai), and Commerce Publications (a division of Reliance Industries).
He provided technical advisory services to leading newspapers, commercial and security printers in the west and south of India. This activity was further expanded into multifaceted one including plate manufacturing, contract printing of newspaper and installation and servicing of printing equipment in not only India but also many countries rest of Asia, Middle East and Africa.
After Goss International taking over Heidelberg Web Division in 2005, Cyril Graphics Pvt Ltd joined hands with S L Kulkarni & Co who had been the exclusive agents for Heidelberg (Harris) Web Systems for 25 years. Both companies then formed a new joint venture, namely S L Kulkarni Cyril Graphics Pvt Ltd. With headquarters in Mumbai apart from branches in New Delhi, Chennai and other cities of India, this company continued to hold the Goss agency in an exclusive manner and support all erstwhile Heidelberg (Harris) web customers under the constructive guidance of D’souza.
With efforts of the two companies, they have sold nearly one hundred web offset presses and most of them are still in service. Currently, they have at least six presses on order and hoping to conclude some more deals. The reputation of the two companies has been well known in the industry and the new company is determined to keep the prestige flying high and intend growing further into other related activities like mailroom, bindery, etc, by adding more such agencies to turn the dreams of D’souza into reality!
Quebecor renews printing tie-up
Quebecor World has signed a multiyear agreement with Schofield Media Group to continue printing their eighteen business-to- business magazines. Titles covered under the renewal agreement include US Business Review, Manufacturing Today, Supply Chain Solutions, Beverage World, Restaurant Business and other business sector publications that reach corporate-level executives and decision-makers.
NAA to host mediaXchange 2010
As newspapers refocus their business models towards multiple platforms, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) will host mediaXchange 2010, a conference to share audience and revenue development strategies that have generated growth in print and online, from April 11-14, 2010 in Orlando (US).
Designed to replace NAA’s Marketing, NEXPO and Annual Publishers Convention, this single event marks an increased focus on emerging platforms and alternative publishing solutions, assisting newspaper media companies adjust their business practices and communicate examples of innovation as well as provide tools to facilitate sharing of ideas among industry executives who have responsibility for revenue, audience, content management, digital technology, infrastructure and publishing.
For more details, visit at: www.mediaxchange.naa.org
Schur receives two more orders from China
One of the China’s leading newspaper publishers, Dazhong Daily Newspaper Group has placed an order with Schur Packaging Systems for an extension of their existing high-speed mailroom at Shandong Dazhong Huatai Printing facility in Jinan.
The order consists of two single copy gripper conveyor lines, two high capacity stackers A 600 and two strapping units. Furthermore, the Group has ordered four additional strapping units for the existing four Schur stacking lines. The new mailroom extension will be connected to the new KBA Commander press line and will among other titles handle the Dazhong Daily, one of the most popular provincial newspapers with a weekday handle circulation of 400,000 copies. The mailroom equipment will be shipped by the end of this year and installed in the first quarter of next year.
Besides,Nanjing Daily located in the eastern part of China has once again chosen Schur Wamac high-speed stackers TS 800 for their mailroom operation. Nanjing Daily has long experience of running this stacker model since the first one was already installed in 2002. The new stackers will be in operation by the end of this year.
In India, Schur is represented by Newstech (India) Pvt Ltd
(www.newstechindia.com).
Kodak launches Generation News system in India
To effectively serve India’s newspaper industry in pre-press segment, Kodak recently launched Generation News system, available in three speeds, capable of imaging up to 300 plates per hour at 1200 dpi, offering a new level of productivity and automation in thermal digital platesetting to help newspaper publishers better manage their deadline pressures.
Designed for high volume plate requirements providing newspapers the flexibility to efficiently handle a variety of publications with commercial print quality, this high-speed thermal plate-making system has multiple plate cassettes, enabling fast plate loading and unloading of multiple plate sizes. Newspaper publishers can load up to 1,600 broadsheet plates or 800 panorama plates, running continuously with no operator intervention. Integrated plate size selection, slip sheet removal, transport to the imaging engine, centering, and registration processes are fully automated to reduce errors.
After the plates are imaged, the system quickly conveys them to plate processor with no operator involvement. The Kodak Mercury P-HD plate processor is a heavy-duty processor designed specifically to meet the demanding needs of the newspaper industry. Its automation features, such as a fully automated replenishment system, further extend the self- efficiency of the Generation News system. Kodak SQUAREspot imaging technology eliminates the process variation found in visible light and UV systems. Kodak Staccato screening enables users to print up to 1270 dpi and offer unique high-quality colour advertising, apart from enabling them to print with more detail and vibrancy and yet save on make-ready time, and raw materials such as paper and ink. The launch of the Generation News system has also enabled Kodak Staccato screening to be used in combination with the state-of-the-art Kodak Newsmanager workflow, which in turn helps reduce operational costs including paper meeting tight production deadlines.
