In September, Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho named Nobuyuki Nakajima president and chief executive officer of its TKS (USA) operations. Nakajima, a sales and management executive with TKS in Japan, takes over a key outpost for the vendor. But the continuing economic downturn plaguing U.S. newspapers makes the market a challenging one indeed. Recently, Nakajima, who joined TKS 20 years ago, spoke to Newspapers & Technology about his plans for TKS (USA).

Nakajima

On his top priorities at TKS (USA) and whether he will split time between the U.S. office in suburban Dallas and Japan:

Nakajima: I will be based in Dallas on a full-time basis. I have a lot of previous experience with North American newspapers. In the past I would come over to the U.S. office several times a year for a period of three months to assist the U.S. staff and visit various customers. My future priorities are to secure new business opportunities, continue our strong tradition of superior customer service, and, as always, sell new presses. I will periodically go back to Japan and report to top management the progress and future vision for the U.S. operation.

On his management philosophy and how that will be integrated with TKS (USA)’s business strategy.

Nakajima: I never want to hear that the big ocean between our countries is a hindrance for communication. It is a fact of life today that most major companies are international and have to be in order to survive. TKS (USA) has been quite successful in the North American market over the years. We have a great customer base and a long tradition of helping our customers. Part of my job will be to continue relationships with our current customers, while expanding our technology and product to future customers.

On concerns that the antidumping legal battle with Goss has caused TKS to lose momentum in the U.S. market and steps he intends to take to assure newspapers that TKS is in the U.S. market for the long term:

Nakajima: TKS has always strived to do business in the United States lawfully and to observe all U.S. laws, including the antidumping laws. We believe the statements made against TKS in connection with the antidumping litigation have definitely harmed our business in the United States. Notwithstanding, TKS intends to invest whatever resources are required to demonstrate its commitment to this market. As time goes on, prospective customers will continue to see the high quality product produced by our new press installations.

On what he believes is TKS’ strength and plans to exploit that strength:

Nakajima: There are three fundamental qualities that TKS considers in every product we make: high speed, stability and durability. All three must be accomplished. You cannot have two out of the three. You can see this design philosophy in our older presses as well as the new presses now coming on line. We also have a favorite saying, “Seeing is believing.” That litmus test is key to selling new TKS equipment.

On the areas in which TKS will focus most of its research and development for the next 12 to 18 months:

Nakajima: Like we normally do, we listen to the customer. Being an international company, we have to consider all the world’s markets. We have brought to market in the last few years new press formats like our 4-by-1, 6-by-2, hybrid and now a 3-by-2 press. We also have some very important new press startups under way. Newspaper Agency Corp. in Salt Lake City has been running for over one year now on our ColorTop 5000 4-by-1 press. This project was our first 4-by-1 press in the world. Fort Wayne (Ind.) Newspapers is now printing on their new ColorTop 7000 4-by-2 press, the first ColorTop 7000 press in North America, and the Frederick (Md.) News-Post is currently installing its 3-by-2 Color Top 4000 press, and that is the first press of that kind in North America.

TKS also will be adding six new shaftless ColorTop 7000 towers to the existing TKS presses at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for start-up later next year. All of these installations give us a complete product line. Earlier this year in Japan, we recently introduced the ColorTop Century press, which is rated at 100,000 copies per hour. We will be offering this press in North America as well.

On what changes, if any, that will be made to TKS’ U.S. marketing and operations:

Nakajima: The North American market is very important to TKS. Compared to the rest of the world, North America newspapers buy 40 percent of all newspaper presses, compared to 60 percent for all the other countries combined. We are always looking for ways to expand. In fact, I am very happy to say that we are introducing our BTC gripper conveyor to The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. This same gripper has had been installed at many newspapers in Japan and Korea and we now want to introduce it here in North America.

On the biggest obstacle TKS faces in its North American marketing efforts, particularly in light of the economic challenges facing many U.S. newspapers.

Nakajima: The printed newspaper is not going away. I am confident newspaper companies will soon realize they need to update their production operations to better compete with other media. An important part of that upgrading will be how to justify spending. That is why we have to listen to what the customers are saying so we can offer a solution that meets both their economic and production needs.

On his perception of the newspaper industry overall and how his experience selling presses worldwide will translate into selling presses in North America.

Nakajima: This business has always been cyclical. We all have seen the ups and downs. This time, however, it seems to be a little more complex. Not only is it about print versus online, but the survival of this great industry [is also at stake].

Newspapers have a very long tradition of delivering news and information. I think once the online-versus-print debate settles down, newspaper companies will see opportunities for upgrading or replacing their existing equipment. I was previously very involved with selling presses in Europe. I noticed a trend over there of free newspapers. Even though paid circulation was dropping newsprint usage is up because of the increase of free newspapers. This concept is not new in North America, but seems to be tied to the alternative type products. Once [the concept of free newspapers occurs] on a large scale, I think we will see a resurgence of younger people wanting their local newspapers.

On new products and services TKS plans to introduce:

Nakajima: TKS has always had a complete product line —  from roll storage all the way to postpress. Where we can, we see an advantage to bringing that technology to North America. We think most newspaper companies prefer the more complete total systems concept as long as the various pieces of the production system are top line. For example, for about two years The Columbus Dispatch has been running an automatic roll stripping station. We call this our HSP/WSP machine. It automatically takes both the head and wrapper off the newsprint roll. In Fort Wayne, on our ColorTop 7000 press, we also have our spraybar system. The BTC gripper conveyor we just sold to The Dispatch is another example. This conveyor will be running later next year, before the start of the college football season.