All About Newspapers

Ifra Expo 09 closes on enthusiastic mark
-presents vogues in changing media landscape, with comprehensive view of the newspaper markets, making participants pleased with the significant turnout and encouraging signs

espite recession, some 6,700 visitors from 78 countries visited the four-day IFRA Expo 09, the world¹s largest trade fair for the newspaper industry, closed in Vienna on October 15. “The number of participants exceeded expectations, and it is gratifying that, in the midst of a global economic crisis, that so many people chose to make the trip to Vienna. We expect to do even better next year in Hamburg,” commented Reiner Mittelbach, co-CEO of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), adding, “What we’ve seen here is an industry responding well to the changing media landscape, and seeking solutions, both technical and strategic, to ensure profitability in the years ahead, in print and online.”

Horst Pirker, vice president of WAN-IFRA and president of the Austrian Newspaper Publishers Association, called the Expo “an encouraging sign” despite the “double crisis” facing the industry ¬ the economic downturn combined with the structural transformation as newspapers convert from print to multimedia businesses.

The 39th annual exhibition included 284 exhibitors from 27 countries, including printing press manufacturers, editorial and advertising system providers, new media providers and other suppliers to the newspaper industry. Among these there were seven exhibitors from India, including Grafitek International, Manugraph India, Pressline India, Pressmart Media, Shree Refrigerations, The Printers House, and Kohli Graphic Systems.The show covered more than 11,000 square meters of space at the Reed Messe Wien Exhibition Centre. One-quarter of the visitors were managing directors or CEOs, thirteen percent were technical or production directors, and thirteen percent were editors. The event was accompanied by a series of seminars on a wide variety of newspaper topics to discuss the future of the industry.

Commenting on the show, Thomas Hauser, head of corporate marketing and communications, manroland, said, “The presence of our customers was a little over expectations, and there have been some few, weak signals for recovery.” “As far as we are concerned, the Ifra Expo and drupa are the most important events to show our capabilities, image and culture. One way to do that is to enthuse our customer base and we can do that only by showing the technology,” opined René Luchsinger, marketing director, Ferag.

“Everybody in the industry has to come together in an expo like this. It makes sense to have these meetings because one can meet all the suppliers, and many of the customers. The cost-benefit ratio of exhibitions like this is good,” opined Klaus Schmidt, vice president and director of marketing/corporate communications, KBA, adding “The industry will change, the role of newspapers will change, but the newspaper will still be the backbone of many activities. The core brand is the newspaper, and the brand can carry online activities.”

Roberto Antoniotti, CEO content management division & southern region, ATEX said, “Under the current economic conditions, this show was better than others, because visitors were seriously looking for something.” “It’s been a rewarding time for us. The IFRA Expo is the most important trade show for us. We meet all our customers and potential customers in four days,” stated Steve Kirk, head of marketing, centre of excellence printing, ABB.

International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2010-12
Join the newspaper printing elite

ewspapers around the globe are once again preparing to measure their printing quality against the best in the business as the 2010-12 International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) gears up for the competition for new members. The Club competition is organised by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, which was created in July by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, conducting the competition since 1994. Earlier, Hindustan (Hindi), Hindustan Times, The Maharashtra Herald, DNA, Anandabazar Patrika, Malayala Manorama, and The Telegraph (two times) newspapers from India have been honoured with INCQC membership.

Newspaper printing companies benchmark their operations every two years by competing for membership in the Club, which sets new standards for newspaper printing quality worldwide. Allows them to evaluate themselves among the best printed newspapers in the world, membership in the club means more than just bragging rights over good print quality; it has a strong impact on advertising effectiveness as well. International, national and local advertisers appreciate high production quality and rigorous printing standards.

Other benefits include: meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations for print quality; benchmarking colour quality against well-defined standards by participating in the only worldwide newspaper print quality competition; receiving a detailed audit, which highlights areas of strength and areas of potential improvement, including the identification of printing defects; providing motivation and justification to staff members for the introduction of required changes; receiving powerful marketing tools for extended business and convincing customers; proven and verified colour quality in daily production by keeping demanding standards; certified general printing quality, evaluated under ‘typical reader conditions’, so the reader obtains a high-quality and attractive product.

