Wan-Ifra 2013: 51 images from the biggest newspaper event in India
The Wan-Ifra exhibition and two day Publish Asia conference had 550 registered delegates. Beneath the negative sentiment, the news from the show was the attempt by manufacturers, vendors and indeed publishers to push the boundaries; and to look at newer possibilities; where optimal is the norm.
Wan-Ifra was the jolt of optimism, and a chance to focus, which the Indian newspaper industry required.
Photographs and Words: Rahul Kumar and Ramu Ramanathan
19 Sep 2013 | By PrintWeek India
Wan-Ifra 2013: 51 images from the biggest newspaper event in India
Wan-Ifra President, Tomas Brunegard lighting the lamp at the inauguration of Publish Asia 2013
More than 550 delegates attended the Publish Asia conference
Janaka Rathnakumara, assistant general manager at Wijeya Newspapers, Sri Lanka, spoke about various technologies and management systems to reduce the harm to the environment
K Muralidharan, chief manager, engineering, Times of India; creating an entrepreneurial culture of innovation and empowerment - and achieving sustainable technology
Omar A Ali, production editor, Gulf News, Dubai shared his experiences on the shift of editorial system from print version to an online version of news and media
Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, Integrated Brand-Comm India demonstrated how advertisers are moving to other medium because of fewer innovations
Spotted: Sanat Hazra, director-technical production, The Times of India at Publish Asia 2013
Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, president, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Phillippines said the print media is an excellent catalyst in changing the news-frame
Saranga Wijeyaratne, director marketing, Sri Lanka showed how a few-year-old newspaper became the top ranking publication through innovation
Sven Paysen, CEO, Rotapress Saarburg, Germany clarified a predominant myth and said that retrofit means overhauling the entire machine not just replacement of old parts
The TRIZ methodology and its application in newspaper production environment was discussed by Nandkumar Mishra, an India-based consultant
Torsten Kruse, head product and technology, Axel Springer, Germany shared his experiences with hybrid printing (inkjet heads on offset printing press) through printed samples
V Narayanan, general manager, Dinamalar explained how a mid-sized newspaper production house addressed heatset printing demands through UV applications with lower investment
Wan-Ifra felicitated key sponsors
Discussions at the conference spilled outdoors during the tea break
Delegates at the closing session of Publish Asia 2013
Integrated news, modular system and browser focused module system, and three editorial systems were presented by Andreas Holpert, managing editor, Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg
Flexible design and local branding are two ways for innovation said Manfred Werfel, deputy CEO, Wan-Ifra, Germany. He also said this encourages local advertising
George Donaldson, Group Continuous Improvement Manager, News International, United Kingdom, said regular improvement is a must and companies should not expect one night wonders
George Jacob, executive director, Malayala Manorama, India shared his hands-on experience of installating a second-hand printing press and talked about miscalculation of man-hours
Indrajit Sen, deputy chief manager, production, The Times of India shared his experiences about the implementation of Six Sigma Green Belt initiatives
Ajay Vaishnavi, director-telecom, Times Internet, spoke a lot about the Alive app, world’s first augmented reality browser, and about the opportunities in the world’s third largest smartphone market - India
Dinesh Sharma, chief general manager production and IT, DB Corp shared his experiences on how to save money by adopting technical steps like 533mm cut-off printing press
DD Purkayastha, MD and CEO, ABP. Within 10 months of its launch, around three lakh copies of Ebela were sold, daily; of which 56% were new readers
Alexis Lozano, director general, Artes Graficas Del Atlantico, Spain echoed the sentiments for green intiatives, the costs involved and its benefits
Delegates at the Publish Asia 2013
(l-r)- DD Purkayastha, MD and CEO, ABP; Wan-Ifra president, Tomas Brunegård; and Erik Bjerager, president of the World Editors Forum inaugrating Wan-Ifra India Expo 2013
At the Manugraph stall the news was the order by Seculo Printers in South African for a new Cityline Express. The Group was looking for a press that was compatible to its Goss and Hiline coldset machines
TPH has bagged new orders and successfully commissioned printing presses in India and overseas
KK Printing Press: The Ronald brand of web offset presses, has multiple orders in Japan (16-page, broadsheet) and Turkey (64-page, with 50% colour)
SL Kulkarni spoke about the Magnum Compact press from Goss which is ideal for single-width newspaper production and for a short-run, multi-product business model
D K Mathur of J Mahabeer & Company: bullish about the future
S Vijay of Shakti Udyog with Dial A Vend - the Tamil newspaper Dinamalar has 25 of these machines at real sites in Tamil Nadu
The TechNova stall was a tale of two plates: MetiJet and GreenJet. The Taloja-based firm has been eyeing the newspaper segment with its iCTP system
Mathrubhumi, Malyala Manorama, Deccan Chronicle, Dinakaran, Daily Thanthi, Desh Abhimaani, Sakal and Hitwada deploy GMG's Color Server
Kawal Arora of Ferag spoke about the how Anand Bazaar Publishers (ABP) have installed a range of Ferag mailroom systems at their Kolkata print plant; and likewise Mathrubhumi at 10 print locations units across Kerala
Roy Alex of Newstech: Creating mailroom systems for India; plus content with the 26 inserting lines at Malayala Manorama. This order was "the world’s biggest inserter order ever with Schur Packaging Systems".
The Fuji team highlighted the strengths of violet photopolymer plates in discussion with their newspaper clients
Hemant Desai of Quadtech spoke of the importance of fully automated, on-the-fly colour control and web inspection solution
Kohli Graphic Systems, established in 1982 offers an array of services to the newspaper segment which range from film, PS plates, thermal and violet CTP plates, chemicals, CTP systems, plate processors, plate punch, bend machines; as well as, RIPs, colour management, imposition and workflow management
Manroland is focused on enhancing the current product portfolio. One step has been the development of the Cromoman 4x1 press
The Italian-based Novurania, a printing blankets manufacturing company launched two blankets of its NTR series NTR 112 and 122, especially for newspaper printing. The firm is represented by Chandigarh-based Aarushi Agencies in India
Padmakar Ojale with a sample of the Indian Express printed on Fujifilm's Jet Press 540W, an inkjet digital web press
HT Media, ABP and Indian Express were among the top Indian winners of the 12th annual Asian Media Awards
ABP's The Telegraph won the Gold and the Silver for Best in Print category for a circulation above 1,50,000
HT Media's Mint bagged the Bronze for Best in Print category for a circulation below 1,50,000
HT Media's Hindustan Times won the Gold for Best in Print category for a circulation above 1,50,000
Hindustan Media Venture's Hindi Hindustan won the Bronze for Best in Print category for a circulation above 1,50,000
Traditional entertainment at the Awards ceremony enthrals the audience
An innovation: A newspaper ad printed in a Tamil newspaper with Huber's UV curable inks on coldset Indian web presses
An innovation at the show; branding on the bottle. Expect many during the Wan-Ifra edition in Berlin from 7 to 9 October 2013
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