Indian Printer Publisher

  The winners of Wan-Ifra's annual Digital Media Awards Worldwide, recognizing outstanding achievements in digital media by the news industry, were announced in Copenhagen on 27 May during a ceremony at the 75th World News Media Congress. These awards acknowledge excellence and groundbreaking digital innovation across a range of categories that recognize the changing way people receive and engage with news. The winning projects inspire the industry to push the boundaries of innovation and excellence. The 2024 Digital Media Awards recognize outstanding accomplishments across twelve categories To qualify, finalists must first win their category at the regional level of the Digital Media Awards, held this past year in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and South Asia. The independent judges awarded the following companies and projects, from five continents, as winners of the 2024 Digital Media Awards Worldwide . Best use of AI in revenue strategy Ekstra Bladet , JP/Politikens Hus, De...

  The International News Media Association (INMA) on 23 May elected 12 news executives to its governing Board of Directors during the organisation’s annual business meeting. Gert Ysebaert, CEO of Mediahuis in Belgium, was elected INMA president for a two-year term. As president, Ysebaert will chair the association’s Board of Directors. Siv Juvik Tveitnes, CEO of Schibsted Media in Norway, was elected as INMA’s new first vice president. She is scheduled to become INMA president in 2026. Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation in the United States, will serve as immediate past president the next two years. Executives elected to new Board terms, which begin June 1, are: Alexandra Beverfjord, executive vice president, Aller Media, Norway Mark Campbell, chief marketing officer, Hearst, United States, as president of the North America Division Lotta Edling, editorial director, Bonnier News, Sweden Carlos Nuñez Murias, chairman and CEO, Prisa Media, Spain Cath...

Tritron, a Coesia company and specialist in innovative digital ink solutions for industrial applications, highlights its latest advancements in water-based HydroGel inkjet inks and UV LED inkjet inks at drupa 2024, Hall 3, Stand E54, between 28 May to 7 June 2024. Tritron’s focus for this year's exhibition is on the advanced capabilities of its digital inks, meticulously tailored to meet the varied and demanding needs of industrial printing. The UV LED inkjet inks are ideal for both single-pass and multi-pass printing, offering significant energy efficiency, high printing speeds of 50 meters per minute and above, excellent adhesion on difficult substrates, and high durability with strong abrasion resistance. These inks provide superior performance and reliability in highly challenging industrial environments. HydroGel inkjet inks, utilizing Tritron’s unique HydroGel technology, are environmentally friendly and water-based. These inks deliver high-resolution print results, enabling...

 At a press conference held at its drupa stand, Kyocera Document Solutions unveiled its vision for inkjet commercial printing, introducing the new TASKalfa Pro 55000c alongside the existing TASKalfa Pro 15000c, and offering a sneak peek at future innovations with the FOREARTH textile printer and the Belharra Kyocera Nixka inkjet photo printer. This marks Kyocera's first in-person presence at drupa , highlighting its ongoing expansion in production print. “We began a feasibility study of inkjet printers 20 years ago in 2005, started product planning in 2011, and completed our first prototype in 2016. In 2019, we launched the TASKalfa Pro 15000c, making further investments in high-capacity ink loading, a monochrome model, and collaboration with third parties,” said Hironori Ando, president of Kyocera Document Solutions. [caption id="attachment_86280" align="alignright" width="300"] Kyocera stand at drupa Image: IPP[/caption] Kyocera is showcasing two T...

  On 27 May, a day before the official opening of drupa 2024 , Canon announced an expansion of its production portfolio with the entry into the B2 sheetfed inkjet market via the varioPRESS iV7, a new inkjet press capable of producing 8,700 B2 4/0 sheets per hour. The varioPRESS iV7 empowers commercial printers to migrate work from digital presses and shorter runs from offset. Visitors to the Canon stand in Hall 8a at drupa can discover the details of the varioPRESS iV7 in an interactive animation and samples’ display. The first installations of the press in the EMEA region will happen in the second half of 2025. Building on the proven technology of the varioPRINT iX3200/2100 B3 digital sheetfed inkjet presses, the new Canon varioPRESS iV7 has been engineered to address the increasing pressures of commercial print service providers (PSPs), online and publishing printers, and book producers. The varioPRESS iV7 will join the new varioPRINT iX1700 and varioPRINT iX3200/2100 to create a...

