Dutch newspaper with highest circulation soon available in reader friendly tabloid format

De Telegraaf, the only national popular newspaper in the Netherlands, follows the trend in newspaper business and invests in an extension of their existing COLORMAN press from manroland web systems.

“Our target is to use the press even more flexible”, says Project Manager Michaël Ellerbeck. “The ordered press.update assures that we are ideally equipped for the future, even with smaller runs, and that we can offer more product variety. At the same time, we change our main production and offer the modern and reader friendly tabloid format. Due to this, we do not only strengthen our cost effectiveness but make a clear commitment for the printed newspaper as our core business.”

Optimized Capacity
Besides, the printing capacity will be adjusted according to the new requirements. The former ten presses will be reduced to seven, which will produce continuously in full color then. This will be achieved with a step-by-step realization, extension and re-configuration of the existing printing towers and folders. manroland web systems has already been working on this huge upgrade project with De Telegraaf since 2011. The target has always been to achieve an optimum of new production possibilities with the existing machinery. The daily newspaper already invested in upgrading their press equipment in 2011. At the moment, five existing printing units and reel splicers are completed with four additional printing units at the printing facility in Amsterdam. In November, this stage of extension will be finished and the project will go about the next step. In the meantime, the Telegraaf group has decided to go for tabloid format, what makes further upgrades at the folding technology and the web lead necessary. After a successful extension, the printing house will still be able to produce broadsheet products.

COLORMAN Reloaded – Investment in Reader Friendly Future
Most of the existing COLORMAN presses are equipped with rotary folders and older folder superstructures. Those have to be re-constructed according to the format change. By integrating an additional moved satellite unit at one of the COLORMAN presses, the number of 4-colored webs will be increased. Two more presses will be equipped with new, modern 2:3:3 pin folders with cylinder stitcher. Due to this, the high product quality and reliability of the production will be assured and a stitching of the collected products can be enabled.

At four of the five presses, the existing folder superstructures will be lifted by using a middle section. The middle sections can include ribbon stitchers and therewith enables to produce tabloid products with stitched sections.

At all five presses the existing folder superstructures will be re-constructed with shaftless drives for the former rollers and drag rollers under the former, which improves the web lead, especially for tabloid production, to achieve a higher product quality and enable a reliability of the production.

Success Story – Life Time Extension
In Amsterdam, the media group Telegraaf is printing on one of Europe’s biggest COLORMAN presses with altogether 42-webs. In the middle of the Eighties, the first towers were installed. Since then, the system has been upgraded in several steps to reach the current state. The last printing units have been ordered in 2011.

manroland received the new, comprehensive order from De Telegraaf in June 2014. The project shall be finished until the end of 2015.

Ferdy Demmers, Director of Print and Logistics, is certain: „manroland web systems has constantly worked on service offerings and product upgrades. Due to these upgrades and retrofits, we do not only improve our quality and the overall costs for our presses over the complete lifecycle, we also extend them in an enormous way. The extensions help us achieving a complete change to tabloid format from 2015 on – all this with our existing machinery.”

“In a very challenging and competitive market as the ours, the service quality is of highest importance. Together with our longtime business partner manroland web systems we at De Telegraaf always work on securing best possible performance over the lifecycle of our machinery.”, says Project Manager Michaël Ellerbeck.