KP Masters - Goss International

Issue no. Sixty four
Control and the
Community press-
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KP masters opportunity through technology
With 11 Goss® Community® presses and an order for a further three, KP group based in
Moscow is steadily building an infrastructure designed for maximum control of both
print and profit.
As production director of one of Russia’s foremost
publishing concerns, covering a vast territory,
Vadim Churbakov (pictured above center) handles
his responsibilities with a quiet confidence. Just
37 years of age, he has been production director
at KP Group for four years now and he is leading
a business development program that for most
people would be the stuff of sleepless nights and
acid reflux. For a shrugging Churbakov, his role is
simply orchestrator and facilitator, coordinating a
series of small, handpicked teams across seven time
zones to ensure the same reliable, measurable and
saleable quality is issued from every KP site.
Building a network of print
Around the beginning of the 21st century,
according to Churbakov, the volume of advertising
in Russia started growing. Markets sprang up in all
the regions, and these markets were demanding
better quality print and more color.
Regional printing capabilities had not moved on
since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Old, former
state-owned printing plants with antiquated
technology were in many cases all that was
available. And, with no competition, the prices
they charged did not reflect capabilities. With 51
KP, Churbakov explains, stands for “Komsomolskaya plants printing the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda
Pravda”, the group’s main title and the largest daily across the Russian Federation, this growing
newspaper in Russia. Founded 85 years ago in the
demand for high-quality advertising created a
Soviet Union, today the newspaper is a modern,
conflict between client and suppliers in the
vibrant tabloid, whose website also enjoys the
regions. KP’s management concluded that the
highest visitor numbers of any title in the Russian
only solution was to establish its own plants.
Federation. There is also a weekly up to 80-page
version of Komsomolskaya Pravda with a circulation “The opportunities presented through this
in excess of three million copies, and in some of the plan were clear and considerable,” says Vadim
largest cities of Russia, there is an additional freeChurbakov. “We would be able to print our
of-charge, daily ‘lite’ version in which advertising
newspaper to our own schedule, to the quality
is more than 35 percent of content. Achieving
customers were demanding, and make more
and sustaining the success and popularity of the
profit while doing so.
KP brand has been the driver behind a program of
construction and printing investments, which is still, By installing modern equipment, we could save
after a little over four years, just half way through
on paper, time and consumables; we could take
its progression.
on contract work, at a profit, and we would
have full control to explore marketing initiatives
for our own titles as well as any other business
opportunities, including freesheets.” The next
step was simply to consult a map of Russia and
pinpoint the cities with the highest circulations,
and thus the highest potential return. “Then, in
the larger cities we set local managers the task
of investigating the market, to calculate size and
prospective contract print opportunities and to
develop a business plan,” Churbakov continues.
After extensive research, the KP Group
management decided to partner with Goss
International through its agent for newspaper
presses in the region - NISSA Mediaproject. “In
a situation like this, the dependability of our
equipment supplier was the most crucial factor,”
comments Churbakov. “We were severing the
supply relationship with existing printers, so
reversing decisions or treading water for a
period was not an option – it was essential that
everything go to plan, right on schedule.”
Beginning in 2004, step-by-step KP began opening
plants in the largest cities in Russia. The equipment
of choice was a Goss Community press, identical
in each plant, chosen for its “perfect combination
of value and quality”, according to Churbakov.
Installations even took place simultaneously as
local management assumed control of each project.
Modest press lines to begin with – just two towers,
two mono units and a folder – with each new
order the presses have become more sophisticated
and automated. In some cities, for example, such
as Perm and Volgograd, KP has had to struggle
against rival suppliers to prove itself the printer
of choice, but has eventually succeeded to become
the reference point for high-quality print in
each locality.
KP Group has ordered a total of 14 Community
presses. Three of these were installed in new print
plants in 2009. All the existing KP print plants are
self-administered, self-sufficient print facilities,
supervised and financially controlled from Moscow.
In fact, the Moscow headquarters also controls
equipment, technology and consumables. “All
plants are the same,” Churbakov elaborates,
“prepress, mailroom, press – the supplier is the
same, the contracts are the same, the maintenance
is the same.”
This approach is not only for the purposes of cost
reduction but also aims to maximize efficiency,
quality and expertise within the workforce. As
Churbakov points out, where a technical issue
arises KP need only solve it once and then the
solution is communicated to all. The company
regularly arranges technical seminars and holds
closed forums via the internet for the exchange
of ideas.
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KP Group creates New
Ways
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for Print
KP has no shortage of ideas
for developing
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its offering to consumers and advertisers.
One recent example of success involved
the insertion of the first volume of a bestseller book collection as a free gift into
circulation of Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Circulation quadrupled. The second volume
and all the oncoming volumes were then
offered in subsequent editions for a
supplemental charge significantly less than
what the book was available for elsewhere.
One third of the increased revenue from
the original raised circulation went to the
book publisher. The remaining two thirds
went to the KP Group and, at the same time,
advertisers were charged premium prices for
placements in the high-circulation edition.
Challenge and opportunity
Maintaining its lead position against powerful
competition continues to be KP Group’s biggest
challenge, according to Churbakov, and to do
this, he acknowledges, requires ongoing plant
development and expansion of capabilities. “The
first press we installed is already being extended
to provide more opportunities to our customers
– additional color, higher paginations. In some
print plants we have installed stitchers, and we’re
investing in heatset and gluing equipment where
we are producing thick adhesive bound catalogs.”
As well as its focus on increasing capabilities for
contract customers going forward, the company
intends to develop more vehicles and opportunities
for its own brand, Churbakov asserts. “We plan
to maintain current circulations of our key titles
while creating new freesheet titles, and we’re
planning special activities to promote newspapers
and achieve continued growth.” In this, he says,
the relationship with Goss International and NISSA
as trusted partners is central. “In price, quality,
warranties and, above all, in the on-the-ground
service and support from NISSA the relationship
is exceptional,” he concludes