SILVERLINE SLIM:
Small is beautiful!
On the face of it, the situation is grim for the world of printed
news. We hear of downsizing of newspapers or virtual shut down
in Europe and US markets. The advent of E Reading coupled with
demographic realities is causing the slump.
The decline of newspapers has been
widely debated as the industry
has faced down soaring newsprint
prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much
classified advertising and precipitous drops
in circulation. In recent years the number
of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy
or severe cutbacks has risen.
The newspaper industry has always been
cyclical, and the industry has encountered
ups and downs. The explosion of the
internet in the 1990s and the first decade
of the 21st century increased the plethora
of media choices available to the average
reader while further cutting into newspapers'
dominance as the source of news.
But the situation in Indian context is very
different, that is, the still rising literacy,
huge population, non access to e-facility
and coupled with these factors is the multilinguistic
status in the country. No other
nation can boast of 28 official languages
existing side by side. The languages vie
for space in the arena and that is where
the real challenge is coming from.
Having just installed a web press for
Aurangabad Times, some such matters
came to fore. The small Urdu newspaper
struggles for a space under the sky. The
struggle to keep afloat due to paucity of
advertisement is serious challenge.
Where do we go from this and take the
Hobson's choice. The defining paradigm then
rests with innovations and modifications to
reduce the cost per copy of the end product.
The newspapers have been reducing the width
and cutoff of the product to gain advantage
of newsprint cost cutting all over the globe
BUT no machine manufacturer till date has
reduced the width of the machine itself.
PRESSLINE introduced the concept at the
recently concluded PrintPack India 2015
and aptly christened it as SILVERLINE SLIM.
This will in time to come prove the silver
lining on the dark horizons of the print
media.
We are reminded of E F Schumacher's book,
“Small is beautiful”, where the celebrated
author emphasises on the need to reduce
on all consumption to make the world a
better place to live.
Simple logic will tell you that reduction
in width of the machine will mean lesser
metal as the cylinder's will reduce in
width too, making the machine lighter
and more cost effective in terms of usage
of energy, reduced usage of ink film on
shortened rollers. Same is the equation for
the chemicals in use.
The printing plates and blankets are
priced on per square meter basis and it is
presumed that the customer will be able
to derive advantage on reduced plate and
blanket width.
Icing on the cake comes from the savings
on reality prices in the long run, other than
the mere fact that with the same rated
motors will cause speed enhancement due
to reduced mechanical load.
There is fundamental perception change
that is needed to save the print media from
having to face the extinction as has and is
happening with the onslaught of e-reading and
burgeoning input costs. Innovation is the key.
Simpler automations in ink-water balance,
segmented ink-feed, density controls to
cause ink saving and low cost register
controls will make the make-ready waste
lesser and add feather to machines made
in India.
It is heartening to see efforts being made on
these fronts and along with the manufacturing
becoming stronger, the commercial print
sector could also grow with qualitative and
competitive rate structure supporting the
printers in the international print market.
