Ferag sees growth as labour patterns change

Swiss mailroom specialist Ferag says it is increasing its commitment to India, which it recognises as one of the newspaper industry’s growth markets. The company sold its first equipment into the subcontinent 25 years ago, but says the “final breakthrough” came this year with the installation of the first two inserting drums at the ‘Times of India’. A local subsidiary was established in 2008, and the company now offers on-site training and ancillary services as well as commissioning and after-care: “To satisfy the demands of the market while also guaranteeing both continuity and quality at a high level, a permanent local presence was required“, says managing director Daniel Fässer. Ferag says the Indian newspaper industry is continuing to invest in state-of-the-art printing and mailroom technology to gear up for the coming challenges. Kasturi & Sons, publisher of the ‘The Hindu’ daily, equipped its Bangalore facility with Ferag mailroom technology at the beginning of the year. With a circulation of 1.45 million copies, ‘The Hindu’ is India’s third-largest English-language daily newspaper. At the new Coimbatore facility, two conveyor and packaging lines represent a further step towards the automation of the company’s postpress processing capacity over the long term. Two Universal conveyors take the newspapers off the press in 2:1 mode to one MultiStack compensating stacker each, while a LineMaster control system is responsible for programmed bundling and topsheet printing. Publishing group Ananda Bazar Publishers (ABP) has built a new printing centre on the outskirts of Calcutta and contracted Ferag to supply all of its mailroom technology. An auxiliary contract has also been signed recently, covering three 3 LineMaster control systems and 6 topsheet printers. Among other longstanding Ferag users are ‘The Times of India’, ‘Hindustan Times’, ‘Deccan Chronicle’ and The Printers. Ferags says that the decision of the ‘Times of India’ to invest in industrial inserting technology confirmed that rising circulations and supplement volumes could be managed efficiently only with adequate technology. “In the light of the growing need for further zoning and a rise in salary levels over the coming years, it can be assumed that further Indian newspaper publishers will follow the example,” Fässer says.