  Xaar , an inkjet innovator, providing printheads and technologies for OEM and UDI customers worldwide, is inviting visitors at drupa to hear how the latest inkjet technologies are rewriting the rulebook for textile printing in a presentation to be made as part of the show’s touchpoint textile forum. Speaking on June 3 in hall 4, Karl Forbes, the Xaar group’s R&D director, will show how its Aquinox printhead, utilizing Xaar’s Ultra High Viscosity printing and patented High Laydown Technology, is transforming productivity in digital textile printing. The presentation will show how Xaar’s collaborative work with global ink developer and manufacturer Nazdar has enabled the creation of a unique high viscosity, pigmented water-based inkjet – the HighV Aqua Tex – that will deliver disruptive performance benefits in the direct-to-garment (DTG) sector. [caption id="attachment_86232" align="alignright" width="330"] Aquinox printhead, utilizing Xaar’s Ultra H...

  Ultimate Tech, a frontrunner in imposition, nesting and finishing automation, will showcase its latest innovations for HP customers at drupa in Dusseldorf from 28 May to 7 June in Hall 17. Customers worldwide are leveraging Ultimate Tech’s solutions to drive their HP presses and to automate their print production. From the production of general commercial print work to books, transactional, photo products, labels, folding carton, wide format and more, Ultimate Tech delivers key technology to future-proof print businesses. Ultimate Tech has the unique capability to centralize and scale massive pdf data and prepare and optimize print ready files for a wide range of applications and presses and tying in finishing. Total automation in Overdrive can be accomplished using smart, open tools designed with productivity in mind. “We have been proud HP workflow partners for over 15 years”, says Julie Watson Ultimate Tech CEO. “But more importantly, we have been partnering to help our mutua...

The launch of The Caravan's Hindi quarterly Karwaan in April 2024 was accompanied by a panel discussion that compared the state of Hindi journalism today and in the yesteryears when the medium was thriving. Moderated by Hartosh Singh Bal, executive editor of The Caravan , the panel with Paresh Nath, editor-in-chief of Delhi Press, Seema Chishti, editor of The Wire , Mrinal Pande, former chief editor of Hindustan , and Sagar, staff writer at The Caravan as speakers deliberated on what Hindi journalism needs to today to revive and revitalize. Paresh Nath, editor-in-chief of Delhi Press, said Hindi magazines still record the highest sales in India. “Our Hindi fortnightly Sarita was priced at Re 1 when it launched in 1945. This was not an easy feat during those days and involved a huge amount of risk as the magazine was being brought out by Vishva Nath, a person who was not even remotely associated with Hindi literature and came from a printing background.” Sarita has been a revol...

  We are used to receiving wisdom from the West, including the perspectives on the future of technology, industry, business and society. However, please remember that it is reliably reported and frequently quoted by Western scholars, that when MK Gandhi was once asked, “What do you think of Western civilization?” he replied, “I think it would be a good idea.” I know that it may seem presumptuous for me to offer some megatrends from the Indian and Asian point of view – but one must acknowledge the excellent writing by journalists, authors, economists, and historians in our newspapers across the sub-continent and the continent. One must also acknowledge the outspoken statements of fact, reason and eloquence of the South African lawyers in the International Court of Justice at The Hague and its ministers at public forums. Megatrends – The narrative has shifted, and changed, from the powerful mainstream media to the ordinary professional and citizen journalist, editor, videographer, an...

  In 2013, Atul Bhatt and Harish Setia started Print Mart , a commercial printing venture – with a Konica Minolta C6500 from a shed under Bhatt's home in north Delhi’s Rohini. They added an outlet in Shiva Market and two more in northwest Delhi’s Ramesh Nagar and Kamla Nagar in 2015. These became instant hits as it was the market requirement at that time. With Print Mart as a parent company, Zoom Print and Urban Bunny are sister concerns, that specialize in luxury printing, short-run skins and stickers and book publishing. The company has become a significant contributor to Delhi’s digital printing market, producing around 75 lakh A3 color prints each month.  In 2018, when Atul Bhatt's brother Vikas Bhatt joined Print Mart as general manager, the company had eight outlets. Branches in Patparganj, Okhla and other locations where the jobbers segment were prevalent were added. Jobbers are generally small printing shops that outsource some of their orders to bigger printers. At p...

Noida-based Creative Concepts and Solutions has enhanced its book-binding capacity and capabilities with the recent addition of a BW@2500 from Bindwel in its post-press segment. According to Puneet Bajaj, director of Creative Concepts and Solutions, the 6-clamp perfect binder installed in March 2024, has substantially enhanced its daily book production from 5,000 to 15,000 volumes. For printing the books and manuals that it produces, the company uses a Heidelberg 2-color perfecting sheetfed offset press. With calibrated book clamps and a thickness indicator, the perfect binding machine runs at a speed of 2,500 cycles an hour. It can bind books ranging from 150 mm x 100 mm to 440 mm x 230 mm. The smart human-machine interface (HMI) control system provides all the information on settings, and production, helping to improve efficiency. Beyond its entire book printing and production services, Creative Concepts and Solutions offers a wide range of designing services, including corporate b...

