How In-line Stitching Can Transform Your Newspaper

Increase ad revenues!
Find out how on page 4
The Greener Newspaper
–read all about it on page 5
What do newspaper readers want?
See study results on page 5
i n - l i n e s t i t c h i n G n e w s yo U c a n U s e | n o 1 2 0 0 9
case stUDy / paGe 6
news International’s Incredible
new Print works buy tolerans
case stUDy / paGe 10
metro uk celebrates 10 years
of stitched Papers
ask the expert / paGe 8
mario garcia speaks out
for in-line stitching
keeP It togetheR
How In-line Stitching Can
Transform Your Newspaper
why stitch? 3 reasons in-line stitchinG helps innoVate yoUr newspaper, paGe 4
The World Leader in In-line Stitching
2 welcome
Table of Contents
n benefits
3In-line Stitching
What is in-line stitching?
www.tolerans.com | NEWSBOUND | no 1 2009
dear reader
An industry innovation
—with a proven record
is facing unprecedented challenges—we all know that. It’s
hard to escape the daily reports of falling
share prices, declining readership, and the
seemingly unrelenting rise of “new media”.
But this isn’t a time for despair, it’s a call
for innovation.
The publications that are succeeding
today have continuously reevaluated their
newspapers—both content and format—to
improve their newspaper in the market and
attract more readership. In terms of format,
the emerging industry trends are a change
towards the handy and cost efficient compact size, segregated content (by theme),
and enhanced navigation.
So it’s no accident that lately we’ve
noticed a significant rise of interest in our
high-quality in-line stitching systems for
newspapers and commercial products. Inline stitching allows sections and inserts to
be printed in a smart way that’s part of the
daily print run. Here at Tolerans, our job is
to help our customers in improving their
competitive advantage—we’ve been leading
the development of in-line stitchers in the
The printed newspaper
4Why Stitch?
3 reasons readers appreciate stitched newspapers.
n C a s e s t u d y : NEWS I NTE R NAT I ONAL
6State-of-the-Art New Print Facilities
“Astonishing” new print facilities in Broxbourne, UK
equipped with Tolerans stitchers
n C a s e s t u d y : DAGENS NYHETE R
7Expanding Ad Possibilities
Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter shows how in-line stitching
creates greater advertising revenue
n I NTE R V I EW : Dr . M a ri o g a r c i a
8Stitching a “No-Brainer”
News design guru Mario Garcia talks with Tolerans about
how in-line stitching could help the newspaper industry
n C a s e s t u d y : MET R O / t h e h i n d u
10Ten Years of Reading on the Go
Metro’s stitched format is a clear winner with UK commuters
10Stitching Gives Indian Newspaper
Publisher Competitive Advantages
A broadsheet paper distinguishes itself with six
additional compact-format products
print industry for the last 40 years.
The following pages detail the various benefits of a stitched paper, including
enhanced navigation, a longer lifetime,
environmental sensitivity, a quality feeling, and increased ad revenues. We hope
that you can find some helpful tips on how
you can improve your own newspaper with
stitching—take a look at how others have
done it.
Also, make sure to check out our interview
with news design expert Dr. Mario Garcia, he
raises some provocative questions about how
newspapers embrace change.
I encourage you to contact us if you would
like advice on how stitching can reinvent
your newspaper; I look forward to good
cooperation in the near future. n
Jan Melin
ceo
n C a s e s t u d y: Dr e s d n e r V e r l a g s h a u s Dr u c k
11An Economical Solution
German printer Dresdner Verlagshaus Druck makes more
money with stitching capabilities
n R ESOU R CES
12Stitching Solutions
Portfolio Overview
13Product News
Cutting Edge Techonology: the Double Motorized Tab Slitter
Introducing the SPEEDLINER S60 Compact
Coming This Fall: SPEEDLINER 2.0
14Stitching Possibilities
Suggested press configurations for various printing
objectives
15Worldwide Contacts
The World Leader in In-line Stitching
Newsbound is published by
Tolerans AB
Box 669, 135 26 Tyresö, Sweden
Visit: Vindkraftsvägen 6, Stockholm
Phone: +46 8 448 70 30
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.tolerans.com
ISO 9001 certified
Member of IFRA.
Publisher: Jan Melin, Tolerans AB
Editor: Linas Alsenas
Editorial team: Charlotte Banning,
Linas Alsenas, Steed Styles,
Mårten Dahlstedt
Graphic design: Raring Design
Print: Upsala Nya Tidning Tryckeri AB
Cover photo: Stig Kenne, FotoKenne
”The following pages detail the various
benefits of a stitched paper, including
enhanced navigation, a longer lifetime,
environmental sensitivity, a quality
feeling, and increased ad revenues.”
photo: Gunnar Ask
Tolerans sales representatives all over the world are
ready to take your call
In-line stitching 3
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
In-line Stitching: Innovating
the Print Industry
How two small staples are revolutionizing newspapers all over the world
T
o some people, the term
“stitched newspaper” may
conjure images involving
needles, thread, and a very steady
hand. In reality, it refers to something quite simple: a publication
held together with steel staples, or
“stitches”. Accordingly, an “in-line”
stitching machine fastens the publication together while the product
is still being processed on a production line, at full press speed.
An unexplored opportunity
At a time when newspaper volumes and profits are declining and
the industry is seeking for solutions, the simple stitch may seem
an unlikely savior. But as traditional media integrates with new
media, in-line stitching presents an
innovative way for print publications to retain their readers and
advertisers.
Remarkably, few newspapers
around the world today are stitched. Olof Aurell, Vice President at
Tolerans, a Swedish firm specializing in in-line stitching, says “The
process is proven
and inexpensive, but I would
dare say that
less than 3% of
the newspapers
are stitched.”
In places such
Olof Aurell, Vice
as Scandinavia,
President at Tolerans.
stitching has
already become the norm, and
stitching advocates believe that the
tide is set to turn.
