waN-ifra iNdia 2015 New aNd emergiNg priNtiNg summit ... · PDF fileWAN-IFRA India 2015 Printing Summit 3 Conference Summary foreword The 23rd edition of the prestigious WAN-IFRA India

New aNd emergiNg BusiNess modelsIn the Newspaper Printing Industry

waN-ifra iNdia 2015 priNtiNg summitConference Summary

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3WAN-IFRA India 2015 Printing Summit Conference Summary

foreword

The 23rd edition of the prestigious WAN-IFRA India Annual Conference was held in Mumbai from 2 to 4 September 2015. A meeting point of all South Asian publishers, the conference attracted about 600 del-egates. Three parallel conferences were held – Print-ing Summit, Newsroom Summit and Cross-Media Advertising Summit.

The Printing Summit, the largest print conference of WAN-IFRA, was attended by about 300 delegates. Speakers from many countries made presentations. The Conference was supported by WAN-IFRA’s World Printers Forum, three members of the World Printers Forum Board presented on stage at the conference.

The WAN-IFRA 2015 Conference focused on three key topics.

1. Achieving efficiency, excellence and innova-tions in newspaper production

This topic is important today because of the pressure to cut down operational cost, reduce waste, increase efficiency and revenue in all areas of newspaper pro-duction. The conference covered topics that focused on efficient use of energy and newsprint. A case study from Denmark on co-operation between publishers to procure raw materials at low cost, and a presenta-tion on the benefits of implementing an ISO-based integrated management system to manage plant operations were part of the agenda.

2. Key trends in the industry that could affect how we operate today and how they can open doors to new businesses and efficient operations

One major trend identified by WAN-IFRA was the

increasing usage of 42 gsm newsprint in the Indian newspaper industry. Light-weight newsprint comes with several cost benefits but involves several produc-tion challenges too. The printing summit covered this trend in detail, with three speakers making presenta-tions on price forecast, properties of the lower gsm newsprint, production challenges and a step-by-step approach to standardise production.

Other trends that were covered included technology advancements in digital inkjet newspaper printing. The conference also featured two case studies on investment decisions – one revolved around a pub-lisher’s business case to buy a new press and another was about a publisher’s decision to do a press ret-rofit. Another key trend that was touched upon was environmental initiatives from publishers to reduce carbon footprint and pollution.

3. Improving print quality and benchmarking it within the global newspaper community

Considering that advertising revenue is declin-ing, one way to restore advertiser confidence is by printing high quality newspapers and sustaining the quality across all newspapers. Case studies focusing on print quality were part of the Printing Summit. A case study on using frequency modulated screen-ing (FM) in newspapers covered the challenges in standardising with FM and the quality improvements that can be achieved.

Another case study by first-time winners of the In-ternational Color Quality Club competition set out a step-by-step approach to winning Club membership.

At the printing summit, WAN-IFRA launched a new report on, “New and emerging business models of newspaper printing companies.” It showcases several emerging and tested business models followed by print-ing companies worldwide. It examines the main options chosen by newspaper printers in light of recent and on-going developments – how the change benefitted pub-lishers and printers, the hurdles and pitfalls they had to contend with, and how they see the way forward. It presents a number of international cases that illustrate the development from different points of view.

For those who could not attend the conference, we present a summary of the proceedings of WAN-IFRA India Annual Conference 2015.

MaNfred werfel,deputy Ceo & exeCutive direCtor - global events, wan-ifra

4 WORLD pRinteRs FORum

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WORLD pRinteRs FORum

impriNtWAN-IFRA INdIA 2015 pRINtINg summIt coNFeReNce summARy

publIshed by:wan-ifrarotfeder-ring 1160327 frankfurt, germany

ceo: vincent peyrègne

dIRectoR oF publIcAtIoNs: dean roper

WoRld pRINteRs FoRum executIve dIRectoR:Manfred werfel

AuthoRs:anand srinivasan & susan philip

edItoR:susan philip

coNtAct INFo:[email protected]@[email protected]

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CoNteNt:FoReWoRd 3

globAl medIA tReNds 8

stAy togetheR, WIN togetheR 10

optImIsINg pApeR ANd eNeRgy 12

shIFt oF Focus: 45 gsm NeWspRINt vs. loWeR gsm NeWspRINt 14

systemAtIc AppRoAch to pRoductIoN stANdARdIsAtIoN WIth loWeR gsm NeWspRINt 16

beNchmARkINg pRINt quAlIty WIth INcqc competItIoN 18

tIps FRom A WINNeR oN eARNINg INcqc membeRshIp 20

systemAtIc AppRoAch to ImplemeNt Fm scReeNINg 22

busINess cAse to INvest IN A compAct pRess 24

pRess RetRoFIt - A cAse study FRom the stAR mAlAysIA 26

NeWspRINt - tReNds ANd pRIce FoRecAst 28

INtegRAted mANAgemeNt systems to ImpRove opeRAtIoNAl eFFIcIeNcy 30

INkjet IN NeWspApeR pRINtINg 32

usINg INNovAtIoNs to Woo AdveRtIseRs 34

eNvIRoNmeNtAl INItIAtIves At lokmAt 36

AdoptINg NeW techNologIes FoR sustAINAbIlIty 38

NeW ANd emeRgINg busINess models oF NeWspApeR pRINtINg compANIes 40

5WAN-IFRA India 2015 Printing SummitConference Summary


aBout the world priNters forumThe World Printers Forum within WAN-IFRA

aims to be the central point of the international news media print community, including print-

ers, materials suppliers and equipment manufacturers for the print production value chain from prepress to press and to product finishing and delivery.

It addresses all print related questions. Its objective is to encourage innovation and productivity as well as product development that can be instrumental for publishers to exploit future oriented news media prod-ucts. It promotes the power of print and the sustain-ability of print production.

The World Printers Forum has also launched an online forum, an exchange platform for discussing, informing and debating all topics related to newspaper produc-tion. The Forum is open to everyone and is free to use.

The online forum is an ideal exchange platform for newspaper production experts to voice their opin-ion, share technical knowledge and learn from other experts.

To join our network go to

www.wan-ifra.org/wpf

World Printers Forum Board Members

Kasturi Balaji, Director, Kasturi & Sons (The Hindu), Chennai, India (Chair)

Dr. Rick Stunt, Group Paper Director, Daily Mail Group Media, London, United Kingdom (Vice-Chair)

Dieter Betzmeier, Member of the Executive Board, Manroland Web Systems, Augsburg, Germany

Dr. Michael Hirthammer, General Manager, Di-rector Global Paste Technologies, Screen & Industrial, Sun Chemical, Karlstein am Main, Germany

Thomas Isaksen, CEO, DDPFF Den Danske Press-es, Faellesindkøbs-Forening, København, Denmark

Herbert Kaiser, Project Manager & Senior Project Manager Engineering Newspaper Presses, Koenig & Bauer, Würzburg, Germany

Jan Kasten, Managing Director, CTO, ppi Media GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

Graham Macfarlane, Board Member, Felix Böttch-er, Cologne, Germany

Mohamed Hassan Mohamed Ali, Senior GM, Technical Services, Star Publications, Member of Asian Newspaper Printers, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Winfried Schaur, Senior Vice President, Newspaper Publishing, UPM, Augsburg, Germany

Josef Schießl, Technical Director, Süddeutscher Verlag Zeitungsdruck, Munich, Germany

Peder Schumacher, President V-TAB, Chairman Nordic Offset Printers Association, Gothenburg, Sweden

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global Media trends

The pattern of disruption and what publishers can do about it was the focus of Thomas Jacob’s presenta-

tion at the WAN-IFRA Conference.

The Chief Operating Officer of WAN-IFRA quoted statistics about advertising and circulation trends worldwide. Print circulation revenue stood at $89.9 bil-lion, up 0.4% in 2014 while print adver-tising declined 5.2% to $77 billion, he said, pointing out that the situation isn’t as grim as it is projected to be. Global newspaper revenue amounted to around $179 billion – one of the highest among other information and news industries. Digital circulation went up to $2.5 bil-lion, an increase of 45.3%, and digital ad-vertising rose 8.3% to reach $9.5 billion in the year under review.

Giving the breakup of media consump-tion patterns time-wise, Jacob said broadcast leads the pack with 125 min-utes, followed by mobiles with 97 min-utes. Newspapers took up the least of the consumers’ time, with 33 minutes.

Jacob told the audience that the media industry has seen seven dramatic chang-es in the recent past:

� From print to online � From text and photo to multimedia storytelling

� From desktop to mobile

� From search to social media � From linear TV to streaming video on demand

� From traditional ad sales to program-matic and native

� From anonymous Internet to identified internet

Newspaper print advertising revenues registered a 17.5% decrease over five years from 2010, he said, adding, on the other hand, newspaper digital advertis-ing revenues saw a 59.5% increase over the same period. Social media advertis-ing revenues have also shown a rapid rise during the five years.

