The newspaper industry’s economic challenges notwithstanding, press vendors say they believe they’ll have a profitable 2008 by focusing on products and services that help newspapers become more valuable to their readers and customers.

Case in point: web-width reductions and consulting services that focus on such ancillary businesses as commercial printing and creating new marketing opportunities for specialty advertisers.

 

“Our big focus now is on service — developing a menu of service components that we can bring to the marketplace to help our customers print better, faster and more cost effectively,” said Ron Sams, vice president of newspaper sales at MAN Roland Inc., describing the supplier’s strategy.

Vendors that specialize on singlewide presses, meantime, report that interest in the smaller machines remains strong, citing the press’ flexibility, faster makeready and ease-of-use.

“Moving to machinery that allows for faster plate changes, thus reducing the costs of salaries for the time it takes to perform these operations, is becoming a focus” for newspapers, said Mark Ricca, president of Web Press Corp.

According to Dave Moreland, vice president of sales at Manugraph DGM Inc., newspapers want presses with more commercial capabilities, including the ability to produce coated stocks printed with UV.

Newspapers & Technology polled a selection of the industry’s leading press vendors to get their perceptions about the challenges and opportunities the next 12 months will bring. Their comments (in alphabetical order):

Goss International Corp. Bob Brown Chief Executive Officer

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

From the finished products to the production technology and business models and distribution systems, the dividing lines between newspaper production and commercial web production are vanishing. Both sides are competing for the same advertising revenue and both sides are focused on the same ingredients for delivering value: timeliness, targeting, impact and cost. Expanded press utilization will continue, whether it’s traditional newspaper operations taking on more semi-commercial work or commercial printers taking on more newspaper work. This will make the versatility of press systems more important. Press capabilities, such as heatset printing, digital inking and automation features will improve the visual impact and the economics of the printed product.

Newspapers will continue to take an increasingly sophisticated approach to targeted packaging and distribution, using more advanced technology to make their products more valuable as a medium for advertising inserts.

For practical and print quality benefits, there is growing interest in compact towers for new doublewidth installations.  Our FPS press is a good example. The first FPS press went into an existing building, which reduced building costs and the installation cycle considerably.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

As an industry, we should acknowledge the value of the printed product as a revenue source and as an essential part of efficient, effective content delivery. Valuing new electronic opportunities does not require devaluing print opportunities and we should stop shooting ourselves in the foot by doing so in the eyes of advertisers, consumers and investors.

Our view as a supplier is obviously biased, but I think the evidence is clear. Publishers that continuously invest in the best technology and support that technology with the best ideas and the best people will succeed.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

The connection between the press technology, the overall production system and the business strategy is key. Publishers have more options than ever before and it is more imperative than ever to work with a supplier to match the technology with the specific requirements and with their vision of where they want to be in the future.

Innovation is not synonymous with new presses only. Publishers sometimes overlook opportunities to improve or extend the competitive lifespan of existing systems. A professional press audit by the manufacturer is an excellent way to benchmark current press performance and map out enhancements with strong ROI potential.

As more U.S. newspapers begin to reduce their web widths to 46 inches and below, what impact will this trend have on Goss?

Paper width reductions began as a simple way to save paper. Now they are part of an accelerating trend toward more diverse and effective product formats. An increasing number of newspapers will turn to unique sizes, heatset content, various inserts and advanced packaging and distribution capabilities, not only to gain efficiency, but also to differentiate their products and appeal to readers and advertisers. Goss is in a strong position to support these efforts. We have always placed a heavy emphasis on press enhancements and have structured our business to ensure the most flexible and rapid response to changing needs in the field. We maintain the broadest range of press, packaging and auxiliary platforms in the industry, from which we can customize the most appropriate solutions.

What are Goss’ plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

Goss has done everything it said it was going to do in recent years and a lot of things industry experts said it could not do. We have grown our business volume and improved our profitability each year since 2002, integrated the Heidelberg web organization and strengthened a global manufacturing and support network. We have also introduced innovative new technologies and executed ambitious projects across the spectrum of customer requirements. Our focus will remain on innovation and execution to make print more valuable and our customers more successful.