Many newspapers have embraced
the benefits associated with transitioning to a stitchable compact format (formats such as tabloid, Mini
Berliner, and even A4)—not least
of which is proven higher reader
satisfaction, especially among
younger readers. A scientific study
tracking the eye movements of
readers was recently conducted at
the Media Science Faculty of Trier
University in Germany to compare
the relative appeal of broadsheet
and compact-format newspapers.
The results found that “the compact format has a major potential
of becoming the readercompatible
newspaper of the future.”
Several other studies show that
broadsheets converting to compact
formats have increased their circu-
lation figures by an average of 8%,
and as many as 80% of newspapers
saw increases in their number of
subscriptions.
THE OPTIONS
Format change is a hot topic, not
the least in the U.S. Which compact
format should a two-around broadsheet adopt: tabloid, or three-around
broadsheet? Alan Flaherty, a senior
consultant in newspaper operations
with 44 years of experience, argues in
favor of going tabloid.
“You’re doubling the availability of
color pages that attract readers and
advertisers, and it’s less than half the
cost to convert a press for tabloid
than for a three-around broadsheet
production—with virtually identical
page dimensions as the tabloid. The 3
4 In-lIne stItchIng
www.tolerans.com | newsBoUnD | no 1 2009
”By going tabloid, we gained two things: we could
start printing earlier, and we started to staple it.
Looking back, we should have made the move
much earlier, because there have mainly been
benefits, and very few drawbacks.”
3 tabloid format won’t accommodate
sectioning in the traditional broadsheet manner, but it is possible to
produce multi-section tabloids by
installing multiple stitchers on each
press. That approach has been widely
adopted in Scandinavia and Britain.”
Peo Lovén, technology officer at
Sydsvenska Dagbladet, told IFRA
Magazine that his newspaper made
the switch to a tabloid format in
order to print more efficiently: “By
going tabloid, we gained two things:
we could start printing earlier, and
we started to staple it. Looking back,
we should have made the move much
earlier, because there have mainly
been benefits, and very few drawbacks”.
alternatiVes
Even broadsheet newspaper publishers who are hesitant to make such a
drastic format change to their product are following survival strategies
that include increasing the number
of compact sections and inserts in
the paper, as well as adopting designs
that simplify navigation. Advertisers
in this competitive market environment are demanding more exposure
for their ads, so newspapers benefit
from a demonstrably longer lifetime.
Stitching goes a long way in addressing those challenges.
Accordingly, more and more printers are offering stitching as an option
for newspapers and special sections
(special issues, supplements), as well
as commercial products. Stitchers
can operate at—and beyond—full
production speed, so installing them
on a production line has no negative
impact on the performance of the
press.
And at an investment of less than
0.03 euro cents per copy, no other
improvement to the production
process can improve the cost/benefit
ratio as much as in-line stitching. n
Why Stitch?
3 reasons readers appreciate
stitched newspapers
n
ot long ago, the CEO of
Swedish stitching manufacturer Tolerans remarked, “We have noticed significant increased interest for having
stitched newspapers and distinct
stitched sections in many countries
worldwide.” Here are several of
the many reasons why readers love
stitched newspapers – and why
publishers benefit from them.
reaDers appreciate:
1
better navigation
Perhaps the most obvious—and
compelling—reason for stitching is
the fact that stitching creates a much
more manageable product. Navigating an unstitched newspaper on a
bus or an airplane is a skill that has
to be mastered, whereas stitched,
compact newspapers are simple and
stitched newspapers are easier to recycle.
Increased ad Revenues
1stitching doesn’t just
appeal to readers and
graphic designers, it
makes newspapers a
lot more appealing to
advertisers, as well.
It is demonstrably true
that compact, stitched
newspapers attract more
users per paper and
are read much longer,
increasing the amount of
exposure each advertiser receives from an ad.
When Göteborgs-Posten
switched to a compact
format, they found that
young readers (15-29
years) and women spent
almost twice as much
time reading the paper
every day, from 30.6
minutes to 53.3 minutes.
higher exposure value
boosts income for the
newspaper.
With distinct sections,
newspapers can foster
consumer commitment
among special-interest
groups, and advertisements can more accurately target their
intended audience.
those separate, bound
sections create more opportunities for front- and
back-page ads, and more
page 3s, 7s, etc.
the greater design
flexibility that stitching
provides also increases
the number of advertising options available,
from ads that wrap
around a cover to the
eye-catching draw of
variously sized pages. In
fact, stitching makes it
possible for advertisers
to purchase a dedicated
section of their own.
suddenly, selling ad
space becomes a lot
easier with a new array
of effective arguments. n
straightforward to use, with a more
accessible “magazine feel”.
Naturally, consumers prefer products that are more user-friendly.
When newspapers in Sweden has
one of the highest readerships in the
world, and when newspapers there
changed to stitched, compact formats, 8 out of 10 readers thought the
format had improved and customer
satisfaction increased by 100%!
When Göteborgs-Posten started
converting their publication by
sections, readers responded by
urging them to convert the whole
newspaper.
2
longer lifetime
Recent research shows that
newspapers nowadays are read 2-3
times per day: in the morning, at
lunch, and in the evening, not once
In-lIne stItchIng 5
no 1 2009 | newsBoUnD | www.tolerans.com
Printers
appreciate:
photo: stIG kEnnE, FotokEnnE
lower Running costs
Many of the benefits of stitching apply to printers, as well. Beyond enhancing the quality of their product,
direct in-line stitching also improves
the profitability of printing works by
lowering running costs.
In these times of dynamic industry
change, the print world is trending toward the consolidation of
different phases of production and
distribution.
In-line stitching offers one way
to seamlessly bring together parts
of the finishing process with the
production phase of printing – it’s
proven that stitching in-house
provides major financial advantages
over stitching outside the press by
saving money on additional transport and unnecessary storage.
stitching is also one way that will
enable you to increase the usage of
your press, by taking on products
such as internal or external newspapers, weeklies, magazines, supplements, catalogues, brochures, and
advertising inserts, at full production
speed.
stitching doesn’t just add value to
the product, it’s an effective way for
a printing operation to broaden its
market and increase revenue.
readers prefer newspapers that are easy to handle.
as it used to be. Considering this,
stitching makes a newspaper stay
fresh much longer.
