Printers’ CEOs neglecting
‘cost in use concept’
Over the years, most of the printing
organisations have started procuring
their consumables on the basis of its
cost. The conversation always starts
with the price but no mention to quality.
It is often seen that press owners involve themselves only when taking decision in respect
of machinery with high investment and paper or board since that constitute the major
part of the production cost. Unfortunately when it comes to selection of consumables, the
decision is left to the middle level management team or the floor level operators, with clear
policy direction that since the market is competitive all the cost cutting and saving have to
be achieved within this part of the production cost. The owners of small and medium size
presses are not the decision makers to use a balanced consumables portfolio.
By only factoring in the cost of buying consumables, they end-up in the wrong direction of
being competitive. The consumables are small part of the production cost but they make a
tremendous difference in the final print quality, machine down time, wastage and the
wear and tear of expensive equipment. The discussion on consumable with the vendor
starts and ends only with the price. By using standardised quality products, contrary to
this, printers can achieve the real cost cutting in the production cost. But this will show
result over a period of time that is where the “concept of cost in use” will justify a
meaner and leaner efficient production run.
–Vijay Kr Ahuja, Raj & Co, New Delhi
nnn
Al-Qasswa as new agent for
Q.I. Press
Controls-EAE in Saudi Arabia
Al-Qasswa Development
Est, a prominent player
in the Saudi printing
world, has been appointed
as new agent for Q.I. Press
Controls-EAE in Saudi Arabia.
Over the years, Al-Qasswa
has acquired experience
with several generations
of top management. Since
Al-Qasswa continues to inscribe
its success stories wherever the
printing industry is concerned,
QIPC-EAE has complete
confidence in the work of their
new agent. Erwin van Rossem,
area sales manager for Q.I. Press
Controls, explains that developments are currently afoot in Saudi Arabia that involve the upgrade
of printing presses. “Not only will these developments lead to significant improvements in product
quality, but considerable savings too. QIPC-EAE needed a local partner to respond to these latest
trends,” he narrates.
nnn
E. Holterdorf orders for big retrofit from EAE
For a comprehensive retrofit for the control
and automation systems of its newspaper
web offset press, German publisher
E. Holterdorf to enhance with the technology from
Q.I. Press Controls. Since the 1980s, EAE has
been in business relationship with E. Holterdorf,
located in the town of Oelde in Germany and it
prints the regional daily Die Glocke. This media
and newspaper company chose EAE Engineering
Automation Electronics GmbH of Ahrensburg to
carry out a comprehensive retrofit on its KBA
Colora newspaper press with two four-high
towers, three reelstands and one folder.
Since its installation in the year 1996, KBA
Coloras has been equipped EAE control consoles
and technology. In addition, since 2009, production
planning and pre-settings on the newspaper
web press have been managed by an EAE
PRINT system. EAE will modernise not
only the control consoles but also the
planning and logging systems and the
complete web press control. The drive
controls for the towers, reelstands and
infeeds are another important item on the
retrofit project agenda, along with equipping
the press with Q.I. Press Controls’ (QIPC)
IDS-3D system for colour control, colour
register, fan-out and dampening control as
well as mRC-3D for cut-off register control.
The aim of the retrofit project is to ensure the
continued reliability of the newspaper press
throughout the next decade. Assuming everything
goes according to plan, the press control retrofit
will be carried out this year and the whole project
will be completed in the first half of 2016.
nnn
The Indian Express
launches
its 10th
edition from Jaipur
With its tag line 'Journalism of Courage',
one of the biggest brands of national
newspapers, The Indian Express
launched its 10th edition from Jaipur on July
5, 2015. Like their other successful editions the
newspaper’s Jaipur edition is also on the same
track of focusing on unbiased news delivery
and offering exclusive investigative stories and
opinion pieces written by some of India's best
minds. The newspaper has 20 pages on weekdays,
priced at Rs 4.
The Indian
Express began its
journey from the
Pink City with a
note by the chief
editor Raj Kamal
Jha on the front
page, who reads,
“Beginning this
morning, The
Indian Express
arrives in
Jaipur bringing
you daily
its distinctive brand of journalism:
investigative and explanatory. A journalism
of courage, without fear or favour, that will
strive to help you better understand change.”
The note adds, “Change in Jaipur, a city
expanding in ways unprecedented; change
in Rajasthan as it grows faster than the
national average throwing up challenges and
opportunities in politics, economics, and society.
The Indian Express will also create spaces for
the readers to speak their minds and influence
change – to set out on an exciting journey of
ideas that has just begun.”