How does the strong euro affect Goss’ marketing plans?

We’re a truly global company, with press manufacturing capacity in North America, Europe and Asia. This puts us in a strong position to deliver innovation and value to publishers worldwide, taking into account temporary and long-term currency fluctuations.

 

Koenig & Bauer AG Christoph Müller Executive Vice President of Web Sales

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

Worldwide we see a trend toward more compact newspaper formats like the Berliner. Particularly in Europe and the Middle East there is also an emerging demand for more flexible presses capable of printing high-quality semi-commercials alongside newspapers, with or without heatset (and in retrofit cases potentially also UV) dryers. The aim is to improve press utilization and to enhance newspapers’ visual impact through drying, stitching or other features.

In the United States, rising paper prices are driving a shift toward narrower formats and thus the conversion of existing press lines (to reduce web width) and a demand for narrower new presses.

Since web widths in North America are changing to 44 inches for a doublewide newspaper press with a cutoff of around 21 inches, KBA sees a trend toward a two-press scenario (44 inches for 4-by-2 presses and 66 inches for 6-by-2 presses). Such scenarios demand a high level of automation, variable web widths and folder modules for semi-commercials.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

For their core products, newspapers, computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and a high level of automation for materials handling systems are needed to streamline the roll room and mailroom.

For newspaper publishers who are seeking to dramatically enhance their productivity, flexibility and cost efficiency by reducing staff, waste and investment in new buildings, we offer alongside our proven single-, double- and triplewide conventional presses two compact presses: the waterless offset KBA Cortina and wet offset KBA Commander CT.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

Some overlook the use of special features or add-ons to existing equipment such as dryers (hot-air or UV), register controls and color-proofing enhancements. They often do not realize that, even allowing for the initial capital cost, a new pressline may be much more productive and cost-effective than one that has been running for 20 or 25 years. Older presses normally have a lower output, limited color capacity and poor print quality, are labor-intensive and generate more waste and service costs. For this reason investment cycles in Europe are generally much shorter. But as a press manufacturer we can only draw on our international expertise and provide some sound advice: We have little impact on the regional differences in business philosophies. In the end, operational issues are the responsibility of the printer or publisher, and vendor input is somewhat limited.

What are KBA’s plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

KBA must adapt to changing market conditions on an ongoing basis. Recently we sold our rotogravure division, which had been highly successful for many years and boasted the broadest and most powerful publication gravure presses on the global market, to our competitor Cerutti. The trend toward consolidation in the gravure market, the impact of the Internet on the circulations and pagination of catalogs and magazines, and competition from faster and ever wider commercial presses have reduced market volume, and it is now no longer big enough for two vendors. Cerutti has the advantage in that it also builds a large volume of packaging gravure presses and can therefore adjust its engineering and manufacturing capacities by switching between publication and packaging gravure, according to demand. We had no packaging gravure operations and will now concentrate on building all of the folders for Cerutti gravure presses, since this is a field in which we have extensive know-how.

Demand in the newspaper sector has softened since 2006, primarily in the United States but also to a lesser extent in Europe, following heavy investment in previous years. At the same time the demand for less highly automated newspaper presses has been growing in densely populated countries like China and India. Such fluctuations and shifts are not uncommon in the capital goods market and we must adjust our capacities, products and production locations accordingly.

In recent years we have expanded through acquisition in sectors that are less volatile. Some examples are security printing, metal decorating, industrial inkjet systems, plastic printing and packaging printing. Another option we are considering is to build up manufacturing capacities in China or India in the near future.

How does the strong euro affect KBA’s marketing plans?

The 40 percent gain in the value of the euro against the dollar in recent years has inevitably had a detrimental impact on our competitiveness compared to Japanese, U.S. and other rivals in dollar-denominated markets, which for our purposes include China and much of Asia and South America.

Since customers in these markets are naturally unwilling to bear the expense of currency-related price increases, if this trend continues we shall have no choice but to forego certain contracts, accept narrower profit margins or build up our own production capacities in the markets concerned. From our point of view, a stronger dollar would be better. In this respect we are in a similar situation to American tourists in Europe.