“Kodak is happy to announce the launch of the fully automated, high productivity Generation News system in India, optimized for newspaper publishers. This system delivers important benefits in total cost of ownership, quality, speed, and reliability. Customers also benefit from the proven advantages of the thermal technology such as flexibility to efficiently handle a variety of different publications and semi-commercial print jobs, process stability, and more importantly, trouble free day light operations enabling printers to protect their investments by improving their return on investment,” commented Asim Kulkarni, national business manager – prepress solutions and newspaper segment, Kodak India Pvt Ltd.
Sunday 3000 press: reaches 1,000th unit mark
Establishing a new milestone, the 1,000th unit of Sunday 3000 press recently left the Goss International factory in Durham (New Hampshire) for Transcontinental’s Xochimilco plant in Mexico City to be part of the first Sunday 3000 web press in the country, which produces magazines, catalogues, books and retail inserts at up to 100,000 impressions per hour. So far, over 300 Sunday presses have been installed in 24 countries.
“The Sunday press was a truly revolutionary engineering accomplishment, and it remains the most advanced high-productivity printing platform in the world. This milestone is a testament to our ongoing R&D efforts and our commitment to innovations that make our customers more competitive,” commented Jochen Meissner, CEO, Goss International. “We are continuing to invest in our network of facilities to give our customers the most innovative printing technologies available. Being familiar with the quality, productivity and flexibility of Sunday presses, we look forward to bringing those advantages to our facility in Mexico,” stated Roberto Sierra, senior vice president, Transcontinental Mexico Group.
Transcontinental, a leading printer in Mexico and the sixth largest in North America, uses several Goss presses and print finishing systems, including six Sunday presses. Now, a Contiweb FD paster, Ecocool dryer and PFF-3 pinless former folder with the new Sunday 3000/32 system are planed to be installed at their Xochimilco plant in Mexico City. With a 72 inch (1830 mm) web width, the four-unit press will print 32 magazine pages per impression.
ppi to present cross-media ad solution
Daily newspapers offer an abundance of ad spaces in the corresponding online editions, but at the moment none is booking them. To ensure rather effective performance, ppi Media, a subsidiary of manroland AG will be demonstrating the possibilities - above all technical ones - available to publishing houses for marketing cross-media ad spaces and easily planning and reserving ads, at ad:tech conferences to be held in Chicago, London and New York in September and November this year. The focus would be on cross-media ad solution AdInvent’s functions and its possible applications.
Sixth Goss Community SSC press for Kilen Printing,Thailand
Just months after starting up its brand new Goss M-600 press, Bangkok-based printer and publisher, Kilen Printing has placed an order with Goss International for their sixth Community SSC press.
The new 14-unit press, to be configured as three four-high towers and two mono units with one SSC folder, will join a Goss Universal newspaper press and five other Community SSC newspaper presses as well as their first Goss commercial press, the Goss M-600 system. The order also includes five zero-speed splicers.
Established in 1985, Kilen Printing, a part of the SiamSport group, prints six daily sports newspapers and more than 25 monthly magazines including FHM, STUFF, CAR, CAWAII, RAY and CASAVIVA. The company has undertaken a large expansion of their facility since 2005 to accommodate their range of Goss web offset printing presses.
Swedish printer reports major savings with Baldwin technologies
Mittmedia Print AB, a Swedish newspaper printer, has been so impressed by the cost savings, it is making following the installation of Baldwin spray dampening and filtration systems that the Örnsköldsvik printing plant expects the return on investment to be less than three years.? During December last year, Baldwin installed 88 LithoSpray World spray bars on an 11 unit, four-high tower Goss Community press, along withits LongLife-C (cross-flow) filtration technology plus mixer andcontrol boards.
“With faster make-readies on the press and fewer spoilt copies, we have reduced paper wastage by around three percent, and with some 110,000 newspapers per night and up to 160,000 magazines printed per weekday, this is a major saving.? The volume of fount solution has also dropped, bringing the previous consumption of 1,000 litres per month down to approximately 600 litres.? We haven’t analysed savings in areas such as ink usage, but we are sure there are some reductions here as well.? Taken together, we estimate that the increase in efficiency is such that the return on investment for the Baldwin equipment will be around two to three years, which is a tremendous performance,” commented production manager Michael Sjögren.?
“However, there are other very important advantages following the Baldwin installation and one of these is certainly the improvement in print quality.? Our previous spray dampening system was causing us some serious quality issues and now the improvement has been so great that we have gone from a situation where customers who were unhappy with print standards now comment on how pleased they are with the print quality they are receiving,” he added.
Mittmedia Print AB prints five newspaper titles overnight at the Örnsköldsvik plant, including the local newspapers ÖA and TÅ, and also the north Sweden editions of Aftonbladet, Metro and Dagens Industri, plus a range of magazines during the day, such as Villatidningen and Hälsokraft.?
