APN Ellerslie breaks through for elite Wan-Ifra club

APN Print New Zealand has become the first offset newspaper printer in the country to qualify for membership to the exclusive Wan-Ifra International Newspaper Color Quality Club .

The APN Print Ellerslie team has made inclusion to the Quality Club, recognised as one of the most prestigious quality competitions in print, a major objective for the last eight years.

Dan Blackbourn, general manager of operations for APN New Zealand, says, “Standards of entry to Wan-Ifra are exceptionally demanding, so securing this membership is a tremendous achievement and recognises an ongoing commitment from both staff and the management team.

“While it took some to reach this status, learnings gained over the period have proved invaluable for everyone involved in the process.”

Inclusion to the club of the world’s best newspaper printers will see APN Print presented with an official membership certificate at the World Publishing Expo 2014 in Amsterdam on October 15 this year. Wan-Ifra will also include the print firm’s work in the subsequent International Newspaper Color Quality Club Brochure.

Blackbourn says that APN Print secured its membership its printing, produced on a 19-year-old Goss HT70 double-width press, “with a team of skilled craftsmen. This achievement, along with the various other quality awards that APN Print Ellerslie has collected over the years, is testimony of the pursuit of excellence demonstrated by our team. Our commitment to quality and service is at the forefront of everything we do, and we believe that quality print is still a viable carrier of advertising and news.”

Membership means APN Print has already gone halfway towards obtaining certification in accordance with the ISO 12647-3 printing standard. Securing the Wan-Ifra Certificate for Standardised Printing will require the print firm to pass an on-site audit, including a test production run in the presence of a Wan-Ifra consultant as well as additional evaluations of the Cuboid test element.

The Ellerslie plant is the first within the APN Australasian Print Group to gain inclusion to Wan-Ifra and the second print site in the Australasian region to gain this recognition.

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