According to Raj: “In each work the reader
will get exciting new pages that in the age
of the instant provide the in-depth which
include: The Ideas Page, The Conflict
Zone, Governance, The Urban, The Rural,
Investigation, The Way We Work and The
Way We Live.”
The Indian Express was established in 1932,
and with its great journey of journalism of
courage the group publishes four newspapers
with 31 editions, in four languages (Hindi,
Gujarati, English and Marathi), from 15
centres across India. The other brands of
the newspaper include The Financial Express,
Loksatta and Jansatta.
nnn
Crossword Bookstore set all
to get
reading back in vogue
–Opens new store in Mumbai
Crossword – India’s leading lifestyle
bookstore launched their new revamped
store at the popular Oberoi Mall in
Goregaon, Mumbai. Author Amish Tripathi of
Shiva Trilogy fame inaugurated the bookstore and
interacted with the audience as well as shared
his views on what inspired him to write his
upcoming book. The inauguration was followed
by a book signing session.
Crossword’s new store is spread across 4,000
sq ft area, offering a larger collection of books
with more browsing area for customers as well
as sufficient seating arrangement with adequate
reading lights. One can read for hours, while
the kids are engaged in a massive play area.
Buyers who are unable to get books in the
store of their choices get a discount of 10
percent whenever the books are available at
the store. The store also provides free home
delivery to its patrons.
Speaking at the launch, Kinjal Shah, CEOCrossword
Bookstore, said, "We are delighted
to open our new store at Oberoi Mall and
honoured to have Amish Tripathi to share
this exciting moment with us. He is one of
the finest and most successful authors in the
county today and we are happy that he is part
of this eventful day. Oberoi Mall in Goregaon
is a bustling place full of vibrant activities
and book lovers! So is an ideal location for
Crossword to open its outlet. This launch is
surely one of the many expansions you will see
from Crossword in the near future.”
While, Amish Tripathi remarked, “Crossword
is such a great platform for all book lovers
and special to me as my association with them
began with Shiva Trilogy. An abundant bookstore
definitely offers the atmosphere and the space
for the readers. It also turns out to be a great
meeting place for discussions and dialogues. I
wish Crossword very best for redefining the
vogue of reading in India.”
nnn
Micro Inks
rechristened
Hubergroup
India
Effective May 29, 2015, Micro Inks
Private Limited has been rechristened
Hubergroup India Private Limited.
From its small beginning nearly 25 years
ago, the company has grown to a position
of well-respected
market leader
in India and a
recognised global
player in the printing ink industry.
In 2005, Micro Inks became a part of German
company Hubergroup, one of the oldest and
leading global players in the industry. Ever
since, they have been relentlessly pursuing
the path of integration within the group.
Over the last ten years, they have aligned their
products, brands, technologies, geographical
positions and the management structures to
create a unified and well integrated global
group. It is only natural that they also create
common identity in terms of their name and
corporate logos and with this objective the
name of the company has been changed.
All group companies worldwide have now
adopted the new name and logo.
“While the name has changed, our
commitment to all our employees, customers,
suppliers and other stakeholders will stay
as high as it always has been. It will be
our endeavour to deliver better solutions
for our customers and work in a direction
for making a difference to the society,”
conveyed Ashwani Bhardwaj, managing
director, Hubergroup India Pvt Ltd.
nnn
KBA’s Production
Open Days
Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) invited
representatives from the world of politics,
science, business and the media to
two production open days at its main plant in
Würzburg on June 12 and 13, 2015. This came
just some two years before the celebrations for
the company’s 200th Jubilee in September 2017.
KBA continues to rely on its extensive expertise
in tailor-made press technology for various markets
and substrates ranging from paper to board and
metal, corrugated film and glass.
With an eye on the future in recent years
KBA has invested a figure in the double-digit
millions in its main facility in Würzburg in
parallel to personnel adjustments. New halls for
manufacturing and the foundry as well as a new
design centre were established. In 2014 and in
the recent months highly efficient machines for
precision machining large parts were installed and
the reorganisation of production and assembly
islands including logistics took place, which
entailed a raft of relocations.
nnn
GKS marks maiden entry into US market
GKS announces their entry into the US market. Founded in 1990
by Klaus Olsen, this Danish company is considered to be the
largest prepress service provider in Scandinavia and the UK with
a high degree of equipment specialisation within offset and flexo prepress
processing. GKS is building up a team of more than 40 qualified field
engineers/technicians and a base of third party contractors to cover all geographic areas in the US.
Everyone is right now undergoing an extensive training in both offset and flexo products. The training
will be carried out during the coming months in the GKS, Quakertown facilities or at customer sites.