Changing revenue streams in the US market saw newspaper advertisements accounting for only 46% of the revenue, and digital ads 9%, in 2013, whereas the advertisement revenue in 2007 was 81%.

Defining disruption

Jacob saw a pattern of disruption in the changes. He quoted The New York Times Innovation Report to define disruption as “the predictable pattern across many industries in which f ledgling companies use new technology to offer cheaper and inferior alternatives to products sold by incumbents. Today, a pack of new start-ups are hoping to ‘disrupt’ our industry by attacking the strongest incumbent.”


Continuing to draw from the report, he said in-cumbents treat innovation as a series of incremen-tal improvements. They focus on improving the quality of their premium product to sustain their current business model. Disrupters introduce new products that at first do not seem like a threat. Their products are cheaper, with poor quality, to begin with. Over time, disrupters improve the quality of their product, usually by adapting a new technology. The f lashpoint comes when their product becomes “good enough” for most custom-ers and they are poised to grow by taking market share from incumbents.

Suggestions for publishers

What can publishers do? Jacob asked the audi-ence. He offered the following pointers:

Understanding the disruption patterns and mas-tering the digital ecosystem are primary steps to be taken, he said. After that, efforts must be made to create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture.

He suggested that technology could be made an ally in the newsroom by hiring a digitally savvy Chief Technology Officer. Stressing the impor-tance of optimising audience engagement on the various platforms available, he said this consid-eration could be taken care of by a Chief Con-tent Officer with a good understanding of these platforms.

Learn from best practices and invest in skills development. “We have to upgrade the skills of our operations to meet the demands of the next generation,” he advised.

Thomas Jacob is the Chief Operating Officer of WAN-IFRA. He is responsible for developing and implementing the organisation’s strategy to be the platform for exchange of ideas, information and experiences among the global news publishing industry.

He began his career as an engineer with Mathrub-humi newspaper from Kerala, India, and has more than 29 years of experience in media. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. As a summa cum laude, he is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honour society for management in the United States.


stay together, win together

Thomas Isaksen, CEO, Procure-ment Association of the Danish Press, Denmark, spoke about how

the association works to keep the cost of newspapers low for readers.

The Procurement Association, known by the acronym DDPFF, is a non-profit company. It handles a volume of about 125,000 tonnes of newsprint a year, and that covers nearly 100% of the Danish market.

DDPFF has a great price advantage in the Danish market, thanks to more than 95 years of co-operation with the paper mills. Moreover, DDPFF operates its own ship and has a stock facility as well, and that helps in keeping the cost of logistics low and also makes just-in time delivery possible, said Isaksen, who has been CEO of the association since 2005.

The association represents 20 to 25 newspapers and independent printers. If a printer is part of the association, then he has to buy newsprint only from DDPFF and cannot go to the market directly. On the other hand, DDPFF offers newsprint to all its members at same price, irrespective of the size of the organisation or the volume of purchase, Isaksen said.

Members can order newsprint online and track the status of orders. An invoice is raised only after the customer receives the materials. A hotline is provided for customers to contact the association in case of problems with the delivery or change in order.

Additional services and support

Apart from newsprint procurement and sales to members, DDPFF also offers several other services such as technical support to printing houses, production optimisation, claims processing and redressing of complaints. It also offers solutions for environmental issues. For example, all the member newspapers are now Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified because of DDPFF’s initiatives, said Isaksen, who is also the Chairman of the FSC, Denmark.

Apart from newsprint, DDPFF deals with other materials such as fine paper, sheets and reels used for advertising purposes. However, purchase of such materials is not obligatory for the members.

DDPFF also now collects industrial waste from newspapers and sells it to companies that can use such material for their operations. Waste papers and used aluminium plates are collected and sold, Isaksen told delegates at the conference.


DDPFF facilitates a Technical Support Group consisting of managers from the printing houses in Denmark. This group meets regularly to share knowledge on topics like efficiency of the printing facilities, new areas of business, standardisation and environmental issues.

Success stories

Relating some success stories to the audience, Isaksen said most DDPFF members have now moved from using 45 gsm newsprint to 40 gsm newsprint. This was possible because of the long term technical co-operation between the printers and the association. Initially there were several challenges like availability of newsprint and run-nability issues. Curling, breakage and folding problems were encountered. However, now that it has been implemented, the project has brought huge financial benefits, mostly in the areas of distribution and transportation.

Citing another example, he said, on analysis, it was found that newsprint reels are handled at least 15 to 20 times from the manufacturer’s end till they are used for production. Incorrect han-dling resulted in damaged reels and consequently, inefficiency in production. DDPFF organised a technical seminar to promote proper handling of reels by all concerned parties

On the f lip side, like any other market, the industry in Denmark is facing several chal-lenges. DDPFF is facing a reduction of 7% to 8% annually in the newsprint stock volume that it handles. Their ship has become old, and has to be scrapped. Considering the situation, DDPFF is looking at various ways to reduce its stock storage volume and focus on just-in-time delivery, Isaksen said.

“The point is, newspapers, especially the small and medium ones, should join together and co-operate on procurement and logistics. This can ensure better prices and lower cost. There are also opportunities to work together in other technical areas,” Isakesen said, rounding off his presenta-tion.

Thomas Isaksen is a board member of the WAN-IFRA World Printers Forum. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics, an MBA and a Master’s Degree in Negotiation.


optiMising paper and energy

Bénédicte Gercke, Catergory Direc-tor – Paper & Energy, News UK and Ireland, UK, presented a case

study on optimising paper and energy, based on the experiences of one of the world’s largest printers.

News UK is the UK publishing arm of News Corp and one of the largest news-paper publishing groups in the country. It publishes some of the most iconic UK newspapers, such as The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

In 2004, News Corp approved a £1bn in-vestment in new print sites and printing presses, which was possibly the largest single investment ever made in news-paper printing. It was an endorsement of the company’s strong belief in print, Gercke told the WAN-IFRA Conference.

Newsprinters operate over three sites, namely Eurocentral in Glasgow, Know-sley in Liverpool and Broxbourne in the north of London. It aims to ensure that the print operation is as lean and cost ef-ficient as possible.

“Unfortunately, shortly after our print sites started operation in 2007, the world financial crisis hit,” she said. “As a result, our company had to not only fight declin-ing circulation, but also contain the drop in advertising revenue.” This drop in advertising revenue has been accelerated

by the growing fragmentation of adver-tising spend across the various media platforms.

Newsprinters responded by decreasing the cost line and generating new revenue. It turned its printing and distribution operations into independent profit cen-tres and offered its services to external companies.It is now the largest contract printer in the UK.

Continuous improvement

In another initiative, Newslogistics was set up as a standalone business unit in 2013. It currently offers bespoke delivery solutions to more than 15 UK newspaper and magazine publishers. Newsprinters and Newslogistics have heavily invested in continuous improvement and adopted the best production management models available with a view to achieve opera-tional excellence.

Concentrating on two operational aspects – paper and energy, Gercke gave partici-pants at the conference an overview of Newsprinters’ success strategy.

“For paper, the supply and demand balance is key for reasons of both avail-ability and costs. As newsprint remains our highest spend, it is essential that we manage our paper usage in the most ef-ficient way,” she said.


“Our approach to paper management is very struc-tured and nothing could be achieved without a clearly defined paper specification,” she stressed. Paper specification represents a “condition of supply” and has been written with the full buy-in of paper suppliers. At Newsprinters, there is zero tolerance for defects and/or wastage and all deviations from the expected standard are logged, followed up and acted upon. Visual inspections are key to this process and are carried out at every step.

Gercke took the delegates through Newsprinters’ strategies of paper management and the print-ing process itself. This included non-traditional aspects such as maximising the revenue gener-ated by the sale of paper waste and correct paper transportation.

Energy strategy

Talking of energy, another important component of expenditure, she said “Our strategy is articulat-ed over three pillars – use less, be smarter about use, and continuously review options in terms of on-site generation.”

She shared with the audience her organisation’s thoughts regarding on-site generation. The fact that it has several advantages, including the pos-sibility of exporting any surplus energy back to the grid and generating additional revenue, was attractive. However, on the f lip side, there were considerations such as capital intensiveness and medium-to-long-term pay back. Ultimately, they decided against it.

However, Gercke said, on-site generation is gaining momentum in the UK and there are now

varied funding options and “green subsidies” available.