That “magazine feel” also applies
to sections within the paper. Stitching makes it easier for readers to save
those sections and inserts, such as
a TV guide or a special section for
an event like the Olympics, and use
them for a longer period of time. For
example, if a reader is looking for a
new house, she can remove and hold
on to a stitched real estate section
to use as reference throughout her
search.
A more useful and accessible
product will attract higher levels of
customer satisfaction and loyalty. In
an increasingly competitive media
market, that’s no small consideration.
3
Quality feeling
It’s also hard to ignore the
argument that stitched newspapers
simply look better than unstitched
ones. Stitching proponents ask:
which newspaper would readers rather have, one with the
“magazine feel” that just two small
staples provide, or the splayed,
jumbled mess that an unstitched
newspaper inevitably becomes?
The aesthetic effects of stitching
what reaDers ValUe in their newspaper
86% 74% 67%
easy to navigate
has a convenient size
has a modern format
source: soM 2004, Institute for Journalism and Mass communication, university fo Gothenburg, sweden)
can raise the perceived value of
the product, and strengthen the
newspaper’s brand, keeping it competitively viable.
Furthermore, stitching expands
the design possibilities of a publication.
Full-spread designs are more
attractive when they are fastened
together with two handy stitches,
and other features become possible, such as a half-height page,
or a tear-sheet reply card option.
Stitching makes it possible. n
stitchinG secUres recyclinG
1advocates for stitching are quick to point out the
environmental benefits it provides. In certain parts of the
world, such as in the uk and scandinavia, laws explicitly
prohibit the distribution of unstitched newspapers in subway systems. Why? Because unstitched newspapers produce exponentially more litter. When a newspaper is stitched, there is only one item
to pick up and recycle. (and during the paper recycling process, even
the steel stitches can be separated and recycled, as well.) Moreover,
a stitched newspaper is more likely to be picked up and read more
than once in a public place, as it doesn’t betray the fact that it has
been used—unlike the messy, folded pages of an unstitched paper. In
the midst of the “green revolution”, stitching answers the newspaper
industry’s call to follow the “three r’s”: reduce, reuse, and recycle. n
competitive bidding
In a heated bidding situation between two printers, the added value
provided by a stitching option can
make the difference.
Indeed, stitching —at 0.03 euro
cents per copy—is a drop in the
ocean compared to any other printing process feature.
6 NEWS INTERNATIONAL
www.tolerans.com | NEWSBOUND | no 1 2009
”I’ve just been on a tour with a group of journalists,
and to hear the words “impressive,” “amazing,”
“never-seen-anything-like it” from people who
are quite used to going around print works is
something to behold. It’s a very special place
indeed, it has to be said…”
News International’s Broxbourne printing plant is the largest print facility in the world.
State-of-the-Art
“Astonishing” new print facilities
equipped with Tolerans stitchers
R
oy Greenslade, columnist
at The Guardian, says he
is “well-known to be somebody who thinks print is dying.”
But when he left a press preview
tour of News International’s (NI)
new Broxbourne printing facility,
he was visibly floored: “I’ve seen
lots and lots of print works over
the years, and I thought, ‘God, I’m
going to be bored today—I mean,
I’ve seen it all.’ But I’ve seen nothing like this.”
The groundbreaking facility is
the largest printing plant in the
world, taking up 87,000 square
meters (the equivalent of 23 football fields) with 12 presses capable
of printing one million copies
every hour. Each of those presses
is the height of four double-decker
buses. Brian McGee, Managing
Director of Printing Operations
likes to point out that construction of the £350-million facility
required “twice as much steel as it
took to construct the Eiffel Tower.”
The plant’s paper reels are 2.2 meters wide—two pages wider than a
normal newspaper reel—making
printing 50% more efficient.
Incredibly, the Broxbourne plant
does not represent the end of
News International’s current
ambitions: the facility is only one
of three print facilities that NI has
built throughout the United Kingdom to take their production and
distribution capabilities to a whole
new level—at a total investment of
£650 million. (The other, smaller
sites are Knowsley, near Liverpool,
and Eurocentral near Glasgow.)
But no cutting-edge facility is
complete without in-line stitching
capabilities. Sixty-eight stitchers
from Swedish
manufacturer Tolerans, including
both cylinder and
ribbon types, were
installed on the
nineteen MAN
Roland presses at
Roy Greenslade,
all three locations.
columnist at The
Guardian.
Broxbourne
prints The Sun, News of the World,
The Times, the London Paper and
The Sunday Times. But that’s not
all—it also prints the competition,
Telegraph Media Group’s Daily
Cutting Edge Technology
1News International’s Broxbourne
plant began stitching products in June
of 2007. The 19 presses at NI’s three
print locations have Tolerans stitchers
installed. n
The facility cost £350 million.
Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.
(Consider that NI’s own titles alone
consume 300,000 tons of paper
per year.) The new production
changes have allowed newspapers
to increase the amount of color
editorial and advertising content.
greater
efficiency will especially appeal
to sports fans, says Clive Milner,
Group MD for News International.
“Monday through Friday you will
see The Times and The Sun with
later deadlines delivering full
football coverage, not only for the
Premiership but for those important European games.”
Greenslade, for one, remains
awed: “This is what at least one
News Corp executive called a “step
change”, but I think it’s way beyond
that. I don’t think that there’s anywhere in the world with as efficient
a printing facility as what I’ve seen
here today.” n
Moreover, the plant’s
DAGENS NYHETER 7
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
advertising—value for the target
audience. DN’s decision to offer
separate stitched sections was part
of a concerted effort to become
the “obvious marketplace for both
consumers and sellers,” and their
weekly motor, real estate, travel,
and recruitment sections have
been very successful attracting
both readers and advertisers.
advertising revenue by creating entirely
new sales avenues. A dramatic
example of this is the fact that
distinct stitched sections can be
entirely wrapped in an ad page
(adding four pages of ad space:
front and back sides to a front and
back cover). Stiching also enables
pages of various sizes and configurations to be included in the paper,
expanding the range of advertisements available.
