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Managing newspaper production post-pandemic

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IPP Desk
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Wan-Ifra india 2020
The senior technical and production heads of the Indian newspaper industry will be addressing the challenges and the way forward for the industry post-pandemic

The Wan-Ifra India 2020 Printing Summit is on 21 and 22 September 2020, while the Indian Media Leaders eSummit will take place on 23 and 24 September 2020. Both events are to be held virtually using the Internet.

Covid-19 has changed the ways we operate. When the government announced the lockdown to minimize the spread of the contagious virus, newspapers quickly strategized the operations to ensure the reach of newspapers safely to the readers. Fewer workers in the plant, turn shifts, sanitizing the workplace, and work from home have been in place since then. With this new normal in place, how can the newspaper companies bring business to normal? What are the challenges and opportunities Covid-19 has brought to us?

Technical Directors and Heads of Production of leading newspaper companies join the panel discussion to discuss these and other key topics at the Wan-Ifra India 2020 Printing eSummit on 23 September 2020 from 10.30 am to 11.30 am. The speakers are Snehasis Roy director Technical, Bennett Coleman; BS Shesh, vice president Supply Chain, HT Media; RP Lakshmivenkatraman, head Technical & Production, THG Publishing; and, Priyadarshi Gupta, general manager Sourcing ABP.

Lessons from the eCommerce industry on last mile delivery

The last mile connectivity in newspaper distribution has always been a challenge for publishers. But the problem is not unique to publishers. Direct delivery businesses such as online grocery stores have faced them too, but over time they have mastered it as it’s crucial in customer retention. Bigbasket.com has revolutionized this space with its innovative approaches and strategies in distribution and last-mile delivery which has helped them to acquire and retain customers.

Learnings from the distribution strategies of online grocery store, Bigbasket. Balakumar TK, COO, Bigbasket.com joins a conversation with Sridhar Aranala, vice president – Sales and Distribution, The Hindu, at WAN-IFRA India 2020 – Printing Summit to tell us more about it. The Wan-Ifra India Summit this year is a virtual event. 

Lessons from the automotive industry

COVID-19 has disrupted the supply chain, import-exports, and assembly lines of the automotive industry. In addition, digitalization of the business functions of industries poses the challenge of shrinking vehicle demand and structural change to the automotive industry. The newspaper business too faces a similar scenario of shrinking demand.

Karl-Alexander Seidel, CEO of Daimler Bus India, joins a fireside chat with R D Bhatnagar, CTO, DB Corp, at the Printing eSummit at WAN-IFRA India 2020 to discuss how they have managed the operations during the pandemic and what their plans are to overcome the future challenges.

Grab this opportunity to learn more about strategies that could help the printing industry.

Register today. Registration is complimentary for WAN-IFRA members.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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