Possible on site generation solutions could include expansion of the onsite UPS systems to cover a larger proportion of the peak demand. But the use of diesel bears thinking about in the context of the green agenda, she cautioned. Gas CHP (Combined Heat & Power) units, solar panels and wind tur-bines are other options that can be considered.

Despite the challenges faced by the industry as a whole, News UK remains more than ever commit-ted to building a sustainable future for its world class journalism, Gercke told the delegates. “We strongly believe that printed newspapers have a valuable future and are convinced that there are opportunities to both reduce our costs and gener-ate new revenues. For us, a strong leadership’s drive supported by the right strategies will help set up the correct project teams and deliver the desired objectives,” she concluded.

Bénédicte Gercke looks after the paper, gas and electricity portfolio for News UK. She started her career at IFRA in 1996 as a Material Research En-gineer and later in 1999 she joined News UK in the Newsprint Purchasing team where she managed several key projects. She played an important role in automation and modernisation projects being taken up by the company

� the shingo prize (eurocentral) in oct 2014 – the highest accolade available worldwide for operational and manufacturing excellence. eurocentral is the first uK company to receive this prestigious prize.

� the Carbon trust triple standard awarded to news uK in 2014. news uK is the only media company, and one of the first 30 companies, in the world to be recognised for reducing carbon footprint, waste and water usage.

� the “newspaper printer of the year” award won six times since 2009.

� triple iso Certification (iso 9001 & 14001 & 18001).

� in 2009 & 2011, newsprinters were awarded the british excellence award for lean Manufacturing.

NewSPrINterS’ effortS have beeN rewarded IN MaNy wayS:


shift of foCus: 45 gsM vs. lower gsM newsprint

The newspaper industry today has high expectation on print qual-ity and consistency; advertising

requirements demand ever-brighter paper shades, higher speed and modern presses with advanced post-press ma-chinery, said Winfred Schaur, Senior Vice President, Newspaper Publishing, UPM, Germany. This changing market scenario in the newspaper industry has driven newsprint mills to innovate and improve their quality.

The recent trend in the industry is to migrate from using 45 gsm newsprint to 42/42.5 gsm. The ultimate target is 40 gsm newsprint. Talking about the charac-teristics of 40 gsm and 42 gsm newsprint and how they compare with the 45 gsm variety, Schaur elaborated on challenges that can occur during production, and how to overcome them.

The trend is driven by the fact that news-print of lower grammage offers better yield, he said. Newsprint of less than 45 gsm provides additional printable area for the same weight of the reel. Besides, fewer newsprint rolls are required for an equivalent print run, there is less roll preparation to be done, less tape because of few splices, less white paper waste and fewer shipments and deliveries. It also involves less damage, lowered storage and warehousing requirements and po-tentially fewer web breaks due to splice

failures. There is a 6% saving from 45gsm to 42.5gsm and another 6% from 42.5gsm to 40gsm. There are also savings in copy distribution, as the weight of copies is reduced. Importantly, there are also huge environmental benefits.

Challenges of lower gsm newsprint

From a paper manufacturer’s point of view, manufacturing lower gsm news-print is a challenging process, mainly for 40 gsm newsprint. Newsprint grades from 42 gsm till 48 gsm have no produc-tion challenges. Some of the challenges in manufacturing 40 gsm newsprint are potential edge defects, lower paper-making speed due to the necessity of higher draws in the press section, and in-creased sensitivity towards sheet defects like holes, wrinkles and fibre clusters. However, all these challenges can be mitigated by modern process control and operational focus, Schaur pointed out.

Printers have to consider some key parameters before starting to use lower gsm newsprint, Schaur said. The tensile strength of paper far exceeds the ten-sion applied in the press. However, lower gsm newsprint is more sensitive to sheet defects. Hence more care is needed while handling reels. The combined effect of ink and water absorption will lead to higher print-through in lower gsm paper, and hence tighter inking and water con-


trol is needed.

Offering a tip to his audience, he said it would be a good idea to reduce the Total Ink Limit from 240 to 220 in-line with the latest ISO 12647-3 speci-fication. Another parameter to look for is opacity. For every 1 gsm reduction, the opacity reduces by 0.3% to 0.5%. Paper manufacturers try to reduce the loss of opacity by using additional fillers.

Steady growth in demand

Regarding the market for lower gsm newsprint, Schaur said UPM has seen a steady growth in the demand for 42.5 gsm newsprint in Europe since 1994. Currently 42.5 gsm newsprint accounts for about 42% of newsprint demand in Europe. Con-sequently, demand for 45 gsm is steadily falling. “We have not seen any significant increase in de-mand for 40 gsm newsprint since 1994,” he added.

In India, the trend in using lower gsm newsprint is at its peak. About 60% of newsprint used in India is 42.5 gsm.

“42 and 42.5 gsm are technically state-of-the-art today. Paper quality has improved over the years, making possible lower gsm papers with equivalent performance targets to higher grammage grades,” Schaur said. However, applications of 40 gsm need more attention, he warned. Several customer trials and satisfaction studies are needed before moving to this grammage, in his opinion.

“Finally, the end user must not feel any differ-ence and should have the same feel and value while holding a newspaper copy” was the thought Schaur left with participants at the WAN-IFRA conference.

Winfried Schaur was appointed as Senior Vice President, Newspaper Publishing, UPM Paper Europe & North America, in November 2013. He joined UPM in 1992 and later worked in various key positions.

upM has 19 modern paper mills in usa, europe and China, focuses on sustainable paper production. its plants use renewable raw materials sourced from sustainably managed for-ests. its paper is recyclable and biodegradable, and is produced using bioenergy wherever possible.

it is the world’s largest user of recycled fibres. about 35% of fibres used are from recycled

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newsprint grammage development in europe


systeMatiC approaCh to produCtion standardisation with lower gsM newsprint

Newsprint of lower grammage – around 42 GSM – is the need of the hour for the newspaper

industry to contain costs of production. The use of such newsprint results in nearly 6 % savings in newsprint costs, said Mohanraj P, AGM, Production, The Hindu, India. However, for the printer, the use of lower grammage newsprint presents a great challenge vis-à-vis sus-taining quality and optimising productiv-ity.

Mohanraj told the audience at the WAN-IFRA Conference 2015 that The Hindu, a prestigious English-language national daily, started trials with 42 gsm in 2012 and subsequently began using it in select printing centres. In 2014, production was shifted entirely to 42 gsm.

The Hindu operates Manugraph and Mitsubishi presses. They also use cold-set and heatset production technology. Two printing facilities with Mitsubishi presses operate in heatset, while three others with Mitsubishi presses operate in coldset. Manugraph presses are operated in seven locations and print in coldset.

“Heatset and coldset printing processes demand different newsprint properties. That is the first hurdle we faced. What we needed was a ‘Best fit’ that would suit both processes so that we did not need special efforts to manage our inventory.

Using many varieties will lead to qual-ity inconsistency. Hence we decided to use only a select few brands,” Mohanraj explained.

Benefits of recycled newsprint

With experience and constantly test-ing the materials, The Hindu found that recycled newsprint has better strength, runnability and yield than virgin fibres. Fluff accumulation levels are also lower in recycled fibres. Now, more than 90 % of paper used by the organisation is recycled newsprint.

Several trials and laboratory tests were carried out before venturing into lower gsm newsprint. 42 gsm newsprint has about 10% lower tensile and tearing strength, higher porosity, lower thickness

• increase in web breaks to the tune of 5 to 6 per 1,000 rolls in heatset and 2 to 3 per 100 rolls in coldset

• increased fan-out problems• high shrinkage of web in heatset

reducing the web tension can re-duce the runnability problems.

ISSueS the hINdu faCed whIle uSINg 42 gSM NewSPrINt


and lower opacity when compared to the 45 gsm variety, Mohanraj said. This is sure to affect pro-duction. Printers should expect to make adjust-ments in pre-press and press to reduce the impact of these factors, he advised.

As for printability parameters, high print-through was noticed. To reduce the effects, the Total Ink Limit was reduced from 240 to 220 to be in-line with the latest ISO 12647-3: 2013 specification, Mohanraj said.

Considering that many Indian newspapers are using FM screening as a means to reduce the amount of ink in the paper and assist in easy migration to 42 gsm paper, The Hindu made trials with FM screening recently.

“We found that FM screen produced good re-sults with good quality originals, reduced ink consumption and also print-through,” Mohanraj revealed. However, pictures were grainy if the original was bad, dot loss was reported in high-lights and very high levels of process control were needed in press and pre-press. “After much con-sideration, we decided to stick with AM screens,” he said, adding, “in our plants, we use 120 LPI for coldset process and 133 LPI to 150 LPI for heatset process. At high LPI, the tones are smooth and the quality is good.”