Notably, the WAN-IFRA International Newspaper Color Quality Club has been completely revamped for 2010-12, including a new operational plan and a newly developed test element. WAN-IFRA also provides a Color Quality Self-Check, an online tool that is accessible free of charge to anybody, allowing newspapers to check their colour print quality by printing the WAN-IFRA test element and input the measured values into an online form, providing an automatic evaluation.

For more info, log on: www.ifra.com/colorqualityclub

ABB focuses on cost reduction
and efficiency improvement

he integrated workflow, press control and press retrofit specialist, ABB focused on the two most important factors for success in the newspaper printing business in the current economic climate: cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

At the show, the company explained how its modern retrofit solutions, which include drive replacement, press control replacement, conversion to shaftless operation and press reconfiguration, can add years to the productive life of the presses at a fraction of the cost of a new press.

The latest versions of ABB’s workflow solutions presented at the show, including MPS InsertManager which can open new business possibilities for its users in the field of fine-zoning of inserts. The latest version of MPS Cockpit, for managing and optimising the entire newspaper production process, was also showcased.

Ferag presents StreamFold to discover the
new quality in quarter-fold production

t the show, Ferag introduced StreamFold, a new system for high-quality quarter-fold production in the high-speed sector, which covers a wide operating range and strengthens the role of post-press processing as a centre of excellence in newspaper and semi-commercial production.

With personal discussion, visitors at their stand were able to find out how to maintain the high value of Ferag production lines over the long term with Value Plus, and how a longstanding user has achieved security, efficiency and quality in daily production due to a set of first-class services.

A year ago, the company introduced EasySert, the all-new inserting system. The concept has met with great approval in the market, and several customers in Europe and abroad have ordered installations. In Vienna, Ferag presented the latest information on the wide-ranging applications of this unique inserting technology.

Baldwin introduces major
new alliances and solutions

or Baldwin Technology, IFRA Expo 09 was the venue to announce their latest alliances with other leading manufacturers, enabling the company to provide an unrivalled range of major new solutions for the newspaper and semi commercial markets. New agreements have resulted in Baldwin representing Tolerans AB Stitching in the USA and Canada, QI Press Controls and Eltex Elektrostatik in Japan, plus Betz Technologies GmbH Ink Systems worldwide.

At the show, visitors could hear about the new high performance ProTech CW automatic brush blanket cleaning system, the new FUSION F high-performance blanket cleaning equipment for wide-web, FLEX1 automatic blanket cleaning system, and TowerClean system for single-width presses, etc. They also used the exhibition to unroll their ‘Just Ask!’ global campaign, emphasising the fact that all a printer needs to significantly improve the productivity and profitability of presses.

Agfa announces new solutions
to improve newspaper production

o help streamline the newspaper prepress processes, Agfa Graphics announced a number of innovative solutions including enhancements to the :Advantage N platesetters and new :Arkitex software modules . The company is drawing on its substantial world wide customer experience to enhance its product portfolio so that a larger variety of demands can be met.

The :Advantage N-TR is a new model in the successful :Advantage N series with a trolley tray loading system, allowing for safe off-site loading of plates in safety light and easy transportation to the platesetter. Also on :Advantage N, Agfa Graphics demonstrates a high speed option for higher productivity of plates.

KBA: new technologies,
new processes, new partners

ollowing the recent announcement of a strategic alliance, KBA and The Printers House (New Delhi) exhibited on a joint stand in hall B. And in tandem with the Beil Group on the stand opposite KBA also unveiled PlateTrans, an automated system for conveying the plates from pre-press to KBA’s compact Cortina and Commander CT presses.

In his presentation at the show, describing the sudden slump in investment by newspaper publishers as the credit crunch started to bite, Christoph Müller, KBA executive vice-president for web press sales, pointed out that the crisis has also hit the newspaper market. This year global investment (excluding Japan) in new newspaper presses will total just $588m, compared to $765m last year, which was itself poor, and $2.2 billion in 2005, which was a good year. While there are signs that the global economy has bottomed out, Müller sees no end in sight for the supply industry in 2010-11 as there are so few contracts up for tender stage. Although the USA experienced the most dramatic collapse in sales, investment in Europe, Asia and even high-growth markets such as China and India has been substantially lower for two years.

