Trelleborg expands partnership
deals in Indian newspaper market
Since last WAN-IFRA India Conference in Kolkata, Trelleborg has made
significant strides in pushing forward the boundaries of offset blanket technology relating to newspaper production. To present the fresh developments, the company has chosen the annual conference again this year, which is organising from September 12-14, 2017 at
ITC Grand Chola in Chennai, for one-to-one interactions on working
even more closely with them in the future.
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Trelleborg’s printing solutions operations, part of Trelleborg Coated Systems, offers solutions for the printing industry with globally recognised brands, such as Vulcan, Rollin, Printec and Axcyl. This means the company’s printing solutions operations develop blankets for all printing segments. These solutions are leading edge in the offset and flexo printing markets for a variety of applications, including newspapers, magazines, catalogues, business forms, labels, metal decorating and packaging. Vulcan and Rollin blankets are the company’s flagship products for the newspaper segment, while Printec blankets and Axcyl mounting sleeves are for flexo printing and rubber-covered rollers for tissue and textile converting applications.
For the newspaper market, Trelleborg manufactures blankets for single-width, double-width presses. In this respect, Maniraju Bora, sales and technical director, South West Asia, Trelleborg says they provide solutions for printing both heatset and coldest webs. “The latest development at our end is the hybrid blanket for printing both conventional and UV inks. Our range of solutions includes positive and neutral feed blankets. We also manufacture Metal Back Blankets; and we have released a new MBB for the Indian market,” he mentions.
India focused
Maniraju Bora
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Over the last few years a great deal of work has been carried out at Trelleborg’s extensive R&D facilities at Lodi Vecchio factory in Italy, to create offset blanket solutions that match the specific needs of the Indian newspaper market. Newspaper printers need the flexibility to customise blankets according to the type of stock they are handling, the press being used and other relevant factors such as press age.
"Newspaper groups need suppliers that are true partners, which understand the challenges and issues they face and are able to provide innovative solutions,” says Maniraju, adding that they, at the WAN-IFRA Conference 2017 in Chennai, will be telling visitors about the improvements they have been made to their metal-backed blanket range.
Over the years, the number of blanket suppliers to the Indian printing industry is growing, but a few of these companies provide any sort of training, advice or after-sales supports. The blanket is crucial to the profitability of the press and it is not something that can be dropped off at the printer’s factory and forgotten about. In this respect, Trelleborg is increasingly involved in helping newspaper groups use blanket technology to reduce cost-per-copy on their presses. So, experts from the company provide training on selection of correct blanket, settings on press, as well as maintenance and storage of metal-backed products, which can have quite specific requirements.
Trelleborg manufactures the industry’s best known brands, with Vulcan 202, Vulcan Royal Web and Rollin Graffity Plus being the household names amongst newspaper printers. Some of the Indian newspaper houses currently using Trelleborg products include Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), ABP, Ushodaya Publications, The Printers (Mysore), DB Corp, and many more to add. Maniraju finds that the current printed newspaper market of India is very quality conscious and highly demanding.
Software tools
In addition, Trelleborg has also developed several easy-to-use, downloadable software tools, including a ‘configuration’ product that lets users select the correct blanket by entering the application sector, such as web coldest, web heatset, single-width, double-width, combi or UV. There is also a dealer locator app, which provides a simple way of finding the nearest dealer. Distributors and customers can benefit from the Trelleborg Printing Academy, which provides ready access to comprehensive technical details of products and applications in a straightforward presentation format for all newspaper application products.
“A sound knowledge of the issues is becoming even more important because of the changes taking place in the industry,” says Maniraju, adding that the increasing use of different stocks that have their own surface characteristics, implementation of UV, interest in low migration inks and high-density pigment inks, plus FM screening—all of these things have major impact on a printing press and blankets fitted to it.
Expert advice
At the WAN-IFRA Conference 2017 in Chennai, Trelleborg will have a team of experts at its Booth 5.02 for a dose of advice and interaction with everyone around. “We welcome every visitor to our booth during the conference for discussion over their current and future blanket requirements of single-width, double-width and commercial heatset presses,” says Maniraju.
Trelleborg has a well-established network of experienced dealers throughout India that provides local, on-site supports. About the unique features of the company’s products, Maniraju says they follow the policy of QCR – Quality, Consistency and Reliability, with local technical support and customised solutions to accelerate the business of printers in a sustainable way.