Mohanraj P, who holds a graduate degree in printing technology, has more than 18 years of experience in newspaper printing. He has taken many initiatives for waste reduction, print process standardisation and systematic maintenance at The Hindu.


benChMarKing print quality with inCqC CoMpetition

Is print quality important for a prod-uct as short-lived as a newspaper copy? That was the question posed

by Anand Srinivasan, Research Manager, WAN-IFRA, to delegates at the confer-ence. If current trends are anything to go by, the answer is an emphatic “Yes!”

The latest World Press Trends report finds that for the first time, circula-tion revenue of newspapers across the globe has surpassed advertising revenue. Advertising revenues are declining and publishers need to find ways to make print more attractive. A high quality newspaper is the key. From an advertis-er’s point of view too, the expectation is high quality and importantly, similar, or sustained quality in all newspapers. Only standardisation based on ISO norms can achieve that, said Srinivasan.

ISO has set out clear quality standards for newspapers in ISO 12647-3. The standard was first published in 1998, revised in 2004 and again in 2013. The latest revision takes into account market requirements in the industry, like usage of 42 and 40 gsm newsprint, improved newsprint, better control in plate making with CTP, etc.

WAN-IFRA has published a special report on the standards that define the specifications and also explains in two separate chapters the step-by-step

implementation methodology and pro-vides a framework for quality control to sustain the implementation. The report is accompanied by a new ICC profile cre-ated jointly by the Swedish Graphic Arts Printers’ Association and WAN-IFRA. This new ICC profile has higher GCR and a reduced Total Ink Limit (220 compared to 240 in the old ISO newspaper profile).

Implementing the standards

Srinivasan explained brief ly the eight steps to implement the standards and the necessity of using ISO 12647-3 as a single standard across all newspapers.

“After implementing the standards in the workplace, the big challenge for newspa-pers is to maintain the implementation. Even newspapers that have been follow-ing the standard meticulously for years can deviate as new machinery, software, workf low changes and staff come in to the system,” he stressed.

“Apart from implementing the standards, it is important to benchmark the quality with other newspapers across the globe,” Srinivasan said, adding, “WAN-IFRA’s International Newspaper Color Qual-ity Club (INCQC) competition provides the perfect platform to know where you stand in terms of colour quality.” More than 160 newspaper titles participate in the competition.


Focussing on what is new in the 2016-18 edition of the competition and how newspapers can use it to improve their processes to achieve consistent print quality, Srinivasan said the latest edition of the competition takes into account the re-vised ISO standards. Tighter guidelines related to cuboid printing schedule and a General Print Quality (GPQ) evaluation from an expert’s point of view rather than the readers’ point of view hith-erto taken into consideration, are also expected to make the competition more challenging.

“The skill of colour correction is getting rare in the newspaper industry. As the copies will be evaluated from an expert’s point of view, printers need to focus more on the quality of pictures for the best chance to win club membership,” Sriniva-san said.

Anand Srinivasan is the project manager of the INCQC and is also responsible for the activities at WAN-IFRA’s Research and Material Testing Centre, Chennai.

The underlying concept of the INCQC competi-tion is “Quality through standards.” Any printer, who proves that he can follow a set standard consistently for a three-month period is awarded membership to this prestigious club. The competi-tion is open to all newspaper printers, irrespective of the technology used.

• procure quality control tools such as spectrodensitometers, plate readers and monitor calibration tools and train the staff to use it.

• standardise raw materials – newsprint and newsink

• Choose the right screening technology – aM/fM, screen ruling, dot size etc.

• standardise Ctp plate reproduction

• achieve 26% dot gain in the press

• implement the new wan-ifranewspaper26v5.icc colour profile

• implement a foolproof quality control mechanism

• benchmark production quality with inCqC competition

eIght StePS to IMPleMeNt ISo 12647-3


tips froM a winner on earning inCqC MeMbership

What does it take to win a mem-bership of the International Newspaper Color Quality Club?

The Mathrubhumi, an Indian vernacu-lar newspaper, is in a great position to provide guidelines, having won two club memberships in their very first attempt in 2014-16. PT Bhasi, GM - Production and Maintenance, presented a case study at the WAN-IFRA Conference.

In his presentation, outlining the paper’s step-by-step approach to the competi-tion, Bhasi said “We started our prepara-tions eight months before the competi-tion. That gave us ample time to look at all areas of colour reproduction and improve it.”

Step 1: Understand INCQC rules and regulations

Before the start of the competition, it is important to understand each and every word of the instructions, especially the timeline of the competition and the way points are calculated, Bhasi said. He drew the attention of the participants at the conference to one particular compo-nent of the instructions, called “Success Table.” “It shows how many points you have to score in each criteria to win the club membership,” he said, adding that another way of looking at it, is to calcu-late how many points a participant can afford to lose in each criteria. “Then,

an analysis of our strengths and weak areas will tell us exactly where we should focus,” he explained.

Step 2: Get a basic idea of colour management

Usage of the right ICC profiles is impor-tant for good colour reproduction. It is essential to know what profiles to use and where to use them. “For the first two steps, we took the support of WAN-IFRA and organised a training session for our key staff, who were involved in the IN-CQC project,” Bhasi said.

Step 3: Improve pre-pres picture quality

Picture quality is important to score points in the General Print Quality (GPQ) evaluation. “One area of weakness we noted was that the Obituary pictures that we publish are always of poor quality. We can do nothing to improve it as the origi-nals that we get from clients are poor and we cannot bother them to provide better originals,” Bhasi said. He told the audi-ence that in many cases, clients asked them to use the same bad pictures for anniversaries. They converted that into an opportunity. “Our Ad department con-tacted all the advertisers and asked them to give better originals for anniversary photographs,” he said.


The Mathrubhumi’s core INCQC team also worked closely with editors to ensure that no bad quality originals were selected during the competition period. “We also worked with designers to make sure that photographs are not placed in newspa-per folds and behind the WAN-IFRA cuboid,” he said.

Step 4: Press inventory standardisation

The competition required brighter shades of paper to be used during the test runs. Since prepara-tions began well ahead of time, they did not want to procure brighter newsprint for the sake of the competition and store it for more than a year. What they did was test all the newsprint that was routinely used, and the best brand of them all was chosen. They also worked closely with suppliers to get ISO 12647-3 compliant ink.

Step 5: Standardising measuring instruments

There is always a possibility that different brands of instruments measure differently. At Mathrub-humi, different brands of densitometers are used at different branches. To overcome this problem, the newspaper procured an X-rite eXact (the instrument that WAN-IFRA uses for the CQC competition) and did an inter-instrument agree-ment study (to determine the differences between equipment). Because they began the preparations well ahead of the competition dates, they were able to assess the differences and take corrective action.

Step 6: Pre-press and press calibration

Dot gain calibration was done with the help of the “Actual and Intended Press” curve method in Harlequin RIP. First, the right ink density for the paper and ink combination had to be found, and then used to achieve the right dot gain.

Step 7: Form a team

“We selected a team from the pre-press and press side,” Bhasi said. Skills were identified, and the team was accordingly split into groups. The members divided up the responsibilities and each mastered his role. Proper usage of colour profiles, instruments and raw materials was ensured. As the final touch, a leader was selected to coordi-nate the whole set of activities.

Step 8: Simulate the competition

Simulated competitions were organised towards the end of the preparation period. Each team was mandated to ensure proper working patterns. Repeated simulation exercises were conducted to make sure all team work proceeded smoothly and in co-ordination.

Step 9: Actual competition

At the actual competition, “everything went as planned and both our printing plants won club membership,” Bhasi concluded proudly.

PT Bhasi is in charge of Corporate Responsibility of Production and Maintenance Functions of all Press and Post-Press Equipment and Activities. He played the lead role in setting up plants in 10 production centres in the Indian state of Kerala where Mathrubhumi has its base. He was also instrumental in procuring state-of-the-art press and post-press equipment for the paper.


systeMatiC approaCh to iMpleMent fM sCreening

The FM screen in newspaper pro-duction was the focus of a presen-tation by Anjan Mazumdar, Vice-

President, Quality and EHS at HT Media Ltd., a prominent media group in India.

Speaking on systematic approach to implement FM screen in newspaper production: What are the challenges in the implementation and how to achieve perfection systematically? he said HT Media’s traditionally preferred vehicle had been the Amplitude Modulated (AM) screens until 2013, when it started experimenting with FM screens. The shift was mainly driven by three objec-tives – migrating from 45 gsm to 42 gsm newsprint, ink saving and quality im-provement.

The FM screen has many variants. Typi-cally, the variation is in the size of the dots. HT Media tested three variants – HDS Super Coarse, a 4x4 pixel measur-ing 84 microns, HDS Coarse, a 2x3 pixel measuring 51 microns and HDS Medium, which is a 2x2 pixel measuring 42 mi-crons. Coarser dots use a larger structure and have the ability to hold highlight dots for large numbers of impressions.