Additional special sections—to
cover a sporting event like the
Olympics, for example—afford
multiple advertising opportunities
to existing or new advertisers. DN’s
Stangel is satisfied that “separately
stitched sections have given our
sales people more sales opportunities for commercial sections,
special sections, and wrap advertisements.”
Traditional print media needs to
find new, innovative ways to attract
advertisers in an increasingly difficult economic environment. Daily
newspapers that turn to stitched
sections create more targeted
advertising space, increase advertising income, and create new
interesting advertising products
to sell. The bottom line is that inline stitching brings increased ad
revenue. And that’s something no
newspaper today can afford to go
without. n
photo: Johan mård / folio
Stitching also increases
The benefits of in-line stitching are crystal clear to Dagens Nyheter; they now produce 150 commercial inserts in-line every year.
Expanding
Ad Possibilities
Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter stitches for
greater advertising revenue
F
or a number of years Dagens
Nyheter (DN), Sweden’s
leading morning newspaper, has been stitched and divided
into ten different daily and weekly
sub-sections of
distinct news categories. The paper
took this revolutionary step after
realizing that by
offering its content in separate
Henrik Stangel,
sections, it could
Sales Director for
increase its adverDN.
tising revenue in
several important ways.
First of all, separating out brand
advertisements from targeted
sales advertisements considerably
increases the total ad sales volume
for a newspaper. Advertisers are
able to build their image and brand
with ads in the main news section,
while targeted sales ads get placed
in selected sections, like sports,
culture, or finance.
for
DN, confirms that his newspaper’s
experience shows that “the sales
volume goes up as advertisers can
distinguish their offer in brand and
sales advertisements. This would
not be possible without stitched
sections.”
Moreover, individual sections
increase the number of attractive
ad placement possibilities. Stangel points out that more sections
“mean more premium page space
producing higher revenue, like the
Henrik Stangel, Sales Director
front and back page, and more 3, 5,
and 7 pages.” Newspapers are able
to present the same content, but in
a format that offers more space for
high-impact, high-revenue advertisements.
Moreover, readers are more willing to accept advertising when it is
presented in conjunction with corresponding editorial content. For
example, financial advertisements
placed in the business section of a
newspaper have more relevance,
and they increase the reading—and
”The sales volume goes up as advertisers can
distinguish their offer in brand and sales
advertisements. This would not be possible
without stitched sections”
Divide and Conquer
1Taking a page out of “new media’s” playbook,
print newspapers are increasingly dividing their content thematically. By incorporating stitched sections,
readers with special interests can navigate easily
toward those parts of the paper that have particular
appeal for them. In turn, the advertisers are easier
to attract because they are presented with a more
specifically defined target demographic. n
8 InteRVIew
www.tolerans.com | newsBoUnD | no 1 2009
news Design Guru Dr Mario Garcia: stitching a “no-Brainer”
“The two stitches on the spine of
the newspaper are barely visible,
yet their effect is powerful.”
A
s the newspaper industry
today faces off against
unprecedented economic
challenges, what has
news design consultant Mario Garcia been advising his clients?
Stitch.
Recently, Garcia posted an article
on his blog (also published in IFRA
Executive News) that extolled the
benefits of stitching and raised some
provocative questions.
Swedish in-line stitching manufacturer Tolerans invited Garcia to
come visit their factory and headquarters in January. The meeting
with Garcia was video-recorded
and posted on YouTube, where it
has since made the rounds on print
industry blogs, notably Editor &
Publisher.
Does stitching really make a
difference?
As I spend this week in Sweden, I
am suddenly aware of how neat the
Swedish newspapers are, the pages
all together, never falling out as one
travels through the newspaper. I was
discussing stitching at lunch today
with one of the GöteborgsPosten editors. To him, and
to most Scandinavians,
stitches are as much a part
of the newspaper as ink
and type.
All the Scandinavian
newspapers do it. The Guardian and Times in the UK
have them for some of their
sections. Rarely has a newspaper in the United States ever
even considered it.
Why is stitching not a
common practice, especially
among U.S. newspapers, those giant
broadsheets that, especially on Sundays, tend to be like paper cascades
in the hands of frustrated readers? When you actually get out of
Sweden or places where the papers
are stitched, you see people on an
airplane in the US or in the rest of
Europe reading the newspaper, and
it comes apart in their hands.
I mean, it’s a no-brainer that
stitching works, it holds the whole
thing together. Which brings me to
the point of what I have heard repeatedly in focus groups worldwide
during my almost 40-year career:
readers complain about ink on their
fingers, and about pages that keep
falling out of the newspaper.
Well, don’t know how much one
can do to keep ink away from the
fingers or the bed sheets. But stitching certainly solves the problem
of falling pages! The two stitches
on the spine of the newspaper are
barely visible, yet their effect is pow-
erful. It’s a practice that is relatively
inexpensive, easy to implement technically, and which definitely makes
the life of the reader happy.
so, do you have any theories as to
why stitching isn’t more common?
Perhaps stitching is not at the top of
the priority list for most publishers
and editors I know, especially during these difficult economic times.
I confess that I have rarely been
involved in a discussion of stitching in any of the more than 500
newspaper companies for whom I
have served as a consultant. It is a
sort of non-event with most editors
and publishers. It is a productionoriented function, and newspapers
are driven by the editorial department.
If editors, in a choir of editors all
over the world, if they had decided
that the pages of a newspaper
should be held together—hallelujah—then there would have been
stitching for one hundred percent
of the newspapers in the world.
That’s basically how it works
However, it is now that many
readers, hard-pressed by the difficult financial times, begin to ponder
why they need a newspaper. One
that stays together could make a
more convincing argument for also
staying around the house.
what do consider to be the most
important benefits of stitching?
First of all, it makes the life of readers easier, as pages will not fall.
Stitching actually gives newspapers
more of a magazine feel.
Second, it holds your advertising supplements together better,
so it will increase advertising
revenue.
Third, it allows those
supplements with a shelf
life beyond one day to
last longer periods.
