Finishing & Screen Printing
Efficiency in Every Process
Tuesday 04. November 2008 - The trend towards the preparation and provision of editorial content by a central news room - termed media convergence - continues uninterruptedly. "The days of a newspaper journalist writing an exclusive story only for their own newspaper and working to a fixed deadline are over," says Jerk Hammelsvang, Production Director at Fynske Medier in the Danish city of Odense. "Our journalists work for every platform and decide which stories appear when in which medium."
However, when viewing the manufacturing processes of printed media, we can see a clear trend toward the optimization and exploitation of available capacity. Besides the manufacture of classic newspaper products, the continuous technological development of newspaper printing systems and finishing also allows the manufacture of commercial products.
Muller Martini supports its customers with solutions for the efficient insert processing of classic newspaper products as well as advertising and weekly papers containing a very high amount of inserts. In the field of product finishing, Muller Martini solutions allow the capture of additional sources of income, thanks to well thought-out applications for stitching and trimming, as well as the application of cards and labels.
Complete Process Optimization Thanks to Joint Product Distribution
The distribution of the printed products comes at the end of the process chain. This part is combined with high costs, around a third of the total costs. The AddOnModule, newly developed by Muller Martini as a modular expansion in the mailroom control system, Mailroom Production Control (MPC), means that we can support our customers in the combination of different products for joint distribution.
This solution means that Muller Martinis customers are able to deliver third-party products such as newspapers, magazines or product samples via the existing infrastructure and distribution channels, in addition to standard products. The distribution of products from other publishers allows our customers to spread the distribution costs across multiple products, thus creating competitive advantages.
The existing ramp system is fitted with an additional infeed station, from which manually or automatically commissioned products can be combined into co-mailings and then distributed using various routes and vehicles. The AddOnModule simplifies and co-ordinates the handling and the logistics of the third-party products. This means that the newspaper printers can commission a range of different products quickly and correctly, assign them to the right truck in parallel to the main product and monitor and log the entire process.
Transparency at a Glance
The AddOnModule has a modern graphic desktop, is clear and supports the user through simple operation on the touchscreen. In the MPC control system and the AddOnModule, all the data is visualized according to the requirements of the different workstations. This means that the mailroom manager and all the employees right up to the lorry driver know the current production process and can access all the information required for their work process at any time.
MPC – Modular Structure Brings Growth Potential
The MPC control system networks all the subprocesses in the mailroom. It offers a simple data import and effective data management. MPC is based on a standard PC and is designed to be user-friendly. The basic version consists of a DispoControl and one LineControl for each production line. MPC can be enhanced with additional modules, meaning that can then match the individual requirements of the newspaper printer perfectly.