However, coarser dots also mean grainy images. Finer screens have higher qual-ity and smoother gradations. On the f lip side, smaller dots tend to weaken faster.

Several factors have to be taken into account while selecting the FM screen variant. Mazumdar told the audience. The key parameter is compatibility with existing newsprint and plate. The surface smoothness of newsprint determines the selection of the size of dots. The second parameter is the ability of the plate to hold these small-sized dots. The fact is that the smaller the dot, the higher is the dot gain and the tougher the control of inking in the press, he pointed out, add-ing, minor variations in inking can cause the dot gain to vary significantly and hence affect colour quality.

Change made systematically

At HT Media, the move from AM to FM was done in a systematic manner. Ma-zumdar detailed the steps taken.

First, a compatibility study was done in the CTP plate. Exposure and processor settings were adjusted as per manufac-turer’s recommendation and different variations of FM screens were tested. Plate manufacturers were consulted at this stage to get perfect calibration and even dot output across the entire plate.

Secondly, press impression settings were checked and several test runs were done to establish the dot gain and calibrate the CTP to achieve 26% dot gain.


Third, the dot reproduction was consistently monitored by inserting a special test patch as part of the regular edition almost every day. “Apart from dot gain, it is important to study the stability of dots from the progressive copies. If severe dot loss is noted, then it is important to consult the plate manufacturer to see what can be improved,” Mazumdar advised.

The FM screen is not easy to implement and main-tain. CTP optics should be regularly checked as per the manufacturer’s recommendations and pro-cessor maintenance has to be done regularly on a set schedule; Preheat temperature needs to be even and consistent across the width of the plate; Developer and water bath brush pressure has to be consistent; Proper press settings and periodic dot gain analysis of all the towers is required.

“Tighter density control is essential as over inking can be disastrous,” Mazumdar said. “At HT Media we have pre-determined Solid Ink Density targets and a reduced Total Ink Limit of 200,” he added.

Since HT Media uses newsprint from different manufacturers, it is not possible to have a single screen variant for all newsprint types. Hence it uses a combination of HDS Coarse and HDS Super Coarse. FM screens can also lead to higher f luff accumulation and it is therefore important to discuss with newsprint manufacturers measures to reduce f luff accumulation, he said.

Anjan Mazumdar is a graduate in printing technology from Allahabad. He started his career at Wimco Ltd., a printing and packaging company. He has worked in key positions at the Indian Ex-press, a leading English daily, and at the Thomp-son Press. At HT Media, he has handled various challenging assignments, including quality, tech-nology and safety.


business Case to invest in a CoMpaCt press

Express Publications (Ceylon) installed a compact press re-cently. Kumar Nadesan, Managing

Director of the Sri Lanka-based Group, explained the business case, the pros and cons of the initiative.

Express Newspapers is one of a number of national newspaper publishing com-panies in Sri Lanka. All its publications are in Tamil and the f lagship newspaper is called Virakesari. Sri Lanka has a population of 21 million and the roughly 4 million Tamil speakers are the target audience of Express Publications.

During the past 15 years, Express News-papers focused on global trends and kept pace with technological improvements. Originally it published a daily and a weekly newspaper as well as a weekly magazine. Today, it has 17 publications – four daily newspapers, five weekly newspapers, one weekly magazine, three fortnightly magazines, and four monthly magazines. It also has 13 websites.

Speaking at the WAN-IFRA Conference, Nadesan said “the end of the (ethnic) war, we anticipated, would give us great opportunities for progress, in terms of new publications and the chance to enter the main language market… The Goss Community press with us was already overworked and our daily publications were on queue to be printed every day.

There was no option other than to invest in a new machine – a machine which suited our special needs.”

The group reasoned that if they remained static, they would risk a drop in mar-ket share, and new markets would be closed to them. Product development and diversity would not be possible either. If growth is a necessity for survival, then an increase in publications or diversifica-tion to related or non-related products or fields was called for. They would have to improve customer satisfaction not only through service but also by meeting reading needs.

‘Superior quality, minimum waste’

“Moreover,” said Nadesan, “the editionis-ing we required for the different regions, i.e the north, central, eastern and west-ern provinces, required a machine that could do short runs in the shortest time; a machine that could give us superior quality with minimum waste.”

A study was made of various machines that could meet Express Publications’ needs. The choice was the Goss Mag-num Compact for several reasons. One was familiarity with the Goss, “since we already had a Community web,” Nadesan explained. It also seemed to have most, if not all, of the capabilities the Group was looking for. Goss’ service and brand


promise were additional plus points.

Talking about the inherent risks the group had to face in terms of this investment, Nadesan said one was that the Magnum Compact is yet to prove its reliability. The Express Publications purchase was only the second machine produced in the world. It appears to depend greatly on electronics, prob-ably demanding ambient temperature difficult to achieve in a tropical country. Installation engi-neers also seem to lack familiarity with the newly-designed machine.

Listing other cons, Nadesan said unfortunately, the Community web press and Magnum Compact have different plate sizes. The ease of availability of spares is yet to be determined, while a new skill set is required to operate the new machine.

‘We could accommodate last minute prints’

However, the pros seemed to outweigh the cons. “Specifically we found that, with the Magnum Compact we could accommodate last minute prints since the plate changing time was mini-mal,” he said. Also, the Compact can print 50,000 copies per hour with a minimum of 500 copies. The automated features of the Magnum Compact means less staff are needed, making it easy for a quick changeover for editionising. No changes were needed in page-making since the printing area for both Magnum Compact and Community press were the same. The group decided that these favourable factors would pave the way for the su-perior products they were aiming for to satisfy the consumers’ reading needs.

Express Newspapers is looking forward to in-creasing its capacity with short runs, expanding the market reach (with contract printing) and di-versifying into other languages with the increased run time machine capacity (a Chinese language paper is on the cards). Nadesan was confident that this would create a new electronic culture in the traditional print field.

Express Newspapers Ceylon Pvt. Ltd. are the publishers of Virakesari, the premier 85-year-old Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka.

Kumar Nadesan, apart from his role at Express Publications, is the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Press Institute, an institution set up by the Edi-tors Guild, the Newspaper Society, Free Media Movement and Sri Lanka Journalist Association.

He is also Chairman of the Sri Lanka Press Com-plaints Commission, the self-regulatory body for the print media on the island nation.


press retrofit - a Case study froM the star Malaysia

In 2001, The Star Publications, Ma-laysia, made a huge investment in equipment. They went in for three

Goss Colorliner double-width, double-circumference towers, a 2:5:5 Jaw Folder and 7 MEGTec DSC 2100 Paster, a Bosch Rexroth Indramat shaftless drive, PRINTA press control from Honeywell, a Digital Pagepack inking system and Spray Bar dampening system. The press had a maximum speed of 80,000 cph for a printing capacity of 96 pages (64 colour, 32 B/W). Ten years later, they had several concerns about the press.

The press controls and drives were get-ting obsolete, frequent errors were crop-ping up in the drives, spray bars were getting clogged often and there was high linting, leading to recurrent unplanned stops, wear and tear in folders and manual cut-off and register control, lead-ing to increased start-up waste. These issues prompted the group to think about a press upgrade.

Mohamed Hassan Mohammad Ali, Senior GM, Star Publications, took delegates at the WAN-IFRA Conference through the process of approaching a retrofit project, and briefed them on his company’s learn-ings from the experience.

“While considering press upgrade, we had to answer many questions,” he told the audience. These questions were chief-

ly: What is the current condition of the press? What are the market requirements and what add-ons are required to make the press relevant for another 10 years? And importantly, what is the capital in-vestment required?”

Audit and action plan

To start with, The Star did a complete mechanical audit of the press with the help of Goss Engineers. They found damaged drive couplings, corrosion in blanket cylinders and severe wear and tear in the folder. After the audit, The Star drew up an action plan and it was decided to replace all motors and drives,

• the star is the largest english newspaper, with a circulation of 290,000 copies, 80,000 digital subscribers and a readership of 1,839,000.

• the group has a 1 trillion rM turn-over.

• 70% of its revenue is from print, 23% from events and exhibitions, 5 % from radio & tv and 1% each from digital and training.

Key faCtS about the Star MedIa grouP, MalaySIa


controls, the spray bar dampening system, slit-ters and web detectors. It was also decided to add a web cleaning device and automatic cut-off and register control.

“We discussed our needs with several vendors, saw their products in action by visiting many printing plants and finally decided on the prod-ucts and vendors for our retrofit project,” Hassan said.