  At this year’s Fespa event, Mimaki showed off an interesting pigment transfer concept that it first previewed at last year’s ITMA show, which it calls TraPis, standing for TRAnsfer Pigment System. The idea is to print an image onto transfer paper and then transfer it in a calendar heat press, which is essentially the same process as for dye sublimation. But the difference is that the image is not sublimated into the fibers of the material and instead sits on the surface, as with most pigment ink textile solutions. Marc Verbeem, supervisor of product management at Mimaki Europe, says that this gives it a textured finish, and so it’s mostly suitable for home decor such as pillows or towels rather than apparel. It has all the certification required to produce clothing but Verbeem says that the texture is not so comfortable to wear. Also, the ink will only survive 5-10 washing cycles, which is fine for home decor use but not nearly good enough for clothing. He explains, “The advanta...

  Kai Buentemeyer, director of Impel Services, the holding company of the Impel- Bindwel -Stelda group, is a veteran in the field of book printing and packaging, with an experience of more than 30 years. As an erstwhile CEO and managing partner of Kolbus, who played an active part in the evolution of bookbinding and packaging technologies across the globe over the past decades, he brings substantial experience to the India-based Impel Services – the holding company of the Impel- Bindwel -Stelda group.  In an interaction with Indian Printer and Publisher , Buentemeyer talks about the trajectory of book printing in India after the Covid pandemic, automation and standardization, sustainability in the industry, the company’s plans for Bindwel, and the drupa show. In the commercial printing segment, book printing is coming back to life globally after the pandemic as we have seen from our multiple interactions with the industry. Buentemeyer feels that in India, with its economy on a...

  Invercote Touch, an innovative uncoated paperboard , is designed  to meet the growing demand for sustainable and  visually appealing packaging materials while maintaining excellent printability. The latest addition to the Invercote portfolio, the new uncoated product uniquely delivers a natural-looking and tactile experience  along with  the high-quality properties of other Invercote products, such as strength, stiffness, creasability, and strong sustainability credentials. “Invercote Touch is a unique combination of uncoated paperboard, where the appearance and tactile feeling is key, and other characteristics that make Invercote so suitable for superior packaging applications,” says Edvin Thurfjell, product manager, Invercote Packaging and Graphics, Holmen Board and Paper. “Invercote Touch enables brands, for the first time, to prioritize a natural look and feel with a product that has the right combination of printing and converting properties for an u...

 The 6th International Newspaper Design Competition awards were recently announced by Asia's newspaper design website newspaperdesign.in. From India, Hindustan Times , Indian Express, The Hindu , Deccan Herald and Malayala Manorama bagged the top honors in different categories. Indian Printer & Publisher interacted with Anup Gupta of Hindustan Times , Kannan Sundar from The Hindu and Bivash Barua from The Indian Express to learn more about the competition, elements of a good newspaper design, its relevance in the digital age, challenges in newspaper designing and more. We are publishing this article in two parts. The first part will discuss the award-winning design and the importance of design in a newspaper. Part two will discuss the chart the road ahead for newspaper design, and the challenges in getting younger readers on board. HT's best of four Hindustan Times won in four categories – Best of Show spread for Disappearing Acts; Awards of Excellence spread for Kings...

  Canon India , a digital imaging solutions provider, has announced the launch of six new large-format printers. Among these, a new 7-colour category was announced as part of the imagePrograf GP series (GP-526S/546S/566S) tailored for the graphics art market harnessing the new Lucia Pro II pigment ink to deliver print quality for bright, eye-catching posters and photographs. Further, strengthening its 12-colour category with its imagePrograf Pro series lineup, three new printers were unveiled (Pro-526/546/566) with superior print quality for photography and fine art applications, promising print longevity of up to 200 years. Manabu Yamazaki, president and CEO, Canon India said, “With the professional printing industry in India witnessing remarkable growth owing to technological innovations, our latest launches are in response to the increasing demand for quality output. The newly launched GP Series 7-color large-format printers and the expansion of our Pro series 12-color printers ...

  Kolkata-based Read Bengali Bookstore made its start in 2018 by selling Bengali books. Its goal is to encourage people to read more Bengali books and provide writers, local unrecognized booksellers, and small and big Bengali publishing houses an opportunity to uplift the Bengali book market by taking them to readers across India, and eventually across the globe. “I have been in the English book distribution business since 2008. In 2013, we planned to publish our own book in Bengali. After publishing, we saw there was no proper channel to sell or distribute Bengali books except a few shops on Kolkata's College Street,” said Pritam Sengupta, director, Read Bengali Bookstore, a unit of Bhasa Ventures. At that time, online bookshops were new and growing, so they set up their first Facebook page and tried selling books via the social media platform. “Since Facebook was not the proper place for marketing books at that time, we were struggling to get proper sales,” Sengupta said. Sengup...