GKS is located in Quakertown, PA and therefore has an excellent geographical platform for rolling out
its after sales service concept in the entire US. The company will also be showcasing an open house
event for customers to introduce them to the brand new facilities in Quakertown. The site focuses on
optimised service and spare parts handling along with a training and demo centre.
nnn
ht48hours: a new weekend
supplement from HT in Mumbai
One of India’s foremost media companies,
and home to three leading newspapers
in the country, HT Media Limited has
launched new weekend lifestyle supplement
ht48hours in Mumbai to be distributed free
a l o n g w i t h
Hindustan Times
in select areas
in in the city.
This supplement
will come out
every Friday and Saturday. The new weekend
read ht48hours, has been specially curated for
Mumbaikars so they can get the best of 48 hours
to delve deep into the most interesting weekend
activities from art, theatre, travel, shopping,
offers at spas and salons, weekend brunches and
everything else that is happening in the city.
The cover stories, every week, will take an
in-depth look at lifestyle activities, or an event,
or a new trend which everyone is talking
about, with the help of innovative design and
fun elements. This supplement will cover various
categories including the latest happenings in the
tech world, with reviews of the latest gadgets, and
apps, latest trends in food with innovative recipes
from well-known chefs and all the latest happenings
in music, dance, stand-up comedy, theatre, art and
fashion. It will be complete with an ‘Insider's
Guide’ to hidden secrets at famous establishments
and neighborhoods, coming from experts.
Talking about this new supplement, Nitin Chaudhry,
business head – Hindustan Times, Mumbai, said,
“At HT Mumbai our endeavours have always
been to provide our readers of this fast paced
city with more than just news and ‘ht48hours’ is
a step ahead in that direction. This supplement
will be a definitive weekend fix for our readers
and will make their weekend unwinding even
more exciting!
nnn
Seminar on indigenisation of currency
Finance minister underlined the need for indigenisation of paper, ink and security features of Indian currency
The union finance minister Arun Jaitley
underlined the need for indigenisation of
paper, ink and security features of Indian
currency and says that India has the advantage
of cost effective and skilled manpower, R&D
capacity and adequate power. He was speaking at
the conference on ‘Make
in India – Indigenisation
of Currency’ held in
Vigyan Bhawan, New
Delhi recently. He further
stated that as a part of
the ‘Make in India’
policy of the government,
industrial corridors are
being created across
the country to create
employment opportunities
for the youth; exhorts the
domestic and international
manufacturers to utilise these facilities and the
favourable policies of the government of India to
manufacture currency and other security products
in the country.
The conference was organised by the Department
of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance,
Government of India, supported by Security
Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited
(SPMCIL), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Bhartiya
Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited
and Bank Note Paper Mill India Pvt Ltd. Arun
Jaitley was the chief guest on the occasion while
Jayant Sinha, minister of state (finance) was
guest at honour. The conference was attended
by about 250 delegates from India and abroad
comprising scientific and R&D institutions
under CSIR, DRDO, CPPRI, IIT-Delhi, C-DIT,
IISc and domestic and foreign manufacturers
of currency and various security products
and suppliers of raw materials.
Speaking further on the occasion, Arun Jaitley
mentioned that another banknote paper mill
at Mysore is likely to come in for commercial
production by end of this year. The combined
production from these two projects, will meet
the sizeable requirements of bank note paper in
the country. Speaking on the occasion earlier,
Jayant Sinha, MoS (Finance) emphasised the
need for innovation, design and manufacturing
for the world markets. With the 'Make in
India' policy, government has also renewed its
efforts to make indigenisation of currency a
thrust area. With this objective, Government
has constituted a Steering Committee under
Dy. Governor, RBI to suggest steps for
indigenisation of security features in currency,
the objective being 50 percent of indigenisation
within the next three years.
nnn
15th Annual ppi Media’s Open Days
What effects does big data have on
journalism and publishing houses? Do
investments in digital start-ups pay off?
And what systems allow the industry to meet the
challenges of digitalisation? These were among
the many questions that were at the center of
ppi Media’s Open Days 2015, which took place
in Lübeck from June 22-23 in presence of a
good 150 publishers. The topics comprising big
data, real-time analytics, digital strategies and the
systems that support all of their demands were
the central focus at the two-day event.
It has long been known that the print industry is
in the middle of a digitalisation process. Unlike
interest in the printed word, interest in mobile
news is growing. This is also the case in Kenya
as explained by Francis Munywoki, MD-print
business & director of innovation The Standard
Group, Kenya. CEO of Nordwest-Medien, Ulrich
Gathmann, received a loud round
of applause for his presentation.