At the end of the exercise, The Star selected Goss for press controls and drives, Baldwin for spray bars and web cleaning, QIPC for cut-off, register and fan out control.

Hassen highlighted some salient features of these systems in his detailed presentation. The Baldwin web cleaning device is a suction mechanism that removes loose fibres and other particles from the web, thereby reducing f luff accumulation in the press. The system, in fact, removes about 7 to 8 kg of dust every month. The new spray bar system has a cover that protects the nozzle from dust and ink particles, thus preventing nozzle clog.

In the folder section, where there was heavy wear and tear, the pistons and bushings of the Ex-pansion Band segments at the Collect Cylinder, worn-out pin assembly and tucking shafts were replaced. The conventional slitters were removed and replaced with a motorised slitter at the former board. Now, web slits are very smooth and help in improving the quality of the finished products.

Repair work on the corrosion in blanket cylinder was underway at the time of Hassan’s presenta-tion.

The retrofit project had produced excellent re-sults, he said. The downtime of the press due to nozzle clogging was reduced to one-third of what it was before the retrofit project. The amount of waste and downtime due to f luff accumula-tion declined to one-fifth after installing the web cleaning device. “Our overall waste percentage, which used to be about 2.3%, has now come down to about 1.7,” Hassan added.

Mohamed Hassan Mohamed Ali has been Se-nior General Manager, Technical Services, at Star Publications (Malaysia) since 2013. His responsi-bilities include managing the prepress, press and post-press areas of the newspaper production.

Hassan is also actively involved in the newspa-

per fraternity regionally and globally. He was the chairman for the ANP (ASEAN Newspaper Printers) from 2011 to 2013. He is currently a Board member of the World Printers Forum under WAN-IFRA.


newsprint trends and priCe foreCast

Worldwide newsprint consump-tion is on the decline, Emmy D’Silva, Consultant, Newsprint

Procurement, Logistics & Other Allied Services, India, told delegates at the WAN-IFRA Conference. The decline, he said, is concentrated in North America, Western Europe, China and Japan.

Backing up his statements with charts showing various facets of the newsprint business, such as Demand, Capacity, Balance, Profitability, EBITDA and Cost across countries, he said globally, the supply and demand of newsprint is 28 million tonnes vs. 25 million tonnes, which amounts to a surplus three mil-lion tonnes. This surplus has resulted in plateauing of prices during the past five quarters – Q4 13 TO Q3 15.

The EBITDA Profit & Loss graph shows that cost of production is higher than selling price. This results in closures and downtime at mills. Approximately 10 million tonnes of newsprint have already been cut back during the past six years and further shutdowns of manufacturing facilities are mooted to help make some price increase possible for manufacturers who are reeling under loss. These manu-facturers want to either close down their production units or switch to other, more remunerative grades, D’Silva said in his presentation on Analysis of the global newsprint industry – Prices, forecast,

demand and supply. The cost of raw ma-terial – recycled fibre and energy – has also negatively impacted profitability, he pointed out.

India’s newsprint demand growing

India is the only exception to the world-wide decline, D’Silva said. Newsprint demand in India is likely to match that of the USA at 3 million tonnes and seems set to overtake it by 2020. This is sig-nificant because the change has taken place post 2000, when consumption in India stood at 1 million tonnes while USA needed 13 million tonnes. India now is the world’s hub for consumption and the focal point of supply for newsprint manu-facturers in North America, Western Europe, Russia and Korea.

Demand growth in India is projected to be 6% per annum for the next five years, D’Silva said, adding that the catalysts were literacy growth and better earning power.

Despite the increase in newsprint de-mand in the country, Indian newsprint manufacturers are not doing well, D’Silva said. Out of 120 mills, only 75 are func-tioning now and the rest are either closed or in the process of closing. He said the capacity utilisation of Indian mills is only 55% due to major challenges:


More than 50% of newsprint used in India is im-ported. Better quality and competitive pricing are the major drivers. Currently indigenous newsprint costs about Rs 32,000 to Rs 36,000, while im-ported newsprint costs between US$ 490 and 520 for 45 gsm and US$ 520 to 560 for 42 gsm – more competitive than Indian rates. This pricing is expected to remain stable till 2017

Indian mills can produce mainly 45 gsm news-print, whereas the trend in the industry is to use 42.5 gsm newsprint.

Indian mill capacity projected to decline

The industrial capacity of Indian mills is pro-jected to decline from 2.5 to 2.2 million tonnes by 2017. Capacity utilisation may also fall from 55% to 45% or below due to closures, sale of mills and mills switching to other more remunerative grades. Indigenous newsprint sales volumes are also projected to register drops from 1.26 million tonnes in 2014 to 1 million tonnes in 2015 and go down to further in 2017, D’Silva warned. This drop will mean imports increase to 55% in 2016 and 60% in 2017.

In India, the changeover to 42 gsm and 40 gsm will be rapid. By 2017, nearly 90% of newsprint used in India will be from the lower gsm category, D’Silva said, adding, indigenous mills will contin-ue to be adversely affected by cheaper prices from imports and inability to offer lower 42/40 gsm newsprint, which will result in drop in sales.

A weak indigenous capacity leaves India open to risks. Will overseas suppliers capitalise by in-creasing their rates? That was the thought that D’Silva left his audience with.

Emmy D’Silva has vast experience in engineer-ing, sales and purchase, working with both mul-tinationals and Indian companies for more than 40 years. He spent about 15 years at Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd, India, where he was respon-sible for Materials Management and implementa-tion of special systems like ERP, ISO, etc.


integrated ManageMent systeMs to iMprove operational effiCienCy

Zaman, from the Feza Gazetecilik stable in Istanbul, is the most-purchased newspaper in Turkey.

It is printed at six sites. The Quality and Co-ordination Department is responsible for implementing and maintaining four ISO standards in the workplace. Muhar-rem Yaser, Quality Manager, Feza Pub-lications, explained how management systems can help achieve efficiency.

The Quality and Co-ordination Depart-ment implements ISO 9001 Quality Man-agement System, ISO 14001 Environ-mental Management System, ISO 18001 Occupational Health and Safety and ISO 12647-3 Quality Standard for Newspaper Production. “The ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 are what we call integrated plant management systems.” Yasar told the WAN-IFRA Conference.

To emphasis the importance of these standards, he cited an incident at their plant. During one night shift, when an operator was working on a machine breakdown, a curious and incautious employee was standing behind him, and accidentally, a screw driver went into the eye of the worker. The injury was seri-ous and the worker lost his eye. The law says that in any such circumstance, it is the company that is at fault. It is the company’s responsibility to train their employees on safety, make the machine safe and provide safety equipment and

safe consumables.

“A small problem is an indication of a larger problem that is going to happen soon. If we address the root cause of the problem in its first occurrence, we can ensure trouble-free operation,” Yasar said.

Again, he cited an example of a problem at a printing plant in Istanbul as an il-lustration. The plant was affected by a small f lood in 2007. Rain water entered the premises and the level was about 15 cm. Even after this, the plant did not take any steps to prevent a recurrence of the problem. Two years later, a severe f lood damaged the entire plant and it had to be closed.

Standard operation procedures

As part of the Integrated Management system, Zaman has standard procedures for all operations. Yasar has drawn up emergency action plans, made obligatory signs for workers and put up instructions for operating machines.

Zaman today has installed several safety features in its presses and machineries. Some examples include safety cages for rotating parts, safety switches that turns off machines if doors are not closed, electricity insulator rigs in electrical cabinets, goggles, mask and gloves for


workers, MSDS summary sheets in chemical han-dling areas, medical cleaners to wash eyes in case of contact with chemicals, stock area lines, speed breakers inside the plant, pedestrian walkways, closed metal cabinets to store chemicals and hazardous materials, forced ventilation in stor-age areas, perforated surfaces in chemical storage areas to ensure drainage of leaked chemicals etc.

Zaman also provides work shoes for employees. Two pairs of shoes are provided for summer and winter use. The shoes are industrial quality and have insulated soles for electricians. They are designed to make wearers sure-footed even on oily surfaces and are steel toed to protect feet from heavy objects.

All the plants of Zaman are certified for ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001. The plants have to undergo a yearly re-certification process to prevent business blindness.

“Implementing and maintaining an integrated plant management system takes a lot of effort and associated costs. However, the benefits are im-mense. In the long term, it can prevent all losses related to operational inefficiency,” Yasar said, summing up his presentation.

Muharrem Yaşar has an engineering back-ground, but is passionate about colour quality. He has contributed to various major projects, in-cluding the purchase and installation of five new printing machines for the company’s facilities, and an investment project in computer-to-plate (CTP) technology. He currently works in quality management and ERP implementation. He is in-volved in the company’s on-going efforts to install heat-set towers and turn the existing machines into hybrids.