The transition to full colour has virtually been completed; circulations are in decline and many titles have reduced their pagination, which, along with the demise of large numbers of freesheets, has created spare capacity; modern presses have a much higher output, so fewer are needed; and printers have started sharing production plants. Financing difficulties in some countries amid the recent crisis have caused mounting uncertainty among many publishers as to the right course to pursue in the media jungle. And investments in online activities have not always proved profitable.

Tolerans introduces Speedliner
2.0 in-line stitching system

ntroducing Speedliner 2.0 in-line stitching systems for a worry-free stitching process, Tolerans has taken its proven stitching technology to the next level. This high-end system is even easier to maintain and operate, reducing cost of maintenance and minimising down-time.

Available as ribbon or cylinder stitchers with shaftless drive, Speedliner 2.0 stitchers are perfect for cross web stitching of compact-sized printed products (such as newspaper and commercial products in tabloid, mini-Berliner, or A4 sizes). Designed to stitch in either straight or collect mode, they are appropriate for any web width, and can stitch at full production speed and beyond. “We have put a lot of effort into developing a system where it’s easy to change wear and spare parts without manual adjustments. The new graphical user interface is user-friendly and intuitive, ensuring a worry-free stitching process,” commented Jan Melin, CEO, Tolerans.

Supporting the increasingly popular compact format for newspapers, in-line stitching is a growing trend in the newspaper publishing, and has already become the norm in many places like Europe. Swedish manufacturer Tolerans has been in the area of in-line stitching since the first stitcher was developed in 1968.

Successful Muller Martini appearance

ales of a complete inserting line with stitchers and trimmer to Centro Stampa Quotidiani (Italy), a ProLiner inserting system to Union Druckerei (Germany) and a ValueLiner card gluer to United Printing and Publishing (Abu Dhabi) ensured the Ifra Expo in Vienna was an extremely successful event for Muller Martini.

Although Muller Martini noticed a somewhat smaller number of visitors to its stand in comparison to last one, the downturn was considerably lower for the entire trade fair as a whole. “We see this as evidence that our motto ‘Grow with flexibility – better added value in the mailroom’ has really appealed to our customers,” commented Volker Leonhardt, head of marketing for Muller Martini Mailroom Systems.

As an example, the ValueLiner card gluer recently launched by Muller Martini is an add-on module that promises advertisers excellent visibility as well as an attractive ROI. Newspaper producers can also purchase advertising cards easily and at a good price or even print them in-house. United Printing and Publishing (UPP) in Abu Dhabi will soon be reaping the rewards of the ValueLiner as the first newspaper printing plant in the Middle East to have implemented the new card gluer as an add-on module for their Muller Martini mailroom.

The trend for stitching and trimming has been backed up by Centro Stampa Quotidiani (CSQ), based in the Italian city of Erbusco, with its decision to sign on the dotted line for its fourth complete Muller Martini inserting system. In addition to the features of the NewsLiner A inserting machine, this version includes a second NewsStitch component and a NewsTrim III for in-line stitching and trimming of magazines and semi-commercials. According to Volker Leonhardt, countless discussions with customers also confirmed the trend “that inserts are being shifted from the daily newspapers to the weekly newspapers, and we offer the right solution for this with our flexible ProLiner inserting system combined with the CoLiner pre-gathering unit.” Due to positive initial experiences with the ProLiner line installed in June at the Druck- und Medienhauses Schenkelberg headquarters in Meckenheim (Germany), its subsidiary, Union Druckerei Weimar, has also chosen a new ProLiner inserting system with 12 insert stations.

Quark and Microsoft demonstrate solution
for multi-channel publishing

t IFRA Expo 09, Microsoft and Quark demonstrated a new solution that helps publishers stay competitive in today’s multi-channel media environment. The solution combines editorial collaboration and dynamic publishing to streamline editorial workflows and enable single-source multi-channel publishing.

Built on Microsoft Office SharePoint server, the Microsoft Unified Communications platform, Quark Dynamic Publishing Solution (Quark DPS) and Quark XML Author, the solution consolidates communication processes, facilitates collaboration, and streamlines workflows to improve the efficiency of the creative and editorial process and help publishers be first out with stories either in print or digitally. With the new integrated solution, Microsoft and Quark combine easy XML authoring, professional design, and dynamic publishing from Quark with the collaboration and unified communications platform of the Microsoft Office System.

Quark also announced an update to its Quark Dynamic Publishing Solution which delivers a series of improvements and the new automation services.