By Chuck Moozakis
Editor-in-Chief
Press vendors say they like their prospects in
2003, despite a global economy that stubbornly refuses to behave.
Manufacturers are lashing their expectations to
hopes that the nascent economic recovery continues to take root — particularly
in the United States.
The Goss Colorliner, with digital inker page
packs,
at Northcliffe Newspapers, United Kingdom.
Photo courtesy of Goss
If evidence of that recovery is strong enough,
that could be enough to entice newspaper publishers to re-open their capital
expenditure spigots — with press manufacturers among the recipients.
Recent signs look encouraging. At last month’s
UBS Warburg Media Week conference in New York, Universal McCann forecast a 5
percent increase in U.S. advertising, to $249.3 billion. E.W. Scripps Co. said
it anticipates a 3 percent to 5 percent jump in newspaper advertising sales next
year — spurred by newspapers in mid-sized markets.
Finally, ZenithOptimedia, a London-based market
research firm, said it expects the two-year worldwide advertising recession to
end with 1 percent real global growth in the next 12 months, with U.S.
advertisers setting the pace.
Awaiting a rebound
The industry’s eagerly awaiting a rebound,
analysts say. Many press vendors are suffering because of the unsettled economic
climate, said German analyst Karl Malik.
“In Europe we don’t expect improving market
shares (in 2003),” he said.
Moreover, observers warn that any economic
regrowth could be quickly flattened in the event of a war in Iraq.
“As long as there aren’t any horrible events
like another terrorist attack or a war in the Middle East” the market should
recover nicely, said another analyst.
“We have a fair degree of optimism” that 2003
will be a good year, said Vince Lapinski, senior vice president of web
operations at MAN Roland Inc. “The economy will determine how potentially busy
it will get, but we’re hearing some good signs that the newspaper business
will come back strong.” In the next 12 months, “We expect the demand for
color (will drive the market),” Lapinski said.
MAN Roland will attempt to woo potential
customers by touting waste reduction and quality enhancement features engineered
into its line of presses, Lapinski said. “Newspaper publishers want to become
more efficient.”
Additionally, the supplier will market its
recently unveiled six- and four-page versions of its CromoMAN press as well as a
24-page configuration of its ColorMAN system.
‘Pent-up’ demand
Koenig & Bauer AG, meanwhile, will showcase
its 6-by-2 and waterless offset press technologies over the next year, said Gary
Owen, vice president of marketing. KBA landed its first order for the Commander
6-by-2 press in October, one year after it was unveiled. Tamedia in Zurich,
Switzerland, will install a press later this year; Espace Media Groupe in Bern,
Switzerland, will deploy a similarly configured Commander in 2004.
A waterless offset Cortina press is now being
tested at German newspaper Reiff Zeitungsdruck in Offenburg. (See Newspapers
& Technology, December 2002.)
Finally, KBA, which scored its biggest North
American sale last year when the Kansas City (Mo.) Star said it would install a
Commander press to anchor its new $199 million production facility, is offering
a new web tensioning and registration system. The Webtronic system, unveiled at
2002’s IfraExpo, uses fuzzy logic to determine the most optimum tensioning to
manage a web, Owen said.
Goss International is counting on “pent-up”
demand among U.S. newspapers for press systems capable of delivering more color,
said David Stamp, the vendor’s director of marketing. That demand, however,
has been muted as newspaper executives wait to see more concrete improvements in
the economy.
In the meantime, Goss will center much of its
marketing on such technologies as digital inking, a capability many vendors are
eyeing. WIFAG, for example, will install two 471 digital presses at the
169,000-subscriber Neue Zurcher Zeitung newspaper in Zurich. (See related story,
page 45). Goss released an upgraded version of its digital inking system at 2002’s
IfraExpo, making it available on its Uniliner, Uniliner “S” 4-by-1 and
Universal 70 presslines.
The system, which can accept up to 1,000
increments of ink control, meshes with digital commands sent from upstream
raster image processors and prepress workflow systems.
Aftermarket products and service are also
expected to be big sellers for Goss, according to Chief Executive Officer Bob
Brown.
