Malayala Manorama invests in five state-of-the-art direct printing lines

-goes for Muller Martini mailroom systems

Malayala Manorama, one of India’s leading newspaper publishers, is modernizing and expanding its printing capacity with new generation presses and mailrooms. To enhance its printing capacity, the company, which was established 126 years ago, is installing five double-width Diamond Spirit SA newspaper rotary presses from Mitsubishi with a maximum production speed of 75,000 copies per hour, and printing capacity of 40 broadsheet pages, at its three printing plants at Kozhikode (one), Kottayam (two) and Kollam (two) in the state of Kerala in south India.

“Printed newspapers continue to be the main source of our company’s revenue and that will remain the case for the foreseeable future,” says chief editor Mammen Mathew, explaining the major investment. He further explained that Malayala Manorama opted for the solution from Muller Martini, due to financial and technical reasons. “We calculated the total cost of ownership of all the proposals we received and Muller Martini stood first. The maximum speed of 90,000 cycles per hour for the mailroom exceeds that of our new printing press by 15,000 copies. That means the mailroom systems are not producing at their limit, which lowers maintenance costs and increases their economic life-time.”

Mammen Mathew (left), editor-in-chief of Malayala Manorama and Roland Bangerter, regional director of Muller Martini Asia/Pacific sign the contract for the five direct printing lines.The centerpieces of state-of-the-art mailroom systems are the latest generation NewsGrip conveyor chains, each with a receiving and delivery station. They not only have a new control system, but also feature new guide sections, are easier to maintain and have a longer economic life-time. In addition, the five lines, which will come on-stream between December 2014 and December 2015, each include two NewsStack compensating stackers, Solema belts, a Sitma bundle film wrapper with cross strapping, manual application of pre-printed top sheets and a control system for bundle production. In addition to the good after-sales support by Muller Martini India, the feedback given by another Indian Muller Martini customer also spoke well of the new solution, Mathew stated, “I enquired at The Hindu about their experiences with the Muller Martini systems there and heard only positive reviews from them.”

The Malayala Manorama daily with a circulation close to 2.3 million copies, is the flagship of the Indian publishing company with the same name, which also publishes more than 40 periodicals/magazines, runs television channels, FM radio stations, and internet portals.