 

MAN Roland Inc. Vince Lapinski Chief Executive Officer Ron Sams Vice President of Newspaper Sales

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

We see seven major trends:

•Narrower web widths - Newspapers are trimming their formats down to 46 inches and 44 inches. Format sizes are getting smaller and smaller as newspapers look to provide an easier-to-handle product for their readers and an easier-to-budget product for their stakeholders. More streamlined formats make newspapers more accessible.

•Redesigned pages - Newspapers are being redesigned to be more reader friendly. In many cases, they’re using the graphic innovations developed for Web pages to deliver a more organized and quicker read.

•Variable web widths -  Presses that are more flexible equip newspapers to make better use of print’s versatility. Foldouts, special sections, stitched publications, pop-ups and other formatting effects make newspapers more interesting and more compelling. That makes them more attractive to both readers and advertisers and provides unique physical interfaces that you can’t achieve on a Web site.

•Commercial opportunities - Newspapers are increasingly equipping  their facilities with presses that can produce commercial quality results. That gives them the opportunity to win outside business, make use of otherwise idle press time and tap into an entirely new revenue stream.

•Demographic focus - There’s a movement to publish editorial products that focus specifically on desirable demographic groups. So we’re seeing special women’s supplements that accompany the day’s news, automotive and gadget buffs are being addressed and foodies might have their own special publication to enjoy each week. This demographic partitioning makes newspapers more attractive to advertisers who are looking to cost effectively reach specific niches.

•Consolidation - We’re seeing unprecedented levels of production consolidation in the industry. Publishing companies are creating clusters of newspapers in discrete geographic areas and serving their printing and distribution needs from a single, modern production plant to achieve significant economies of scale. In some cities, competitors are working together to consolidate key operations to be more cost efficient. For example, the Chicago Tribune now distributes the Chicago Sun-Times. That’s something you wouldn’t have thought possible just a few years ago.

•Outsourcing - A lot of newspapers are looking to third parties to outsource all of their production or a portion of it. That could involve out-sourcing a function like prepress or partnering with a competitor for all or some production and distribution needs or assigning a printer to be totally responsible for printing and distribution. That last scenario is what the San Francisco Chronicle is doing in its agreement with Transcontinental. The printer is purposely building a facility and equipping it with MAN Roland presses to do all print production and distribution tasks for the paper. We see this as a growing trend.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

Newspapers should be and are increasing the quality capabilities of their production facilities. Some are ordering presses with heatset capabilities. Transcontinental, for instance, can bring heatset to its newest facility on the West Coast.

UV printing is another quality enhancement. It can be a cost-effective way newspapers can improve their appearance to attract more readers and advertisers and gear up for higher quality commercial work.

In general, newspaper production managers are looking at the combination of consumables they use — ink, paper, blankets — and working to select the best combination that is most compatible with their printing presses. That too can result in higher quality printing and all the advantages it brings. MAN Roland has created printcom to help our customers select and acquire the supplies and components that most effectively enhance the performance of their equipment. It all comes down to optimizing consumables and ensuring that they work well together.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

Many papers are overlooking the positive impact of optimizing their workflows to maximize the printing process. To do that requires skilled, motivated staff. Many times that’s overlooked when a newspaper becomes fixated on cost control and cost reduction. They forget to factor in the value of employee experience, know-how and motivation. Those are resources that can have a positive impact on the bottom line when it comes to getting the most from the printing process in terms of higher quality, less waste and more effective use of time.

As more U.S. newspapers begin to reduce their web widths to 46 inches and below, what impact will this trend have on your operation?

This trend in web-width reduction is a service-based opportunity for MAN Roland, since we’re qualified to reduce web widths on the presses we have installed in North America. We have significantly grown our market share here in recent years, so there are a significant number of presses that we’re called on to modify. It’s a benefit across the board. Our service department keeps busy. Our customers save on newsprint costs. And their readers get an easier-to-handle newspaper.

What are MAN Roland’s plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

Our big focus now is on service — developing a menu of service components that we can bring to the marketplace to help our customers print better, faster and more cost effectively. We launched printservices to do more than provide rapid response to emergency repair situations and perform maintenance. That division’s process optimization program benchmarks every aspect of a plant’s workflow and offers specific solutions on increasing performance across-the-board.

