Inkjet & Digital Printing
Screen Truepress Jet520 On-Demand Newspaper Solution Prints International Editions
Friday 27. March 2009 - For the first time in the newspaper's 113-year history, the London-based Daily Mail is available to readers in New York City on the same day as publication in the United Kingdom. Newsworld Corp. has begun distributing British management company Associated Newspapers' flagship newspaper in North America. The papers are produced on the Screen Truepress Jet520 at an AlphaGraphics franchise in Dayton, N.J.
Remote manufacturing of international editions to serve newspaper readers outside their core markets has always been the alternative to air-freighting newspapers to distant locales. Unfortunately for publishers and readers alike, this method of production has been beset by inherent limitations and prohibitive costs. Until now.
With the Truepress Jet520 on-demand newspaper solution, publishers can maintain brand loyalty and profitability by producing full-color newspapers on the day of publication at the point of distribution, anywhere in the world.
“The concept of on-demand or satellite printing of newspapers is not new,” said Bill Brunone, vice president of targeted inkjet systems at Screen (USA). “However, only recently have technologies evolved to the point where publishers can have a complete facsimile of their newspapers with quality that is indistinguishable from litho printing and throughput that is fast enough to make production economically viable.”
An ideal machine for short-run newspaper production, the Truepress Jet520 can produce both static pages and 100 percent variable content. Printing at the rate of 420 feet per minute, it can deliver the equivalent of 1,200 48-page tabloid newspapers an hour.
“One of the opportunities that come from printing variable data versus static satellite printing is the ability to customize news and advertising for the local market,” Brunone said. “Due to the flexibility of the Truepress Jet520, after finishing the newspaper run, the press can be used to produce newspaper-related materials, such as inserts, flyers and supplements, not to mention commercial work, like direct mail, transactional documents, books and manuals.”
Under the agreement between Newsworld Corp and Associated Newspapers, AlphaGraphics will print the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday for delivery to newsstands throughout Manhattan. At present, AlphaGraphics prints the Daily Mail six days a week. The papers leave the plant at night and hit the newsstands by the next morning. Previously, copies were either shipped directly to their New York fans from England or printed in Florida and sent north.
Initially, AlphaGraphics will print the U.K. versions of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. New York editions, complete with local content and advertising, are planned for the future. AlphaGraphics hopes to add as many as six different papers, at about 500 to 1,000 copies each.