Under the mantle of NWZ
Digital, this media company
has been investing in new
on-line enterprises specialising
in e-commerce, B2B and mobile
technology for years.
On the software side of the
move, Jan Kasten, CTO, ppi
Media presented an interesting
overview of the newest products
and innovations developed and
optimised over the last few years
by the software company. For a while now, ppi
Media has also been successfully partnering with
Lineup System, which presented its ad system,
AdPoint, at the Open Days. Again this year,
participants from all over the globe travelled
to participate in the ppi Media event. Norbert Ohl
and Jan Kasten, MDs of ppi Media, welcomed
all guests and presenters came from Germany,
France, Denmark, Norway, Austria, India, Kenya,
UAE, US and UK.
nnn
Journalist killings in India condemned globally
Calling to act swiftly to bring the perpetrators
to justice, WAN-IFRA and World Editors
Forum (WEF) have expressed their
condemnations against the recent killings of
two journalists in India. The global organisation
of the world’s newspapers and news publishers
has written to the authorities in Uttar Pradesh
and Madhya Pradesh to demand thorough
investigations into the killings of Jogendra
Singh and Sandeep Kothari and called for better
protection of press freedom and safety of journalists
in the country. The brutal murder of Jogendra
on June 01 at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh
reportedly involved six policemen, accompanied
by a mob of 20 people, who beat the journalist
before setting him on fire. The journalist succumbed
to his burnt injuries on June 08.
According to media reports, Jogendra had exposed
land grabbing, illegal mining operations and
sexual assaults of women in Shahjahanpur, and
had said evidence pointed to involvement of a
minister, local police officials and criminal gangs.
The attackers who burnt Jogendra reportedly said
they were teaching him ‘an extreme lesson’.
WAN-IFRA in a letter addressed to the UP
chief minister stated, “There is an urgent need
for you, as the leader of the government of the
most populous state in India, to send a strong
message that there will be zero tolerance for
those who intimidate and attack journalists.”
On the other side of the shocking story, WANIFRA
also appealed the chief minister of Madhya
Pradesh regarding the murder of journalist
Sandeep Kothari. The international association
called for a thorough and impartial investigation
to determine the circumstances surrounding the
media-person’s death. Sandeep was kidnapped
from Balaghat town in Madhya Pradesh before
his body was discovered in the neighbouring
state of Maharashtra on June 21. He worked
for Nai Duniya and had been a freelancer to a
number of publications at the time of his murder.
Known for his investigative jobs into the activities
of ‘mining mafia’, he had filed a variety of
applications for sensitive government information
under the RTI (Rights to Information) Act. His
journalistic work had reportedly antagonised a
number of people inside and outside of the state
government. Media reports have indicated that
Sandeep’s murder was a conspiracy hatched by
the mining mafia.
nnn
ABB to replace obsolete
press
controls for SAPESO
ABB receives a new order from
SAPESO (SociétéAnonyme de Presse
et d’EditionsSud-Ouest) based in
Bordeaux (France) for a modular retrofit
on their three manroland COLORMAN
presses. Like many printers, SAPESO was concerned about the long term
availability of their printing capacity as their existing control systems were
already obsolete. To solve this problem they turned to ABB to replace the
existing controls with modern systems based on ABB’s Advant Controller
AC500, a system that is used in a number of demanding industries and
for which spare parts will be available for at least the next 10 years and
can be bought from either ABB or independent suppliers around the world.
The scope of the order is divided into three phases. First the unit controls
on the six four-high printing towers, two per press, will be replaced. The
second phase sees the replacement of the controls on the three folders, and
finally, in the third phase, the control systems on six reelstands will be
replaced. When upgrading the control systems on the towers and folders
ABB will also replace the obsolete and proprietary Interbus Loop devices
with standard components. The list of devices to be replaced includes the
LBA Interbus Loop master units, originally manufactured by manroland;
and web break detectors, ink level sensors, interfaces to the Festo valves
and positional encoders.
The replacement of the ANTEK infeeds is an additional part of the
reelstand retrofit. Here too ABB will be supplying a compact, modular
and, indeed, plug & play solution that is directly suitable for all infeeds
of the type EZ3. The existing ANTEK drives will be replaced with new
ABB ACSM1 drives. The peripheral modules such as the power supplies,
contactors and circuit breakers will also be replaced. The existing motors
and encoders will be retained. The new components will be delivered
pretested on mounting plates so the installation time can be reduced to
a minimum. This project is made possible by the cooperation agreement
between ABB and manroland web systems. The new ABB controls will
communicate with remaining PECOM units and also with the manroland
control consoles. The commissioning of the first phase of the project, the
retrofitting of the six printing towers, will begin in November this year.
