Müller Martini sends five lines to Malayala Manorama

Malayala Manorama, one of India’s leading newspaper publishers, will expand its finishing capacity with new lines from Müller Martini.

The company says that five identical direct printing lines from Müller Martini will ensure a speedy production process from the printing press to the ramp at its three plants in Kozhikode, Kottayam and Kollam (all located in the state of Kerala).

Explaining the need for the new plant, Mammen Mathew, editor in chief at Malayala Manorama, says, “Printed newspapers continue to be the main source of our company’s revenue and that will remain the case for the foreseeable future.”

To enhance its printing capacity, the 126 year old company will install five double-width newspaper rotary presses with a maximum production speed

of 75,000 copies per hour, and printing capacity of 40 broadsheet pages. To cope with that speed, Malayala Manorama opted for a total of five identical direct printing lines from Müller Martini for the three sites – two each at Kottayam and Kollam and one at Kozhikode. These latest generation NewsGrip conveyor chains, each with a receiving and delivery station, have a new control system and feature new guide sections.

The five lines will come on-stream between December 2014 and December 2015. Each will include two NewsStack compensating stackers, Solema belts, a Sitma bundle film wrapper with cross strapping, manual application of pre-printed top sheets and a control system for bundle production.

Mathew adds that Malayala Manorama opted for the solution from Müller Martini for financial and technical reasons. He says, “We calculated the total cost of ownership of all the proposals we received and Müller Martini stood first. The maximum speed of 90,000 cycles per hour for the mailroom exceeds that of our new printing press by 15,000 copies. That means the mailroom systems are not producing at their limit, which lowers maintenance costs and increases their economic life-time.”

The Malayala Manorama, the company’s eponymous flagship newspaper, has a daily circulation close to 2.3 million copies. The company also publishes more than 40 magazines and runs television channels, FM radio stations, and internet portals.

Pictured above: Mammen Mathew (l), editor-in-chief of Malayala Manorama and Roland Bangerter, regional director of Muller Martini Asia Pacific sign the contract

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