Inkjet & Digital Printing

Kodak installs its 4th KODAK VERSAMARK VL4200 Printing System in Italian customer Newsprint Italia to drive innovation through business

Tuesday 04. September 2012 - Digital printing technology enables strategic pan-European distribution of international, national and regional newspapers

Newsprint Italia, Italy’s biggest newspaper digital printing company, a joint venture between the IPS Group and Miller Malta, is driving growth with the installation of a second KODAK VERSAMARK VL4200 Printing System in Milan. This brings the total in Italy to four digital presses – two in Rome and two in Milan, the country’s business and industrial capital. In order to better serve the Italian market, the Miller Group (Malta) joined forces a while ago with the IPS Group (Meckenheim / Germany), an international provider of publishing services whose subsidiary Messinter is Italy’s foremost newspaper and magazine importer. The Newsprint Group now has a total of seven KODAK Inkjet Presses in action in Europe. The first three are doing duty in Malta, Cyprus, and Tenerife. Malcolm Miller and Dieter Wirtz, Managing Director of the IPS Group, are joint CEOs of Newsprint Italia S.r.l.
Newsprint Italia is running two digital press lines at each of its Milan and Rome sites – all with offline finishing provided by a combination of folding and collating equipment from Hunkeler and Heidelberg. The KODAK VERSAMARK VL4200 Printing Systems work a seven to twelve-hour nightly cycle, during which they print 2-up duplex four colour digital newsprint in tabloid and Berlin formats at 125 meters per minute with 600 x 360 dpi resolution. The seven KODAK VERSAMARK VL4200 Inkjet Presses support an entrepreneurial, print-on-demand business model that aspires to drive change and secure a future for the world of newspaper publishing.
“I believe there will always be paper news,” says Malcolm Miller, CEO Miller Group. “We have worked in the newspaper business for many years and there is no doubt that we are seeing newspaper circulation figures drop dramatically – especially in the Western Hemisphere. However, we are convinced this is a great business opportunity for us. Digitally printed international and regional newspaper titles supported by localized distribution will create opportunities for publishers to expand their business in new ways and build new business strategies.”
“The Miller Group noted that one reason they chose Kodak – besides reliable products, a very good service team and industry commitment – was that we understand their business and focus on helping their customers communicate to end users,” said Kodak’s Phil Cullimore, Managing Director, Europe, Africa & Middle East Region. “The Miller Group’s experience in Data Management allows them to offer their customers an optimised way to communicate. We try to fit a solution that is technically and financially right for their situation.”
Today, the two Italian sites print almost a billion pages annually. All IT systems and the workflow are managed and controlled from the Malta facility. Every night, thousands of newspapers are printed in Milan and Rome and distributed to key outlets in Italy, Switzerland, and other neighboring markets. Distribution management is taken care of by Messinter, the IPS Group’s Milan subsidiary, which delivers to kiosks in shopping malls and supermarkets as well as to airports, bus and train stations, and other relevant outlets.
The plan is to offer publishers across Europe short-run solutions particularly for expensive and late-arrival destinations where conventional newspaper distribution has insurmountable drawbacks. Taking into account the recent EU regulations that stipulate that all air freight be recorded and monitored at every step the company’s business model is an attractive alternative for newspaper distributors and wholesalers taking away the hassle of transport management and associated costs.
Malcolm Miller and IPS Managing Director Dieter Wirtz have already had an encouraging positive response from a wide range of international newspaper publishers interested in their business vision. The two partners have built strong customer relationships over the years as a result of their experience of newspaper distribution and excellent client interaction. Dieter Wirtz explains: “We’re offering our customers opportunities to enter new markets and reduce their logistics costs. It’s a realistic vision. It’s now a proven fact that digital can be more cost effective than offset, small run lengths are also fit for purpose and the cost per page and color quality compare favorably. Thanks to Kodak’s Inkjet Technology, we are able to demonstrate a high standard with a full-color quality product that meets brand advertising requirements. The ability to reproduce color-managed branding on newsprint is a key factor for all publishers. With the speed of the KODAK VERSAMARK Machines, we can offer fast and timely production, enabling publications to be delivered over a wide area early in the morning. Like all businesses, publishers are constantly reviewing and monitoring their costs. Our commitment is to help them maintain and grow their business – after all, they are our customers.”