And the retrofits of the folders and reelstands will then follow in two
subsequent phases during 2016 and 2017.
nnn
Truckloads of relief materials
sent
for migrants in J&K borders
Vijay Kumar
Chopra, CMD
and editor-inchief,
Punjab Kesari
Group recently flagged
off the 406th truck of
relief materials sponsored
by Baba Faqir Chand Ji
and Jai Maa Ashram,
Sugh Bhatoli, Distt. Una
(HP) for the migrants
dwelling in the border
area of RS Pura in
J&K. Present on the
occasion included Hem
Raj, Rajinder Singh,
Rakesh Goyal and Lion
JB Singh Chaudhary.
Further, the 407th
truck of relief material
sponsored by Shri Laxmi
Narayan Ji Sewa Trust,
Ram Nagar Mandi (HP)
with the blessings of
Swami Krishnanand
Ji Maharaj, was sent
for distribution to the
migrants living in the
border village Talwara
in Distt Riasi in J&K.
Swami Krishananad Ji
Maharaj, Rakesh Goyal,
Sunny Arora and Lion JB
Singh Chaudhary were
present at the occassion.
nnn
Print2Finish
chosen as new
agent for EAE
EAE has welcomed Print2Finish as its new
agency responsible for Central America,
Colombia, Panama and the US. Following
the collaboration with Q.I. Press Controls, EAE
decided to appoint Print2Finish as an agent to
actively represent and promote the sales. In this,
Menno Jansen, director, Q.I. Press Controls,
believes that having just one agent for both
Q.I. Press Controls and EAE makes sure
that the efficiency and effectiveness of the
combination QIPC–EAE will be well known in
all represented countries.
Print2Finish provides its customers value-added
products and services that increase client revenue,
improve productivity and grow profits. They
maintain a portfolio of high quality products.
Over the last 12 years, Print2Finish has been
a successful agent for Q.I. Press Controls
to actively represent and promote the sales
of Q.I. Press Controls’ equipment within the
American newspaper and commercial printing
market. Juan Echavarria, vice-president sales,
Print2Finish believes that, with the addition
of EAE, Print2Finish provides a better range
of products. “Print2Finish is now fully trained
for the products of both EAE and Q.I. Press
Controls,” according to Ronald Reedijk, MD,
QIPC–EAE Americas.
nnn
Renowned book publisher
Kösel
opts KBA RotaJET 76
German company Kösel based in
Altusried Krugzell is known in
certain industry circles for its
entrepreneurial innovative spirit and its
high-quality books. Founded in 1593, the
firm produces some 13 million copies per
year and its 190 employees generate annual
sales of around €22 m. Until now Kösel
has printed and finished its high-quality
books on cutting-edge sheetfed offset
presses and a web offset press. Additionally,
this prominent firm took into account
the trends in the book printing segment
towards smaller runs with shrinking cycles
to print-on-demand and recently ordered a
KBA RotaJET 76 inkjet press from Koenig
& Bauer connected to inline
finishing kit from GEP Germany
(Global - EHRET Processing Technology).
The RotaJET in Altusried will predominantly
print substrates under 40 gsm. The machine
will mainly be used to print literary and
scientific works, legal literature as well
as textbooks and schoolbooks.
With a maximum web speed of 150 mpm
and a maximum web width of 780 mm
(30.7 in) (equalling approx. 3,000 DIN
A4 pages a minute or approx. 85 m DIN
A4/month) the RotaJET prints using KBA
RotaColor water-based pigment inks. Its
Piezo inkjet heads are designed for high
loads and are reliable and low-maintenance.
Print resolution stands at 600 dpi native and
variable droplet sizes deliver an additional
boost to quality. Kösel has won numerous
awards including 'Book Printer of the Year'
at the Druck & Medien Awards, DID Award
2014 for book finishing and more.
nnn
Rajasthan Patrika
launches
its
4th south India
edition
Patrika Group extended its footprint
in south India with the view of
creating a bridge and crossing
the language barrier by launching 4th
edition of Rajasthan Patrika from
Coimbatore, on July 15, 2015. This is
the second
edition of the
newspaper in
Tamil Nadu
state. They
had begun
their journey
of publishing
Hindi
newspaper
in non Hindi
region by
launching
Bangalore
edition on
January 26,
1996 and later Chennai edition on
February 01, 2004. Hubli edition the
second in Karnataka state was launched
on April 01, 2006.
