Newspaper Notes for this Millennium

Established in 1888, Malayala Manorama is one of world’s largest daily newspapers which registers a readership of more than 95 lakhs with a print order exceeding 2.5 million copies a day for 89 editions. Malayala Manorama has 11 printing centres in Kerala, five outside Kerala, three outside India and online editions. 

 

The group’s flagship daily, Malayala Manorama in Malayalam language, is printed, inside and outside the 11 Kerala units as well as the three Gulf units. As P K Philip, the vice president (works) says, “The largest of these is the Kochi edition with more than 3.5 lakh copies. Kollam prints more than 2 lakh copies. The other centres are growing ...”

 

Philip attributes the growth to “the rise in education level and purchasing capacity of all classes of people.” He adds, “the newspapers that are being produced possess better quality”. Case in point is, Malayala Manorama has moved from an 8-pages colour newspaper to a 16-32-pages colour newspaper. Philip adds, “But ultimately, readers are attracted to a paper by the content.” There should be local news and editorial matter must be superb. This is the reason Malayala Manorama is rated as one of the best newspapers in India.

 

Philip has spent three decades at Malayala Manorama. An engineering graduate (1963), his first innings was a stint in an electrical engineering industry. At Malayala Manorama, he started his stint as a production manager. He recalls, “We had four print units in those days.”

 

He talks of the present and says, “On the printing side, we have opted for new presses. From single-width presses, we shifted to double-width presses and it meant more pages and more colour in the same space and with no increase in manpower. We have shifted to double-width presses, both new and second-hand. The refurbished second-hand machines are deployed in two of the printing units and these are as good as the new presses.”

Philip continues, “The second major thing is, we started with eight pages in colour, and maximum pagination of presses was 24-pages. When pagination went up we resorted to pre-printing and manual insertion at the point of delivery by the distributors. That is the way we started. Inserts have seen a dip now as it causes late delivery and distributors are wary of manual insertion in the morning. Then, we went in for pre-printing and use of on-line insertion at the printing plant itself. This takes up more space and increases manpower.”

 

Philip points out, “Malayala Manorama has opted for higher pagination presses. We have standardised on 40 page presses which can print 32 pages in colour”. The higher paginations are in demand during the festival seasons like Onam and Christmas.

 

A glance at the day’s newspaper indicates that it has a width of 350 mm. Philip says, “350 x 546 mm is the  size of the broadsheet daily .” Malayala Manorama prints on 42.5 gsm newsprint. Philip and his production team are wary about see through, web breaks etc. So they are very fussy about the newsprint quality and take trial runs before any brand is accepted.

 

42.5 gsm and 40 gsm are becoming de-facto standards among Indian newspapers. The reasons are obvious, says Philip. A newsprint of lower grammage offers better yield. Newsprint of less than 45 gsm provides additional printable area for the same weight of the reel. At a recent Wan-Ifra seminar, a technical panel said, “Lower gsm means fewer newsprint rolls are required for an equivalent print run, there is less roll preparation to be done, less tapes because of few splices, less white paper waste and fewer shipments and deliveries.” 

 

It also involves less damage, lowered storage and warehousing requirements and potentially fewer web breaks due to splice failures. There can be about 6% saving going from 45gsm to 42.5gsm. Philip agrees, “There are savings in copy distribution, as the weight of copies is reduced. Importantly, there are environmental benefits.” 

 

This is the reason, 60% of newsprint used in India is 42.5gsm.

When I ask, Philip about web breaks, he replies that there are no major production challenges. The team at Malayala Manorama closely monitors the number of web breaks. Philip says, “We monitor the web breaks and report web breaks per thousand reels. The average is about 15 web breaks per thousand reels – and we hope to reduce it further.”

 

How, I ask? Most of these production challenges can be mitigated through modern press control technology and 24/7 operational focus, Philip says. Newsprint reels are carefully handled, web tensions are properly controlled and ink water balance is properly adjusted.

