Italy’s biggest digital printer of newspapers, Newsprint Italia, has installed a second Kodak Versamark VL4200 inkjet web press in Milan. This brings the group’s total in Italy to four digital presses – two in Rome and two in Milan.
Newsprint Italia is a joint venture between Miller Group (Malta) and IPS Group (Meckenheim / Germany), an international provider of publishing services whose subsidiary Messinter is Italy’s foremost newspaper and magazine importer. Malcolm Miller and Dieter Wirtz, managing director of the IPS Group, are joint CEOs of Newsprint Italia.
The Newsprint group now has a total of seven Kodak inkjet presses in action in Europe. In addition to the Italian sites, three are running in Malta, Cyprus, and Tenerife.
The presses at the Milan and Rome sites all have offline finishing provided by a combination of folding and collating equipment from Hunkeler and Heidelberg. The lines 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 metres per minute with 600 x 360 dpi resolution.
Across the group the seven Versamark presses support an ‘entrepreneurial, print-on-demand business model that aspires to drive change and secure a future for the world of newspaper publishing,’ according to the group.
‘I believe there will always be paper news,’ says Malcolm Miller, CEO of 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 localised 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 Phil Cullimore, Kodak’s managing director for EMEA. ‘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 recent EU regulations that stipulate that all air freight be recorded and monitored at every step, the company’s business model is claimed to be an attractive alternative for newspaper distributors and wholesalers, taking away the hassle of transport management and associated costs.
Accorsing to Dieter Wirtz: ‘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 colour quality compare favourably. Thanks to Kodak’s inkjet technology, we are able to demonstrate a high standard with a full-colour quality product that meets brand advertising requirements. The ability to reproduce colour-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.’
Contact: www.graphics.kodak.com and www.ips-d.de and www.messinter.it