• the parent company of Zaman is feza gazetecilik, based in İstanbul, the largest city in turkey

• Zaman, which means “time” in english, has a circulation of 1 million

• it is printed at six sites – five in turkey (İstanbul, ankara, İzmir, adana and trabzon) and a contracted one in antalya

• Zaman operates one heidelberg harris Mercury (1996) with a speed of 35,000 copies/hour and five Kba Comet presses with a speed of 75,000 copies / hour

• plate making rooms in all the locations operate 10 Kodak generation news Ctp

Key faCtS


inKjet in newspaper printing

Web inkjet printing is evolving rapidly. The three key param-eters that decide the usage of

inkjet presses for newspaper applications are speed, web width and print quality.

Discussing the features of inkjet presses, Manfred Werfel, WAN-IFRA Deputy CEO, said they offer several advantages over web-offset presses. For example, there is no start-up waste, job changes can be done on the f ly, there is complete f lexibility with format change, content can be personalised, there is no varia-tion in quality over print run and even a single copy can be printed.

However, they have a f lip side too, he told the conference. The per-copy cost of inkjet is still very high. The cost per copy is very low in offset as the print order increases, while it remains the same in digital presses, making it unsuitable for longer runs, he pointed out. Better grades of paper need to be used and the speed of the presses is low.

The Kodak Prosper 6000P is one of the fastest inkjet presses and can print up to 300 metres per minute, Werfel said. The HP T400 press can print up to a web width of 1067 mm. These numbers pale in comparison with a web-offset press. Web-offset presses can print up to a speed of 900 metres per minute and web width up to 2100 mm. Moreover, web-

offset presses can print multiple webs at a time while digital presses can print only a single web, which means that the number of copies that can be printed per hour is far lower than in a web offset press.

Inkjet presses making strides

However, Werfel said it should be noted that industrial inkjet press has made rapid strides in all these three areas in the past few years and further improve-ments can be expected.

Inkjet presses are becoming popular and are used for unique applications that cannot be done with conventional web-offset presses. Here is a list:

� Personalised products with variable data printing and customised advertis-ing

� Short run remote printing in niche markets. For example, regional news-papers can be printed in a capital city; newspapers can be printed for island and expat populations; universities, associations companies etc. can have their own papers, too.

� With micro zoning, national and international news can be printed in conventional offset press; Local and hyper-local pages are printed in digital


presses and inserted to the main edition in the mailroom.

The applications are also expanding, Werfel point-ed out. For example, a Belgium Catholic Weekly called Kerk & Leven with a circulation of about 294,000 copies and 481 local editions, is printed entirely with digital presses. Walliser Bote, a Swiss daily newspaper with a circulation of about 22,000 copies, is also printed entirely with digital presses.

“Inkjet presses cannot replace offset presses in the near future. However, they can be used as a complement to offset, and they can open up new business opportunities,” Werfel said, citing the example of Newsweb, a printing company based in Chicago. The company has both offset presses and digital presses. The choice between the presses for a job depends upon the print order.

Inkjet heads can also be attached in web-offset presses to convert them to hybrid presses to offer personalised content. The inkjet heads can be used to print lottery numbers, games and targeted advertisements. The best part is that these inkjet heads can print at the same speed as the offset press. Axel Springer and News International, which have invested in 33 and 22 inkjet heads respectively, are cases in point, he said.

Printing plants worldwide are looking at new business models for a sustainable future. Newspa-pers are going to be one of many products that can be produced in printing plants. Newspapers are also changing. Customisation and micro-zoning are quite common. Since the newspaper is chang-ing, inkjet has arrived in newspaper production, he concluded.

Manfred Werfel is WAN-IFRA Deputy CEO and Executive Director, Global Events, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is responsible for the World News Media Congress and the World Publishing Expo. He takes also care of the World Printers Forum, the print community within WAN-IFRA. He heads a department with Expo and sales specialists as well as newspaper produc-tion experts.


using innovations to woo advertisers

Snehasis Chandra Roy, Associate Vice-President – Technical, ABP Pvt. Ltd, India, took delegates at

the WAN-IFRA conference on a tour of the many innovations his newspaper experimented with in order to woo adver-tisers to the print media.

“Falling advertisement revenues made us to think of strategies to make print more attractive,” he said.

The problem of reduced income from advertisements has been tackled in vari-ous ways by various media houses, but Ananda Bazar Patrika’s approach was to make the print media itself more attrac-tive to advertisers. It felt that innovative advertisement formats would definitely help make print exciting for advertisers. In keeping with this theory, ABP Pvt. Ltd. developed many novel techniques on its own, and also made case studies of the successful experiments of industry peers, which it subsequently adapted to suit its own needs.

ABP now has more than 28 innovative advertisement formats to offer its clients.

Roy listed many of these innovations in his presentation, including centre spread panorama, pseudo panorama, half page f lap (glued), aromatic print, index jut out (single or double), reverse panorama, re-verse f lap, tabloid pull up, centre double

panorama, French window, centre line butterf ly, strip advertisement wrap on, and art paper f ly jacket. A few, like the translucent jacket, super panorama, 3D print, and use of f luorescent and metallic inks have proved quite popular, and have had many takers, he said.

‘Many interesting challenges’

Innovation is no easy task, however. “While doing these innovative ads, we faced many interesting challenges,” he said. “For example, while using f luores-cent inks and metallic inks, we had to use the ink in the black unit. Hence all the texts are printed with CMY inks with high register accuracy. While printing in translucent jacket, we had to reduce the Total Ink Limit so that the ink will dry on the print,” he said.

Talking about the creative ways in which challenges were met and overcome, he mentioned an instance when an adver-tiser asked them to print on translucent paper. “Procuring the translucent paper was not easy and we did not have any in stock. Hence, we offered the advertiser a pseudo translucent advertisement. We printed a pale image of the main image in the jacket and created an illusion of a translucent paper, he said, and illustrat-ed the effect using a slide.

“These new ad formats have added a


lot of variety in our advertisement offerings and helped our marketing team to offer value-added advertisements to clients,” he said, rounding off his presentation.

Snehasis Chandra Roy holds a Bachelor’s De-gree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, and an MBA from the University of Mumbai. He acquired his skills working in various capaci-ties during the past 23 years – with Time Maga-zine, the Times of India Group, the DB Group and the ABP Group of publications. He has academic as well as practical exposure to the entire print manufacturing value chain and has project imple-mentation experience in newspaper manufactur-ing.


environMental initiatives at loKMat

Lokmat is one of the leading me-dia houses in India. The Marathi newspaper was launched in 1971.

The English edition, Lokmat Times, was launched in 1987 and the Hindi edition, Lokmat Samachar, in 1989. Currently, Lokmat is published in three languages, 18 editions and 53 splits from 12 print-ing locations. Apart from newspapers, Lokmat also publishes books and a bi-monthly lifestyle magazine in English and broadcasts a Marathi news channel, IBN Lokmat, through a joint venture with IBN18.

Lokmat follows one global mantra: “Re-duce, recycle and re-use,” says Neeraj Mahajan, Vice- President – Technical, Lokmat, India. The media house has taken a three-step approach towards this mantra:

�Energy conservation and use of renew-able energy resources �Minimising liquid wastes that need treatment �Recycling solid waste materials to re-duce the burden on landfills

Where energy was concerned, several options were available to move towards renewable resources – Solar, Wind, Geo thermal, Bio mass and Hydro were the choices considered. Finally Lokmat de-cided to go in for solar energy. Two solar

installations were put up – one in Nagpur with a capacity of 324 kWP and another in Aurangabad with a capacity of 258 kWP.

Deciding where to install panels

“When venturing into solar, we need to decide whether to install the panels at the ground level or on the roof,” Mahajan said. Roof installations are fraught with several hurdles – such a system necessi-tates penetration of the roof to mount the Solar PV structure clamps and carries the risk of creating leakages on the roof. Special arrangements have to be made to access the roof. Cleaning and inspection of the module are difficult. It might be difficult to achieve the optimum angle for the solar module, considering the slope of roof, which subsequently affects the generation.

Keeping all these issues in mind, “we decided to go for a ground mounted sys-tem,” Mahajan said.

The land requirement for the Nagpur plant was 40,000 sq. feet, while for the Aurangabad plant it was about 32,000 sq. feet. The total investment in both projects was about Rs. 5.5 crore. “The ROI is expected at 66 months and we can enjoy clean energy for 19 years,” Mahajan added.


Lokmat intends to extend the solar power initia-tives to their other printing plants as well. Apart from this, the media house also ensures energy conservation by incorporating provisions for maximum daylight usage in the plant design, optimising power consumption by transitioning to LED and maximising intensity and conducting several energy audits to plug leakages and waste-ful electricity consumption.