In markets where
several readers
read one
innoVator of print news
worlDwiDe
1Mario Garcia’s experience in transforming newspapers across the world
has earned this design consultant the
reputation of being an industry “guru”.
For more than thirty years, Garcia has
dedicated himself to redesigning publications—at last count, 567 news design
projects in 87 countries. his credits range from
such large projects as The Wall Street Journal, The
Philadelphia Inquirer, Handelsblatt, and Die Zeit to
medium-sized and smaller newspapers like The Charlotte
Observer and kansas’s Lawrence Journal-World. Find out
more at http://garciamedia.com. n
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
MARIO GARCIA 9
copy of the newspaper, as in India
and Latin America, for example,
stitching guarantees that the newspaper will travel better from one
reader to the next.
So there are all these good reasons
to do it.
You’ve said before that stitching
provides a simple, inexpensive way
for newspapers to become greener
products. How is that?
“I think that this is what needs to be
changed: to create an awareness.”
– Dr. Mario Garcia
Well, it reduces littering, which
is especially applicable to metropolitan areas where commuters
read free newspapers on the trains
and leave them there. It’s easier to
pick up one piece newspaper than
several pages flying around. Ever
traveled in the New York City subway system? You see newspapers
all over the place. If these papers
were stitched, you would have
one item to pick up. And chances
are that it will get a second reading, and a third reading. A lot of
people don’t like to start reading
a newspaper that feels touched by
somebody else. Well, a stitched
newspaper folded on a seat is more
attractive to a second or third
reader in the subway than a newspaper where all the pages are, like,
a big mess.
Most editors are trying to be
green as well, to join the ecological
brigades. So I think that beyond
the practicality, beyond not having to read a newspaper that falls
apart, it’s important to point out
that it’s easier to pick up and throw
away a stitched newspaper—to be
more ecologically minded and a
better citizen.
The small stitches
hold the newspaper
together.
photo: James powell / the guardian
Do publishers and editors ever make
an argument against stitching?
No, they just make a comment that
it’s so nice that the Scandinavian
newspapers are held together. End
of the discussion. It never goes
beyond that to say, ‘why don’t we do
it?’ They have never felt that stitching was a part of the plan. And I
think that this is what needs to be
changed: to create an awareness.
Nowadays, with the importance of
navigation, it’s important to make
sure that newspapers are attractive
products to people, and that when
they are using them, they feel comfortable with them.
At the end of the day, stitching
solves a great deal of problems.
If only readers could act on their
wishes and place demands in front
of publishers, I am sure the number
of stitched newspapers would be
much higher. n
10 metRo / the hIndu
www.tolerans.com | newsBoUnD | no 1 2009
Ten Years of
Reading on the Go
Metro’s stitched format is a clear winner
m
etro was launched in London
in March 1999 as a free color
newspaper for morning commuters, and it has been a hit with
readers and advertisers ever since.
With a London circulation of over
540,000, the newspaper delivers
an attractive readership profile:
62 percent of its readers are in the
average or above average earners
category, and 78
percent are aged
between 15 and
44. The success of
the publication is
partly thanks to
its stitched, compact format.
henrietta macewen,
From the very
public relations
beginning, Metro
executive at metro
has provided readers with a one-piece publication
that is easy to handle. Henrietta
MacEwen, Public Relations Execu-
tive at Metro, explains that “Metro
is typically read while the reader
is in transit—be that bus, tram,
car, taxi, or tube. Even in tabloid
format, a stitched product is significantly easier to handle in that
environment, with all of the pages
being kept together.”
But of course, it hasn’t hurt that
stitching the paper increases its
aesthetic appeal. MacEwen agrees:
“It makes for a better looking product. Our aim is to give the morning
newspaper more of a magazine
feel.”
of Metro’s
launch strategy was to provide a
publication specifically suited to the
users of the London Underground
and overground train systems.
Accordingly, the stitched, compact
format was the natural choice:
not only is it easy to handle in
a maJor component
in-line stitching makes Metro ideal for commuters.
awkward, cramped environments,
it also makes distribution easier
and more efficient.
“Copies are always stacked in the
distribution bins with the spine
facing out so that single copies can
easily be collected by the traveler,”
explains MacEwen. “This makes
for an easy single-copy pick up and
also ensures that other copies in the
stack are not spoilt by losing pages.”
The messy disposal of newspapers has become a political issue
in London, but Metro’s stitched
format mollifies concerns that
stray pages would end up littering
the streets or transport systems.
Plus, stitching extends the life of
the newspaper, often encouraging readers to retain a copy for the
whole day, or read a paper that has
already been read by others. n
Stitching gives Indian newspaper
publisher competitive advantages
A broadsheet paper distinguishes itself with
six additional compact-format products.
t
he Hindu, the leading Indian
English-language daily newspaper, is a broadsheet publication with a staggering circulation
of 1.3 million copies and over 5
million readers. Founded in 1878,
this conservative mainstay of the
Indian press has a lot of tradition
and history behind it (the American
Newspaper Publishers’ Association
has awarded The Hindu its World
Press Achievement Award, calling
it a “model of journalistic excellence”). But that hasn’t stopped the
publisher from embracing changing
times—they now issue six compactformat products to include with
their main publication or sell
separately.
“Stitching definitely adds values to our product, and combined
with trimming, we can produce
magazine-like products directly off
the press,” says Mr. Kasturi Balaji,
Director at The Hindu.
The six papers per week that The
Hindu stitches are Sports Star, Cinema Plus (a 16-page tabloid), NXG
(a 16-page tabloid focusing on the
new generation), Metro Plus (also
16 pages), Smart Buy, and Ergo, an
8-page tabloid catering to IT professionals. Sports Star is a weekly
magazine for which stitching is a
necessity because it’s sold separately on newsstands. Smart Buy is
distributed with the business paper
Business Line, and Ergo is a free
newspaper that’s distributed five
days a week. The other products are
included with the main section of
The Hindu newspaper.
Balaji is pleased with the results.
“With our stitched products we
have established a differentiation
from our competitors who don’t
stitch. It gives our products a better position and a higher value to
readers and advertisers.