 

Malayala Manorama has a divisional concept. Philip’s division oversees the upkeep of all equipment and planning for new equipment, as well as the day-to-day production, whether it is pre-press, press or post-press. It is total teamwork with 900 personnel spread across the 11 units in Kerala. Each centre has a separate engineer in charge who interacts with the editorial and other divisional teams.

 

Philip says, “The initial press building design and layouts are planned by us and then the civil construction is done under a separate division. It calls for lots of interaction between us, the construction team, architects and actual users.” Philip says, “We normally make a  good plant layout and constitute a project team. The project progress is reviewed  every two to three weeks.” He adds, “The reason almost all the established newspapers own their building with in-house production facility is not only for the newsrooms but also due to the importance of the printing and despatch facility. No newspaper can allow breakdowns. You have to be up and running round the clock.”

 

He feels the processes have become simpler. No more molten lead or manual typewriters or the process of turning hot lead into the individual letters that spelt the articles. Things are much more streamlined, now. It is a digital workflow up to platemaking.

 

Malayala Manorama has a simple thumb-rule. Philip says, “Whenever, we build a new plant, we always keep provision for an additional press. If you hunt for land afterwards, things can become prohibitively costly.” 

 

The other focus area is: environment. Malayala Manorama has installed Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) at all new units. The process has begun at the older units as well. Effluents are treated and the treated water is used for general purposes. There is fire-fighting kit at every new plant which includes sprinklers etc.

 

Philip says, “Along with the ETPs, we initiated treatment plants for water used in the press for printing. We have selected RO plants for the water used for printing. In the Kochi unit, we have an RO plant, which caters to the total requirement of the plant. All plants have to adhere to this norm even if things are expensive. The rules have to be followed.” The fire department in Kerala has stringent norms, they have to agree to the project plan and fire protection scheme.

 

Philip is mulling about a dust collector at one of the units on the folder which is getting extended to cover the slitters on the print units. He says, “We are initiating  plans to have incinerators at all plants to dispose waste.”

 

Then there is a continuous battle on the newsprint wastage front. Philip says, “We have a lot of controls and monitor the waste on a daily basis, the reports are generated and then we collate the stats and act on it. The waste is about 2%.” This means, Malayala Manorama uses 98% of the newsprint. 

 

How does everything work, like clockwork? I ask Philip. He says, “Overall improvement in the printing skill of our operators and new technology like ink pre-set, loop back tension controls and systems like Quadtech/QI to maintain register and cut-off, modern CTPs, video plate punch bender etc make it work”.

 

Sometimes there can be tweaks to the system like reducing the ink limit as per the latest ISO specifications. Another parameter a keen operator keeps an eye for: opacity. For every one gsm newsprint reduction, the opacity reduces by 0.3% to 0.5%. Newsprint manufacturers try to reduce the loss of opacity by using additional fillers. In addition to skills and technology, a good plant has to monitor the quality of all consumables like ink, plates, pressroom chemicals etc.

 

Philip and his team keep a keen eye on maintenance cost and spare parts budget. Philip says, “I have to give a budget for monthly expenditure for every printing unit and get it approved at the beginning of the year. This is monitored in SAP. At the end of every month, we get a report showing the actual expenditure at every unit.

 

In order to improve print quality, Malayala Manorama participates in the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) competition held by Wan-Ifra which is based on the specifications of ISO 12647-3. Philip says, “The standard provides targets for newspapers, who aspire to print consistent high quality newspapers. As a result we are vigilant about dot gain variations in the pre-press and press. Our pre-press is mapped. The settings are common. We test the dot gain measurement, regularly.”

 

Is it worth all this trouble, I ask Philip? Producing millions of newspapers wherein each copy has to reach the right address, maintaining these huge manufacturing plants? 

He pauses and replies, “Malayala Manorama delivers reliable authentic and latest news with emphasis on local news. Even in the digital age, our news is sacrosanct.” 

 

He concludes, “The reading habits of people are intact. There will be a readership for print media, the only question is how much. In Europe, the downward trend seems to have stopped. In India, print media is still going strong, especially in regional languages.”