And we’ve introduced our printcom program to ensure the components and supplies our customers are using are fully compatible with their MAN Roland presses. Technicians at printcom test every item we offer to certify its compatibility with our presses and with other printcom products. The result is a system of success that our newspaper customers can rely on.

We’re using the latest digital technology to power both printcom and printservices.

And our printservices’ customers can get maintenance and repair specifics over the Internet thanks to our remote diagnosis system. It takes the time and expense out of service calls by empowering the newspaper’s crew to affect repairs that they otherwise couldn’t tackle.

How does the strong euro affect MAN Roland’s marketing plans?

Three of the five major press manufacturers are based in Europe. So the exchange rate issue is essentially an industrywide one. But even against domestic manufacturers, MAN Roland can differentiate itself with value-added engineering. The innovations we build into our presses increase the ROI customers can achieve because the features help newspapers print more productively. Performance is really what matters when a newspaper invests in a press.


 

Manugraph DGM Inc. Dave Moreland Vice President of Sales

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

We see several trends emerging; one, more newspapers are considering opportunities to have their core products printed commercially. They are looking for alternatives to upgrade the quality and appearance of their product without having to invest in new equipment. This trend has enabled commercial printers to add more capacity in state-of-the-art machines. Second, newspapers are trying to group production and print several papers each night on the same presses. They see the need for higher quality, more creative product formats, coated stock and UV capability, as well as the flexibility to print a large variety of commercial work.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

By adding presses with more commercial capabilities, like the three ink form and three oscillator DGM 440 design. This new technology provides higher quality printing and the ability to upgrade to coated stocks printed with UV. The press can also be equipped with full automation and presetting capabilities for high throughput, low waste and reduced staffing.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

The importance of ease of use, consistency in equipment performance and aftermarket service and training.

As more U.S. newspapers begin to reduce their web widths to 46 inches and below, what impact will this trend have on your operation?

It will likely continue to increase our sales as the value of flexible singlewidth press solutions is brought more to the forefront. The lines between singlewidth and doublewidth are coming closer and closer together. Printers will still need to maintain the ability to print tabloids, signatures and a large variety of formats that are best suited for singlewidth machines.

What are MDGM’s plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

We plan to introduce technology that allows printers to maintain a competitive edge in the printing industry. This will include presses that print higher quality, print on coated stocks, offer faster makeready and produce greater throughput — at a price point that  maintains MDGM as the highest-value press manufacturer in the industry.

How does the strong euro affect MDGM’s marketing plans?

The main impact will be increased sales into Europe.

Printing Press Services International Stephen McManamon Managing Director

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

More color, automation and presses with newspaper and commercial printing capabilities.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

Through the addition of commercial and newspaper hybrid towers.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

Training and operational efficiency.

What are PPSI’s plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

We are continually developing new products. For example, we introduced a control system and we’ll continue to offer new products to meet the changing newspaper market.

How does the strong British pound affect PPSI’s marketing plans?

We are affected by the strong pound and euro, but with operations in both North America and Europe, It is not having a major detrimental effect. We use U.S. dollars to run our American operation and pounds for our British operation.


 

Tensor Group Inc. Don Gustafson President

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

Continued emphasis on reducing operations costs and finding new sources of sales revenue. This is obviously not a new trend but as revenue and circulations decline we are seeing a much broader push from the largest daily newspapers all the way across to the smaller, regional/local newspaper publisher. All publishers now clearly recognize that changes are required in the basic business model of publishing a daily newspaper and most are implementing strategies to address this issue.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

Hybrid operations continue to be a strong opportunity for driving new sources of printing revenue. Additionally, more money is being allocated toward quality improvement and waste reduction.

As more  U.S. newspapers begin to reduce their web widths to 46 inches and below, what impact will this trend have on your operation?

Reducing presses to accommodate narrower webs reduces the gap between doublewide and singlewide presses and thus allows customers to evaluate singlewide machines in a much different light. We have been building 40-inch-wide machines for years and we are currently evaluating this segment of the market.

How does the strong euro affect Tensor’s marketing plans?

