Finishing & Screen Printing
Grow with us – how customers can grow with the market
Thursday 06. November 2008 - Muller Martini optimises the mailroom with modular systems
All the newspaper publishers are faced with the same challenge: When is the right time for the right investment? Muller Martinis answer to this question is: Thanks to modular systems, customers are now able to grow with the market.
Its no secret: run sizes of classic daily newspapers are decreasing in many industrial countries says Volker Leonhardt Marketing Manager at Muller Martini.
Versand-Systeme AG, Zofingen, is convinced that the newspaper industry can be optimistic about the future. On one hand, the run numbers of many regional newspapers, advertisement papers and free newspapers are pointing upwards. On the other hand, the number of newspaper printers is constantly increasing who are improving their position on the free market by expanding their range of services, especially with semi-commercial hybrid print products.
Print products printed on newsprint, enhanced with glossy heatset covers,stitched and trimmed are bringing the publishers new income, both as standalone products as well as newspaper inserts.
Making better use of the mailroom
Such print derivatives are made possible, on the one hand, by new technologies on the printing press, and on the other thanks to new systems used in the mailroom. Muller Martini, according to Volker Leonhardt, has recognised that the opportunities of the newspaper publisher lie mainly in an increase of the utilisation rate of their systems. At night the printing presses and finishing systems in the mailroom are running at high capacity to produce the newspapers – but during the day there is still potential.
With an in-line system for stitching and trimming, Muller Martini helps the newspaper printer to take better advantage of this potential. Preproducts for newspapers (or parts thereof) can be stitched and trimmed just as well as individual magazines. Besides stitching and trimming, the infeeding of covers from other printing methods (such as heatset), post-its, flying pages, and much more belong to standard production today. They can generate additional orders for the printing plant and increase the advertising revenue from the newspaper.
Making the right investment with modular systems
But in the mailroom, it isnt just about a higher utilisation rate. Just as important is the question regarding the right investments – and particularly the right time for the investments. Because they are, given the large systems in the newspaper industry, not insubstantial. According to Volker Leonhardt, the newspaper printers and machine manufacturers are confronted by the same challenge: The amortisation cycles for printing presses and mailroom systems are of a very long duration, the trends in the newspaper industry are, however, for the short term. Muller Martinis answer to this critical question is: modularity.
Modular solutions such as the ProLiner inserting system and the CoLiner pregatherer make it possible to invest accurately at any time. Because, especially in capital-intensive system construction, a high level of investment security is crucial. The ProLiner can be configured with a certain number of feeders to meet current production requirements, and later expanded, when the volumes increase. True to the Muller Martini motto «Grow with us.» our customers can thus grow with the market, adapt and expand the ProLiner at any time to new needs, and thus make the right investment at the right time.
The ProLiner with the new CoLiner
However, modularity means also being able to optimally absorb fluctuating volumes in the context of a weekly production, and thus to maintain the most economical cost structure possible. Those who produce Sunday newspapers know: the number of inserts at the weekend is much higher than during work days. Since it doesnt make much sense investing in a large system for only one peak day, Muller Martini has made a pregatherer available to the ProLiner inserting system.
The CoLiner can be easily docked into the inserting line and offers maximum flexibility in the smallest of spaces. Because it is only activated when it is actually put into use, newspaper printers can reduce their operating costs thanks to less wear and tear and reduced energy consumption.