That’s a position we are glad to
have achieved—especially since the
competitive edge we are getting
significantly overcompensates for
the additional cost of stitching.”
He says, “If a tabloid product is
to have some kind of lasting value
and must stay together for a few
hours, then I am quite happy to
recommend stitching for every
publisher in that situation.” n
aBoUt the hinDU
1The Hindu was originally founded in 1878.
headquartered at Chennai (formerly called Madras),
the newspaper started as a weekly publication, but
then began publishing daily in 1889. the citation for
the paper’s World press achievement award reads,
[
“Conservative in both tone and appearance, [The
Hindu has wide appeal to the English-speaking segHindu]
ment of the population and wide readership among
government officials and business leaders. The
Hindu has provided its readers broad and balanced
news coverage, enterprising reporting, and sober
and thoughtful comment.“ n
DVD 11
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
”The cylinder stitcher has had no negative
influence on web press performance, nor has it led
to any increase in the waste rate.”
Added Value
Photo: SZ/Jürgen Lösel
The printer found that stitching
could add significant value to their
products with negligible investment cost. It gave their publications a more impressive, magazine
feel. “What’s more,” adds Dr. Gerd
Papenfuss, Head of Technology at
DVD, “stitched products are easier
for consumers to read because the
books no longer fall apart and they
still look attractive after they have
been browsed through.”
The decision has not been regretted since. According to Papenfuss,
reactions from the marketplace
have been overwhelmingly positive. So much so, that DVD has
gone beyond stitching a series of
products from other publishers to
stitching many of its own publications, including plusz-Magazin,
Sächsische Zeitung’s weekly city
guide.
The German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung is a leading paper in the Saxony region.
The Installation
An Economical Solution
German printer makes more money with stitching capabilities
E
very day, more than a million readers all over Saxony,
Germany’s easternmost
federal state, keep up-to-date
with the latest news from Sächsische Zeitung and Morgenpost für
Sachsen. These are just two of the
many titles published by Dresdner
Verlagshaus Druck GmbH (DVD),
one of Europe’s top innovators in
the field of newspaper production.
The publisher regularly endeavors
to break into new markets with
service-oriented, regional magazines covering a broad spectrum
of topics. However, all its various
titles have one thing in common:
editorial and layout excellence that
has made them leaders in their
respective segments.
Extending the Portfolio
So what makes DVD so innovative? DVD’s production plant is
equipped with four printing lines
with an hourly capacity of up to
240,000 newspapers, each up to
48 pages in length (Sächsische
Zeitung alone contains appromixately 220 different pages, submitted by the main and local editorial
offices). DVD is a subsidiary of
Dresdner Druck- und Verlagshaus
Mediengruppe (DD+V), a highly
diversified media company with
several independent subsidiaries
specialized in a variety of fields
from printing to delivery. (DD+V is
itself a sixty percent subsidiary of
Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG.)
Accordingly, DVD prints a large
number of third-party products—
and it was this external demand
that first persuaded DVD to extend
its portfolio by offering in-line
stitching for coldset products.
Higher Value at a Low Cost
1In a competitive bidding situation
between two printers, the added
value provided by a stitching option
can make the difference, at negligible
cost to the printer. Indeed, stitching—
at 0.03 euro cents per copy—is a drop
in the ocean compared to any other
printing process feature. n
In DVD’s production plant, the
publisher chose to install a cylinder stitcher manufactured by the
Swedish firm Tolerans. Papenfuss
says “The main advantages offered by the Tolerans solution are
its compact and rugged design, its
simple operating principle, and
the excellent quality of the planning, operating, and maintenance
documentation.”
Two of the four GEOMAN coldset web presses were prepared for
the Tolerans stitcher in the folder.
The company opted for a Speedliner cylinder stitcher, to ensure that
in-line stitching is always possible
on one of the two GEOMANs.
“This configuration is ideal for
stitching tabloid products,” says
Papenfuss.
Impressively, DVD’s experience
at the plant so far confirms that
the cylinder stitcher has had no
negative influence on web press
performance, nor has it led to any
increase in the waste rate whatsoever.
Papenfuss concludes, “The low
investment and operating costs
make it altogether a cost-efficient
solution.” n
12 stitching solutions
www.tolerans.com | NEWSBOUND | no 1 2009
Product overview
1Tolerans has been the global leader
in the area of in-line stitching since the
first stitcher was developed in 1968.
With almost 40 years of experience
within stitching technology, Tolerans
SPEEDLINER® stitching system is the
most advanced stitching system in the
world with high focus on durability, reliability and ease of maintenance.
Tolerans in-line stitching systems
SPEEDLINER have rapidly become the
world’s most sold in-line stitchers in
the market. They are modular, reliable,
easy to install, maintain and operate. All
our stitching solutions are customized
depending on what you want to stitch
and what type of press you have. The
stitchers can be placed in almost every
kind of web press and run at full production speed.
Included in the shaftless stitching solutions is a customized, modular control
system totally based on standard components. Servodrives, controller, touch
screen operator terminal and modem or
Ethernet connection to the electrical system are some of the standard features in
the SPEEDLINER concept. The flexible
design allows integration in most press
control systems on the market.
The in-line stitchers
The SPEEDLINER stitchers are available as cylinder or ribbon stitchers
with shaftless or mechanical drive
and fit in almost all presses. They are
developed to fit either for newspaper
or commercial printing presses.
Included in the stitching solutions
are spool holders and wire feeding
systems for small wire spools and
optional for larger wire drums up to
300 kilos.
Additionals are wire trolleys and of
course spare and wear parts that you
need along the way.
Service and Support
The Tolerans stitching solutions
include on-site training and training at
Tolerans office with full documentation
and manuals on your specific solution.
We also have a worldwide network
of experienced service technicians
at your service around the clock. On
top of this we can offer a variety of
services packages available. n
more info of the different
stitching solutions :
www.tolerans.com
Tolerans SPEEDLINER® cylinder stitcher
Tolerans SPEEDLINER® Ribbon stitcher
Tolerans SPEEDLINER® ribbon stitcher that has a compact format.
Wire trolley,
spool holder and
wire unwinder.
