WAN-IFRA Printing Summit: Good news for print

"We are weekly and that comes with some advantages, but regional daily newspapers also have their own advantages. In the end, every strong brand has chances to improve its position in the market," said Rainer Esser, CEO of Die Zeit, who opened the two-day conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Dr. Esser said total revenue rose by 104% from 2003 to 2011, largely because of the company's focus on multimedia packaging, improving each product and platform (print included), reaching the right audience with the right content (particularly younger audience), and knowing and understanding its community.

The conference features numerous best-practice presentations from international production executives during sessions on New Concepts for Business; Innovation and Efficiency; New Ideas for More Quality; the Power of Print; and Green and Profitable.

More details about the conference programme are available here. If you would like to receive summaries of each presentation shortly after the conference, please send an email to gro.arfi-naw@redaer.

Other highlights of the first day included:

• Martin Wunnike, Business Manager for Mittelbayerischer Verlag in Regensburg, presenting the company's Ansoff-Matrix marketing strategy;
  
• Gary Hughes, chief executive of Transcontinental printing company in Canada, reporting about lean production at several production locations;
  
• Knud Kraft, manager of the Printing Division for Druckhaus Spandau, Axel Springer AG, showing how retrofitting equipment can be used as an innovative strategy;
  
• Hansjürg Stihl, head of Druckzentrum Winkeln (St. Galler Tagblatt) in Switzerland, reporting also on his experience of carrying out a complex retrofit project;
  
• Alexis Lozano Medina, director of Artes Gráficas del Atlántico in Spain, using the island of Gran Canaria as an example of showing how small print runs can be produced efficiently not only by digital printing, but also on a large offset press.
  
• Erik Elyn, printing plant manager for Coldset Printing Partners in Belgium, showing how this printer is increasing quality and lowering waste with a colour density control system;
  
• Kasturi Balaji, managing director of Kasturi & Sons in India, presenting the Japanese-style inline colour control system for their presses;
  
• Assaf Avrahami, chief executive of Yedioth Information Technology in Israel, illustrating how the company is making every kilowatt count in production;
  
• Sally Pirri, production manager of The Globe and Mail, Canada, and Gary Hughes, chief executive of Transcontinental printing company near Toronto, presenting motivational strategies to improve quality.