Another environmental initiative taken by Lok-mat is reduction of water usage and generation of hazardous liquid waste that requires treatment. Lokmat has been using Violet CTP technology since 2005 and this facilitated the migration from using conventional photopolymer plates to Technova Viogreen plates, which do not need any chemicals to process them. After exposure, the plates are processed through pre-heat section and then finished with a special gum and dried. “Since water is not required, we saved about 1.4 million litres of water every year and also about 14,000 litres of liquid waste. Since several stages of processing the plate are skipped, there are also savings in electricity consumption, space, spare parts and importantly, manpower, as maintenance requirements are less,” he explained.

“If the entire printing industry in India stops us-ing water for plate making, it can save about 72 million liters of water per annum. As an added benefit, liquid eff luents will also be reduced,” Mahajan pointed out.

Lokmat tries to recycle, wherever possible. It re-lies heavily on indigenous newsprint with recycled fibers. Solvent-soaked cotton rags are dried in a whirler. The solvent recovered by this process is used for cleaning f loor in the press room. The dried rags are also sent to a re-user.

“In the near future, we are planning other projects such as the use of vegetable-and soya-based inks instead of mineral oil-based products, installa-tion of Auto Blanket Wash systems to reduce wash consumption and Spray Dampening to reduce fount consumption,” Mahajan said.

Neeraj Mahajan is an Engineering graduate, from the National Institute of Engineering. He has been associated with the print and newspaper industry for more than 25 years. Presently he is the Vice-President – Technical, Lokmat, India. Earlier, he was one of the pillars of the Rs 300

crore state-of-the-art printing press project at EIH Limited, Manesar, which was set up within a very tight eight-month timeframe.


adopting new teChnologies for sustainability

Masar Printing & Publishing is Dubai’s leading high quality printing and publishing house.

As part of Dubai Media Incorporated, it has a team of dedicated profession-als to cater to customer requirements. The company offers a host of product solutions to the market – books and magazines, newspapers, catalogues, brochures, calendars, diaries, journals, newsletters, f lyers and coupons, business stationery, invitations and cards. Samer Sabri Abdel Qader, Director Digital & Prepress, discussed the various aspects of using new technologies for sustainabil-ity and new business at the WAN-IFRA Conference.

Making his presentation remotely from Dubai, Abdel Qader said the Masar plant is state-of-the-art, built on half-a-million square feet of space. To cater to multiple product lines, it has a host of equipment – newspaper web, commercial web, sheet fed and digital. While following the high-est international standards demanded by the region and customers, Masar delivers huge volumes with the latest in technol-ogy and experienced personnel. The en-tire Masar complex is a well-structured, planned unit.

Customers in the UAE demand very high levels of versatility, reliability and sup-port, and Masar has built capabilities to deliver all of these, said Abdel Qader, ad-

dressing the gathering at Mumbai using an online platform. Its high-end printing quality allows newspapers to enhance their branding and attract advertising clients. Fully automated loading facilities bring pace and ease to overall operations at the printing plant.

Masar has recently started using Ko-dak Sonora News Process-Free plates, a thermal plate, which completely elimi-nates processing, water and chemicals used to process plates. Abdel Qader asserted that this “process-free” opera-tion permits substantial savings in power consumption and costs as well. “There are environmental benefits, too. We have eliminated the disposal of chemicals and waste water altogether,” he added.

Fewer operational steps

With the removal of onsite processing, there are fewer operational steps. This, combined with the high level of automa-tion, allows Masar to go to press faster while freeing up staff for other tasks, thus increasing overall productivity.

Digital inkjet is making waves in the industry and is considered the best tech-nology for short run and variable data production. Masar is one of the earliest investors in the technology. It bought a Kodak Prosper 6000C Inkjet Press. With the digital press, Masar is now able

Picture from WAN-IFRA Middle East Conference


to produce customized newspapers and quality books-on-demand as well as direct mail applica-tions. It now has more efficient page inventory management, less waste, smoother production processes and a better reader experience.

Asked about the maintenance requirement of the digital press, Abdel Qader said digital presses do need maintenance to the same extent as conven-tional presses and said it is very important for investors to enter into a service contract with the supplier. In-house staff attempting repairs may not be a good idea, he cautioned.

To another question about the life of the machine, Abdel Qader said Masar expects it to have seven or eight years of efficient life, but it is still a moot point.

What is notable in the entire Masar Print story is its commitment to sustainability while deliver-ing a high quality product and efficient service to customers.

Samer Sabri Abdel Qader joined Masar’s senior management team at the early stages of the project in 2006. He played a big role in establish-ing one of the best printing plants in the region, following the highest international standards and certified by WAN-IFRA and Fogra. He has strong Management, IT, Printing, Digital and PrePress experience. He currently takes care of the Commercial PrePress, Newspaper Prepress, and Digital Printing Departments at Dubai Media Inc’s printing sector, including Masar Printing & Publishing and Mohammad bin Rashid Holy Quran Printing Centre.


new and eMerging business Models of newspaper printing CoMpanies

Against the background of falling advertising revenues, publish-ers and newspaper printers have

been looking for new business models to plan their futures. WAN-IFRA prepared a report on new and emerging business models, and a synopsis was presented at the conference by Manfred Werfel, Deputy CEO and Executive Director, Global Events.

Profit centres owned by the publisher, the operator model, where an external operator is given the responsibility of running the print shop, the external ser-vice provider who takes on this responsi-bility, joint ventures between publishing units, independent printers, outsourcing of printing some editions of a newspaper, and online printers who sell newspaper printing in all sizes from an online portal were the cases studied.

Matthias Tietz, CEO of RBD, Germany; Assaf Avrahami, CEO and VP Technology and Operation, Yedioth group, Israel; Ar-min Elm, Technical Director, Mittelrhe-in-Verlag and CEO Presse Zustelldienst, Germany; Heiko Schroder, CEO, TMI Services, Germany; M Kummerling and M Rettig, Managers of Druckzentrum Rhein Main, Germany; Gary Hughes, Se-nior Director, Manufacturing Operation, Newspaper Group and General Manager, Vaughan Plant, Transcontinental, To-ronto, Canada; K Balaji, Director, Kasturi

and Sons Ltd., publishers of The Hindu, India; and Stephan Buhler, Sales Manag-er, dierotations-drucker, Germany, were the industry experts who contributed input to the study.

The models under review were consid-ered from the points of view of the ra-tionale for change, the working process, achievements, constraints and the way forward, Werfel said.

Giving an overview of global newspaper revenue generation 2014, he said print and digital circulation revenues stood at US$ 92 billion while print and digital advertising revenue was US$ 87 billion. Newspaper advertising revenues have registered a 5.2% dip from 2010 to 2014.

Key aspects for consideration

The study set out key aspects from each model for consideration. These included core areas of importance which the respondents identified from experience, aspects that needed special attention, pitfalls to watch out for, and the pros and cons of the model in general.

Summing up the conclusions drawn from the study, Werfel said:

� Changing demands and preferences from the market have stimulated an evolutionary process


� The printing industry is innovating and ex-perimenting to come up with the solutions best suited to the challenges

� The cost of printing is coming more and more into focus; those who don’t adapt will lose their market position

� The European models that have been found to work best are turning printing facilities into profit centres or engaging an external operator

� In India, national dailies outsource printing either to independent printers or to printing facilities of other newspapers

� In North America, publishers are finding that handing over the printing to experienced print-ers is the most efficient way forward

� The newspaper printer as a service provider for the print media is the most favoured new tried-and-tested model across the globe

Taking an average of the respondents’ own as-sessment of their models, it was revealed that five out of the eight respondents reported high satis-faction with their chosen models, and healthier bottom lines, five said set up speed was “medium” while two found it “high,” four said ease of tran-sition was “high” while three said it was “me-dium” and one found it “low.” As far as risks were concerned, the participants were evenly divided between “medium” and “low” while six said long-term prospects were “high” and the remaining two felt it was “medium.”

By presenting the results of the study, “we hope to stimulate a discussion among the print commu-nity,” Werfel told the audience.

Manfred Werfel is Deputy CEO and Executive Director, Global Events, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is responsible for the World News Media Congress and the World Publishing Expo. He also takes care of the World Printers Fo-rum, the print community within WAN-IFRA. He heads a department with Expo, sales and confer-ence specialists as well as newspaper production experts.


The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Documents

waN-ifra iNdia 2015 New aNd emergiNg priNtiNg summit ... · PDF fileWAN-IFRA India 2015 Printing Summit 3 Conference Summary foreword The 23rd edition of the prestigious WAN-IFRA India