“That’s very active at the moment,” he
said, citing digital inking as an upgrade existing customers are asking for.
Integration, single plating
For Heidelberg, 2003 will be the year its 4-by-1
Mainstream press makes its U.S. newspaper debut. The Roanoke (Va.) Times (daily,
100,000; Sunday, 112,000) will bring a Mainstream with six four-high towers on
edition later this year. The press will let the paper eliminate double-plating
and significantly reduce its plate requirements, according to Chip Harris,
production director.
Heidelberg installed the industry’s first
4-by-1 in Denmark in 2000. Since then, five similar presses have been
commissioned worldwide, said Peter Walczak, Heidelberg’s newspaper production
manager.
“Our goal is to have a lot of successful
startups” and prove that 4-by-1 presses perform as well as 4-by-2s and other
configurations, he said. “People want to see it before they believe it.”
TKS is banking on its recently introduced 4-by-1
press to attract new customers as well, said Mike Shafer, national sales
manager. The Color Top 5000 can print up to 70,000 copies per hour and is
powered by permanent magnet motors that purport to use less electricity than
induction style motors, Shafer said. The 5000 features a 50-inch web width and a
newly designed narrow-gap plate lockup for mounting and dismounting of the
one-around plate.
TKS is also making a big push into systems
integration through its T-NPC control system. The system runs on either
Microsoft 2000 or NT operating systems, and is engineered to create a common
management console through which operators can govern a variety of newspaper
systems.
Mid-sized market growth
Single-width press vendors are perhaps even more
sanguine than their double-width compatriots about the forthcoming year. Tensor
Group Inc., Dauphin Graphic Machines and Web Press Corp., for example, all
report solid bookings for the next several months.
“We are upbeat” about 2003, said Tensor
President Don Gustafson. “We have a backlog of orders, and that’s something
we didn’t have last year at this time.”
Smaller newspapers — which buy the bulk of
single-width presses — are seeing the same demand for robust color
reproduction as large newspapers, driving them to upgrade their existing
systems. Gustafson said the lure of color is leading some Tensor customers to
employ heatset to print certain sections within their periodicals, thus giving
advertisers even more brilliant reproduction.
“Newspaper publishers want to supplement their
papers by printing TV guides, auto guides and other [higher quality]
publications,” he said.
Dave Moreland, vice president of sales and
marketing at DGM, said interest in the company’s 45,000-copy-per-hour 440
press line continues to build.
The firm has sold nine 440 presses since the
model made its debut in 2001. A shaftless version of the press, the 440S,
automates make-ready and natively supports CIP3 workflows. DGM is in the process
of installing its first 440S at a newspaper site: Horvitz Newspapers in King
County, Wash., will use a 440S to support its print production capabilities.
Beyond the 440 units, DGM will also concentrate
on marketing the DGM 870, a double-around, four-high tower capable of printing
up to 70,000 copies per hour. The 870 configuration is the foundation of the
Americolor tower, manufactured by DGM but sold, installed and supported by
George R. Hall Contracting.
With the 440S and Americolor models solidly
represented in DGM’s marketing pipeline, Moreland said the company will now
further fine-tune its efforts to “improve quality and customer satisfaction,”
in part by inviting users to lab and training facilities at DGM’s
Elizabethville, Pa., headquarters.
‘Promising’ period
“We’re looking at a promising first quarter,”
said Web Press President Gary Palmer.
At the same time, Palmer said sales prospects
appear to be more inclined to follow through on their intentions to purchase new
press equipment.
“Advertising appears as if it’s slowly
climbing out of the gutter and we’re optimistic,” he said.
More advertising equals more color requirements,
and that plays into the strength of Kent, Wash.-based Web Press, whose
Quad-Stacks and Quadra Color presses are frequently used by newspaper publishers
to boost the color capacity of legacy presses.
Palmer said Web Press doesn’t plan any major
modifications in its current line of presses, folders and roll stands over the
next year. Web Press is, however, preparing to add heatset capabilities to its
presses. “We’ve seen some promising results,” he said.
Newspaper and commercial printers are leaning
toward more heatset in order to be able to meet advertiser demands for documents
with more vivid and crisper color reproduction.
