Bartaman Patrika, an Indian Bengali daily newspaper based in Kolkata, has invested in a manroland web systems (recently renamed manroland Goss websystems) Cromoman 4 x 1 newspaper press with three towers for printing up to 24 broadsheet pages in full color. The daily has also opted for Ferag mailroom technology to evacuate the copies from the pressroom and get them ready for distribution in stacked bundles. The newly built and fully re-equipped printing plant began operation in May 2019.
Founded in 1984, Bartaman Patrika has become the second-largest daily newspaper in the Indian state of West Bengal. Published in Bengali, the newspaper appears in five different regional editions and claims a circulation totaling more than 670,000 copies (2017). There are five printing sites — Kolkata, Malda, Midnapore, Burdwan and Siliguri.
Regional daily newspapers in various Indian languages (Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Sanskrit) have seen annual growth averaging 8% in recent years; nine out of 10 largest Indian dailies are regional newspapers. The country’s size and occasionally difficult logistics circumstances gave rise to numerous newspaper printing plants producing regional editions mainly on smaller, Indian-built presses.
Fits Indian requirements
In 2018, Bartaman invested in a Manroland Cromoman 4 x 1 newspaper press with three towers for printing up to 24 pages in full color at a time. The machine is designed to stand on a ground floor to fit inside existing production premises, tolerant of fluctuating power supply voltage, and capable of handling the newsprint paper available in India.
Ferag mailroom
Bartaman has also invested in a mailroom system by Ferag in its Kolkata plant. The investment includes two HPS High Performance Stacker stack turners, two JobStrap N-RT strapping units with AVT SA03 foil wrapping machines, a 63-metre-long HPC paced conveyor line for linking the transfer station at the press output, two stack turners and a separate outfeed station. The new Cromoman is and mailroom system is now operating with the HPC High Performance Conveyor, HPS High Performance Stacker and JobStrap modules.
Abhijit Bhattacharya, director, Bartaman said, “The selection criteria for mailroom technology included the suppliers’ production operations, their hardware and software technical solutions, and the services on offer both during and after installation. After visiting several Ferag users and on account of feedback received, the Ferag mailroom system could be seen as superior to all the other systems available.”
Bhattacharya continued, “Output is excellent. Even the most minor of problems were solved promptly and with the necessary support from Ferag engineers. All in all, we see it as total endorsement of our decision to invest in this system.”
Edited by Indian Printer and Publisher