Tolerans DrumTop.
PRODUCT NEWS 13
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
Introducing the SPEEDLINER
S60 Compact
®
A Small Wonder
T
olerans is pleased to launch the revolutionary
high-end stitching solution that fits into
presses that haven’t had enough space for a
stitcher before.
The SPEEDLINER S60 Compact, being shaftless and small, opens up various possibilities
for placing the machine in different positions
around the press. Installation requires very little modification of the folder, so the process is
quick and easy. The stitcher’s low weight makes
Producing
Staples
At full press speed the
Speedliner® stitchers produce
staples with extreme accuracy
and total control during the
process.
removal and servicing simpler, too.
The patented SPEEDLINER S60 Compact can
run in either straight or skip mode. The 14mmwide staples are cut from 0.5mm gauge wire
with a minimum length of 560mm. n
1
The wire is fed from spools
and guided into the stitcher.
After feeding the correct
length of wire, the wire is cut to
the full length of the staple.
The Tolerans tab knife produces
a more scissor-like cut.
Cutting-Edge Technology
The Double Motorized Tab Slitter
S
ay good-bye to those standard
“crush-type” knives that can’t
produce clean cuts of highly-paginated printed products: Tolerans
presents the Double Motorized Tab
Slitter, a revolutionary technological
advance. Thanks to the spring-loaded contact point between its knives,
the Tolerans tab knife produces a
more scissor-like cut (one that is
almost dustless compared to traditional crush web slitting on an RTF
roller). Tolerans double-driven knives
dramatically increase the maximum
number of webs that can be cut without compromising high cutting qual-
ity. The startup behavior (beginning
of the cut) is also greatly improved.
Since both knives are driven slightly
faster than the web, they minimize
the risk of web breakage—and by
cutting closer to the former nose,
they allow for better control of the
web tension. n
2
The cut wire is formed to a
U-shape. This is made when
the wire is in a fixed position and passes over the former
wheel.
Tolerans SPEEDLINER® 2.0
T
oday, the SPEEDLINER series
is the world’s most popular line
of stitchers in the market—they’re
reliable and easy to install, maintain,
and operate. Inspired by their own
success, Tolerans is developing the
next generation’s in-line stitchers
that will be even easier to operate
and maintain: SPEEDLINER 2.0.
To minimize down-time, the new
series of advanced in-line stitchers
will operate with a modular service
cassette concept where no adjustments are needed when changing
wear parts.
Those wear parts will be made
from highly durable new materials
that represent the latest technology.
All major pre-greased bearings will
be replaced by open bearings with a
central grease system that lubricates
them”.
Stay tuned for more updates as
the launch date approaches… n
3
After being formed the wire
is pressed through the web
stream to hit the clincher
dies. The legs of the staple are
bent in a bow shape, and the
staple is complete.
14 CONFIGURATIONS
www.tolerans.com | NEWSBOUND | no 1 2009
Stitching Possibilities
D
epending on what you intend
to stitch and what type of
press you have, there are a variety
of possible stitching solutions. It’s
important to consider your future
needs, so that you don’t get locked
into only one possibility.
Stitchers can be installed in almost every kind of web press, and
in various configurations, depending on the production needs and
the technical possibilities.
So exactly where are they installed? Again, this depends on
what you want to stitch, your pro-
Whether they are
newspapers, accompanying sections, or
commercial products,
the following formats
can be stitched:
• Tabloid
• Mini-Berliner
• A4
duction capability, and the technical possibilities. Consider what
you want to stitch: Newspapers?
Sections, like sports, business, etc.?
TV-section? Real estate inserts?
Commercial products?
Below are some of the most common solutions. Please note that
depending on the folder configuration, these applications could
be possible either for double- or
single-width presses, and with single or double round stitchers.
More examples can be found at
our website: www.tolerans.com n
Stithing three tabloid sections in on e print run
STITCHERS
RUNNING
SKIP
What it does: stitching three
tabloid sections in one print
run.
STITCHERS
RUNNING
SKIP
Stitching tabloid sections in a broadsheet newspaper
STITCHER
RUNNING
STRAIGHT
What it does: stitches tabloid sections in a broadsheet
newspaper
Stitching one tabloid section and the main tabloid sized newspaper
STITCHERS
RUNNING
STRAIGHT
What it does: delivers two
stitched sections from the
press.
Where/when it fits: suitable
when you want to have a
stitched tabloid in a broadsheet directly from the press
without any work in the mail
room.
Stitching several tabloid sections and the main tabloid-sized newspaper
STITCHERS
RUNNING
STRAIGHT
Where/when it fits:
suitable when you want
to produce two separate
stitched sections.
Cylinder stitcher stitching in straight or collect mode
STITCHERS
RUNNING
STRAIGHT
What is does: produces
multiple stitched sections
Where/when it fits: suitable
when you want to produce
more than two stitched sections from the press
Where/when it fits: suitable
when you want to have three
stitched tabloids. One main
section with high pagination,
two inner sections with lower
pagination.
What is does: cylinder
stitcher stitching in straight
or collect mode
Where/when it fits: suitable
when you want to produce
one section in the press and
want to have the possibility to run in either straight
or collect mode for higher
pagination.