It continues to be a benefit for all  U.S. manufacturing operations and we have always been a company with strong export sales.


 

TKS (USA) Nobuyuki Nakajima President and Chief Executive Officer

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

Newspapers are taking a number of steps to better manage their operations. We see that many newspapers now want to upgrade their existing presses so they can get longer life out of their existing equipment. That’s something The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is doing, for example, adding TKS color towers to its existing pressline to enable it to print more color. They are also consolidating printing to a central location. Others are interested in buying new presses in order to change their formats. For example, TKS has sold two 18.5-inch cutoff (Berliner) presses and we’ll be installing them next year. Another trend is getting more pages out of traditional formats — getting 3 pages out of a traditional two-page-wide press, for example. Newspapers are also beginning to print more non-core products, using heatset presses or machines with UV ink. Finally, papers are decreasing their page sizes in order to save consumables costs.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

There are a number of options. They can buy new equipment or upgrade their existing systems. It doesn’t  necessarily mean that a paper has to add new units or a folder. It can also mean the addition of auxiliary equipment such as computer-to-plate or a cutoff or color registration system. If it is a new press, a newspaper can evaluate a variety of options governing cutoff, web width, press formats (i.e. 6-by-2, 4-by-2), automation and other factors that can be used to produce a wide range of products. If it’s an existing press, a newspaper can add more color or review what steps are necessary to extend the life of the machine. Another option is to install a semi-commercial press to print inserts and other materials that might have been formerly produced by an outside contractor.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

Staffing is becoming a more crucial issue, particularly as newspapers reduce workers. The bottom line: With staff reductions, can the total operation still be maintained and serviced as before? Another issue is how newspapers exploit the extra press capacity created by circulation declines. Newspapers also have to study whether they should pursue commercial printing and evaluate whether they have the proper equipment necessary (color, etc.) to compete for that business.

As more U.S. newspapers begin to reduce their web widths to 46 inches and below, what impact will this trend have on your operation?

We intend to work with our existing customers to provide them the information they need to consider when reducing their web widths, including covering the options of having a press with variable web-width capability.

What are TKS’ plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

We’re always taking the steps necessary to grow our business, including examining new opportunities for revenue, tapping new markets and introducing new products.

How does the strong yen affect TKS’ marketing plans?

While the U.S. dollar’s economic value against the yen hasn’t fallen as far as its value against the euro, it has had some effect.

Web Press Corp. Mark Ricca President

What trends do you see emerging for newspaper operations?

As paper and ink prices rise, ROI focus will move to bringing a faster saleable product. Moving to machinery that allows for faster plate changes, thus reducing the costs of salaries for the time it takes to perform these operations, is also becoming a focus.

How do you think newspaper printers can enhance their printing capabilities?

Adding UV to an existing or new web offset system provides the ability for facilities to expand their offerings to coated-stock inserts and magazines. Changing out a folder for one with double-digest capabilities changes the range of sizes available for the final printed product. Some pressrooms are also adding sheeters to increase their product offerings.

What are the one or two areas newspaper printers are most likely to overlook in their press operations?

Because newspaper printers are in such a competitive market, there is not one area of the printing process that an operations manager has not evaluated to get the best price point available.

What are Web Press’ plans for growth in a challenging economic climate?

We will continue research and development aimed at allowing customers to get the best return on their investment. We already have customers that have been able to reduce their startup waste to the low hundreds and below. Our technology also allows plate changes to take place in minutes, thus reducing the company’s salary load. Our 4-year warranty is unmatched in the industry. This is an important and huge factor that needs to be considered when looking at the purchase of new equipment. We have made myriad improvements to the Quad-Stack since its introduction to the market nine years ago that enable us to offer this length in warranty.

We’re also taking other steps to bolster the Quad-Stack, such as equipping the press with UV curing and offering a variety of finishing options. Plants that were previously newsprint only can no offer not only broadsheet production, but magazines (newsprint and coated stock), catalogs, glossy inserts, books and even posters, flyers, or coupons. 

How does the strong euro affect Web Press’ marketing plans?

We are already seeing the benefits of the stronger euro and the increased buying power this enables for European prospects. We have had several very large international orders consummate in the last few months.