IFRA

Interview with Anton Hamm, Executive Vice President of manroland Augsburg’s Business Unit Newspaper Production Systems, and Georg Riescher, Executive Vice President of manroland Plauen’s Business Unit Newspaper Production Systems.

WAN-IFRA: What do you think will be the most important topics at this IFRA?

Anton Hamm: Topic number one at IFRA will be cost efficiency: this is a major issue for the industry in general and for most suppliers including manroland. Here we are banking on the One Touch solutions for full automation of newspaper printing.

Georg Riescher: Another topic is bound to be automated Multimedia Publishing. There are meanwhile some outstanding products that offer publishers and advertisers the opportunity to design their advertising campaigns in a manner that meets crossmedia and target group requirements. A good example is AdInvent from ppi Media.

Anton Hamm: Besides technology and workflows, exhibitors are sure to place greater emphasis on their services portfolio. Apart from printnet we will be providing information on our stand about printservices and printcom process-compliant system components, as well as printadvice consultancy services. Our services meet the growing demand customers have for information. This gives us a revenue source in addition to our core business and makes our customer care even more comprehensive.

WAN-IFRA: What will your company be emphasizing this year? Are you to present new products/developments?

Georg Riescher: I can clearly remember last year’s IFRA in Amsterdam where we presented our One Touch vision and our new autoprint models for the first time. There we showed automation solutions for all major steps in the production process. Since then of course we have made progress in development and implementation. Consequently the manroland presentation at IFRA Expo 2009 will focus on further development of the One Touch vision for one-man operation. We shall be reporting on the first successes.

Anton Hamm: The fully-automated APL (Editor’s remark: Automatic Plate Loading) system with the robot technology that has caused quite a sensation is meanwhile being successfully used by several customers. They report significantly reduced makeready times and that they can start printing later in the night. This provides us with feedback directly from printing in practice. APL logistics, the automation system for transporting printing plates to the printing tower, is also operating in the field as well. Besides technology, our PRINTVALUE services portfolio will occupy center stage. The areas of Services, Consumable Materials and Networking are developing rapidly. It is always worthwhile for customers to learn about new developments that can boost their productivity and profitability.

WAN-IFRA: Do you think that the present crisis will bring lasting change to the newspaper landscape and business models? To what extent would this affect your business and how are you reacting to this scenario?

Georg Riescher: The crisis you refer to has many aspects. The severely damaged finance market, the recession, changed media usage behaviour – these are all factors. In my opinion the future for print products looks positive if they are capable of dealing with changes and the public accepts these changes. After all, what do publishers want? The answer is simple: success. Publishers want to earn money. Defend their territory. Generate additional business. Inform target groups topically and reliably and thus hold readers. Change is necessary for this. Daily newspapers and magazines need a makeover, to supplement their business models with electronic media, and compete when they have to. The change demands competitiveness and this is good for the printing industry: it is a very innovative industry which can meet the challenges that lie ahead. Also manroland’s technological developments are aligned with market requirements. Our developments are aimed at achieving efficiency, top quality and short production times. The crisis is driving the printing industry’s creativity, it demands and also encourages a new pioneering spirit, but at the same time is sure to lead to consolidation in the marketplace.

WAN-IFRA: How can the market position of the printed newspaper be strengthened against electronic media?

Anton Hamm: The printing industry is undergoing rapid structural changes. It has to reposition itself within a multimedia market. However, despite what is often said and written, the Internet and other new media forms are not our enemy. Many people simplify the problem and engage in polemics as though the Internet solely competes with print media. I don’t see it that way. In my opinion both media forms can be complementary. They can serve the same public and one does not necessarily weaken the other. Information has always been distributed over different channels each with its specific characteristics. Therefore publishing companies have to consider and use both communication channels in their business model, customers expect this. Where necessary the media forms must be renewed. This applies to print, the Internet and other media. Those of us in the printing industry have to seek and find new ideas and offer attractive products and applications..

WAN-IFRA: How significant is ecology for you as a manufacturer and what importance is placed on it by newspaper printing companies at present relative to cost reduction and increasing quality and efficiency?

Georg Riescher: The environmental awareness of customers and manufacturers will be even more pronounced in future. Ecological factors are already now taken into account in press manufacturing and print production. We call this CMYK+GREEN and environment protection is firmly anchored in our corporate guidelines.

Anton Hamm: CMYK+Green is our response to widespread demands for affordable print products with a good ecological balance sheet. For us this starts with press manufacturing at our Augsburg and Plauen locations which are certified in accordance with the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard. The technology we offer is continually developed as regards resource conservation and reduction of paper waste and emissions, as well as energy efficiency. To put it in a few words, our products stand for “Economy through Ecology”.

Georg Riescher: There are many practical examples. They can be our printadvice consultancy services for planning buildings or technology for heat recovery or reduced energy consumption. XXL press models such as used by Pressedruck Augsburg reduce specific energy consumption per printed copy. This customer claims that energy consumption is over 25 percent lower than that of the older 4-2 presses. Features such as Quickstart help to minimize start-up waste. This enables the Kieler Nachrichten to produce newspapers with start-up waste of only 75 copies. Besides these manroland contributions to environment protection, working with other associations such as PrintCity for environment-friendly production, or the climate protection initiative of the bvdm (Editor’s Note: German Printing and Media Industries Federation) is also important. This shows that all of us are conscious of the fact that, besides CMYK, ecological responsibility belongs on every print product.