no 1 2009 | NEWSBOUND | www.tolerans.com
WORLDWIDE CONTACTS 15
South East Asia
WRH Marketing ASIA PTE LTD
1 Changi South Lane
#02M-02
SGP-486070 SINGAPORE
Phone: +65-3 330 330
Fax: +65-3 330 880
www.wrh-marketing-asia.com
South Africa
Printing Products PTY Ltd
Vlaeberg, 8018
8018 Cape Town
Phone: +27-2 146 110 38
Fax: +27-2 146 148 16
Spain
Ferag Iberia
Avenida Quitapesares 31,
nave 4
Pol.Ind. Villapark
E-28760 Villaviciosa de Odón/
Madrid
Phone: +34-91 601 40 86
Fax: +34-91 601 40 88
www.ferag-iberica.com
Tolerans AB
P.O. Box 669,
SE-12635 Tyresö, SWEDEN
Phone: +46-8 448 70 30
Fax: +46-8 448 70 40
[email protected]
www.tolerans.com
Visiting address:
Vindkraftsvägen 6
Stockholm
Argentina
Ingeniería En Artes Gráficas
Julián Navarro 750RA (B1643)
Beccar Argentina
Phone: +54-11 47 32 05 28
Fax: +54-11 47 32 00 59
Australia
Ferag Australia PTY Ltd
Sydney Office (HQ)
Unit 6B/190 Bourke Road
Alexandria NSW 2015
Phone: +61-2 8337 97 77
Fax: +61-2 8337 97 88
www.ferag-australia.com
Austria & South East Europe
Ferag Ges.M.B.H
Kolpingstrasse 11
A-1232 Vienna
Phone: +43-1 616 38 90
Fax: +43- 1 616 29 73
www.ferag-austria.com
Brazil
KNAPP Representacões LTDA
Calcada das Bétulas, 97
Centro Comercial Alphaville
06453-000 Barueri / São Paulo
Phone: +55-1 141 950 728,
Fax: +55-1 141 950 729
Canada
Print2Finish LLC
835 Hudson Drive, Yardley
PA 19067, USA
Phone: +1 215 378 7837
www.print2finish.com
China
Ekpac Grahpics
Ltd Causeway Bay,
255 Goloucested Road 2083
Sino Plaza Hongkong
Phone: +852 2555 5555
Czech
Partner: Ferag CZ
S.R.O.Address: U Stavoservisu
1CZ-100 40 Prague 10
Phone: +42 (0)2 1008 4051
Fax: +42 (0)2 1008 4050
www.feragcz.com
Denmark
Scan-control
Handels & Ingeniorsfirma A/S
Postboks 209
DK-2605 Brondby
Phone: +45-4 363 15 00
Fax: +45-4 343 0138
www.scan-control-dk.com
Finland
GR-LITO OY
P.O. Box 136, FI-00211 Helsinki
Phone: +358-9 684 1361
Fax: +358-9 679 663
www.grlito.fi
France
Ferag France S.A.
Paris Nord II
66 rue de Vanesses
B.P. 52256 Villepinte
F-95957 Roissy CDG Cedex
Phone: +33-1 493 895 00
Fax: +33-1 486 327 55
www.ferag-france.com
Germany
WRH Marketing Deuschland
GmbH
Otto-Volger-Str. 13
D-65843 Sulzbach a. Ts.
Phone: +49-619 670 3980
Fax: +49-619 670 3989
www.wrh-marketing.de
Italy
Ferag Italia Srl
Via Grosio 10/10
I-20151 Milano
Phone: +39-2 380 027 70
Fax: +39-2 380 067 10
www.ferag-italia.com
India
S.L. Kulkarni Cyril Graphics Pvt.
Ltd.257-260 Udyog BhavanSonawala Road, Goregaon
400 063 Mumbai, India
Phone: +91 22 2686 5801
Fax: +91 22 2686 7290
Israel
Boris S. Israel LTD
Box 2343, 591123 Bat Yam
Phone: +972-3 553 06 64
Fax: +972-3 553 07 27
Japan
u-Veritas Tech Co., Ltd
2-59-20, Shimo Kitaku
115-0042 Tokyo
Phone: +81-3 524 954 41
Fax: +81-3 524 954 48
www.u-veritas-world.com
Mexico and Central America
Print2Finish LLC
835 Hudson Drive, Yardley
PA 19067, USA
Phone: +1 215 378 7837
www.print2finish.com
Netherlands
VPS
Oostergracht 6, 3763 LB Soest
Post-box 336, 3760 AH Soest
Phone: +31-(0) 35 609 64 00
Fax: +31-(0) 35 609 64 10
www.vpps.nl
Norway
see Tolerans AB
Poland
Ferag Polska
ul. Kurantòw 34PL-02-873
WARSAW
Phone: +48-(0)22 855 46 60
Fax: +48-(0)22 855 46 70
www.ferag.pl
Russia & GUS States
INTRACO
Ul. Timirjazewskaja 1/35th floor
RUS-127422 Moscow
Phone: +7 495 983 30 05
Phone: +7 495 611 34 65
Fax: +7 495 956 12 24
www.intraco-russia.com
Sweden
See Tolerans AB
Switzerland
See Tolerans AB
Turkey
Pasifik Trading
Yüzyil Mah. Mas-Sit Matbaacilar Sitesi
4. Cadde No: 121 34560
Bagcilar -Istanbul
Phone: +90-2 124 327 777,
Fax: +90-2 124 327 799
www.pasifiktrading.com.tr
United Kingdom
WRH Marketing UK Ltd
6 Stansted Courtyard, Parsonage Road, Takeley, Essex,
CM22 6PU
Phone: +44-1 279 635 657,
Fax: +44-1 279 445 666
www.wrh-marketing-uk.com
United States of America
see Tolerans AB
For more countries,
please visit our website:
www.tolerans.com
www.tolerans.com | newsBoUnD | no 1 2009
ons
secti
d
e
h
stitc w more nd
allo front a
ium
or
prem k pages f
bac ertisers.
adv
stitching adds value to your newspaper!
Ever tried to balance a copy of your
newspaper, and had the pages fall out
when you turn from one page to another? stitching solves the problem.
stitching makes
your newspaper:
✓ easy to navigate
✓ more durable
✓ secures recycling
today, when newspaper marketing
is so focused on navigation, stitching
is a quick and economical solution. a
stitched newspaper with distinct sections appeals to both readers and advertisers—and it packages supplements
better, adding value for advertisers and
increasing your revenue.
tolerans is the global leader in
advanced in-line stitching systems for
newspaper and commercial printers. In
business since 1947, we have installed
stitchers in 70 countries. Contact us
today and you can start stitching now!
More information at www.tolerans.com
The World Leader in In-line Stitching
need advice on how to reinvent your newspaper with stitching? send us a copy of your newspaper together
with your business card to tolerans aB, p.o. Box 669, 13526 tyresö, sweden. we’ll be happy to advise you.