IFRA

Anna-Karin Jönsson is Marketing Manager at Schur Packaging Systems.

WAN-IFRA: In your opinion, what will be the main topics of this year’s IFRA Expo?

ANNA-KARIN JÖNSSON: Reduction of cost in all levels and increase utilization of capacity of installed equipment. Due to the economic crisis and the challenge from electronic media the printed media is not as profitable as it used to be. Cost must be reduced and new business models must be developed to find new ways to generate income. At Schur we are focusing on providing our customers with cost-effective systems regarding manning, maintenance and productivity. In addition we are providing tools for increasing revenue like high-speed inserters and collators.

WAN-IFRA: With the acquisition of Idab Wamac end of last year, Schur Packaging Systems has broadened its range of products for the newspaper industry. What new products do you offer now and what will you exhibit in Vienna?

A.-K. JÖNSSON: Schur Packaging Systems has a complete product range for mailroom systems, palletizing and direct mail handling (distribution). By picking the best out of two product portfolios, we are able to provide cost-effective solutions to our customers regardless of size and print run. At IFRA Expo we will present for the first time our high speed inserter A1455 which will be delivered next year to Druckzentrum Rhein Main (editors remark: in Rüsselsheim, Germany). Furthermore we will exhibit our new box loading system for automatic loading of foldable large containers (FLC). The box loader is installed after a wrapping line and the copies or bundles are automatically stacked and placed into the FLC and further distributed to the dispatch area.
We will also show a small collator – a way to increase income with co-mailing and co-distribution.

WAN-IFRA: Could you please give us some information on your inserters for newspapers in general and your high-speed inserter in particular?

A.-K. JÖNSSON: We have three models of inserters A1455, A855 and A655 meeting different needs in the market. The high speed inserter A1455 has replaced the Schur Newstar and Idab Wamac PST 400 in the product line. The inserter A1455 consists of the collating part of the Newsstar and the high speed inserting part of the PST 400 where the main product/jacket is held in the same gripper through the complete inserting process. A1455, the best technical solutions from two products combined in one resulting in a high performance inserting system which can be equipped with up to 40 hoppers. The inserter A1455 can run production with zoning down to the individual copy – the personalized copy.
The supplements can be fed manually or automatically from discs/reels.

WAN-IFRA: Do you think the actual crisis will have an enduring impact on the newspaper landscape and the business models? How will this influence your business and how will you react?

A.-K. JÖNSSON: We see a lot of consolidation within the industry both among printing and publishing companies and suppliers. There will be fewer but bigger media houses in the future and we see the same trend within the size of the printing plant.

We also see the polarization within the printing plants. There are newspaper printing plants which produce bulk – no inserting – just straight to the distribution trucks or to palletisers and the opposite – printing plants with all necessary equipment for making all kind of printed matter.

We are developing our product line continuously to be able to meet the demands from all our customers and by concentrating manufacturing under one roof in Eksjö Sweden we are able to offer cost-effective systems and solutions to the industry.

WAN-IFRA: What role does ecology / green production play for you as a manufacturer and what position does this topic have at the moment within the newspaper printing companies – compared to topics like cost reduction, quality enhancement and efficiency improvement?

A.-K. JÖNSSON: Ecology/green production and sustainability are of course important topics. In the printing plant, the mailroom equipment we supply has little impact in this area so cost reduction and efficiency improvements are more important. In our supply chain we are working on reducing electrical power consumption, using recyclable material etc. as part of our environmental work for a sustainable society.