For Jesper Thomsen, Technical Manager of the long-standing Muller Martini customer Fynske Medier based in Denmark's Odense, the newspaper fair with a long tradition has not lost any of its significance. "This year, I again met lots of people at the World Publishing Expo with whom I usually only communicate by e-mail. At the fair, I can see them in person and discuss current trends in our industry." "Although I only had just a few meetings this year, they were all the more detailed." Jesper Thomsen had one of these meetings at the Muller Martini booth, where he discussed synergy solutions for his company with the mailroom specialists of Muller Martini. The reason for this was that following a company takeover, Fynske Medier not only has the mailroom in Odense, but a total of three such facilities, where no fewer than 12 daily and 67 weekly newspapers are produced.

"A Wonderful Forum"
Also for Bengt Föbker, Managing Director of Pressedruck Potsdam GmbH, where a ProLiner inserting system from Muller Martini is in use, the World Publishing Expo is and remains "a wonderful forum, where I can maintain contacts and make new ones in a bundled fashion. Spread over a small area, I can hold many meetings and am not forced to visit ten different open house events organized by the various providers. I therefore hope that this fair, which is still important for me, will continue to exist in the future." Given the slightly solemn mood prevalent in the shrinking newspaper market, Bengt Föbker considers it to be all the more important to exchange ideas and experiences and to learn from machine manufacturers what strategies they are pursuing. "I therefore found the personal explanations of Bruno Müller at the Muller Martini dinner event far more interesting than reading a newsletter."

The CEO of Muller Martini had the opportunity to welcome approximately 80 guests from various countries at the traditional get-together held at the historic Speicherboden in Hamburg. "It's a challenging time for all parties involved in the graphic design industry," he said in his brief after-dinner speech. "But I'm convinced that print has a future and we'll find joint ways to success." In this process, Bruno Müller considers it to be important that the options for offset and digital printing are maintained in all segments, i.e. newspapers as well as books, catalogs or magazines. "For that reason, print finishing systems from Muller Martini are digital ready and can be used for both printing variants."

Large Mailroom for Oppermann
A couple of hours previously, Bruno Müller had toasted a comprehensive mailroom project with Oppermann Druck + Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (Rodenberg) at his booth. It consists of two NewsGrip F gripper conveyors, two FlexiRoll buffers and twin-unwind stations, two ProLiner inserting systems, six FlexPack bundle builders including a foiling unit, top sheet run and strapping, two belt ramp systems with six loading docks and the Connex.Mailroom control system. Oppermann is building a new plant in Rodenberg, where newspapers can be printed in the Rheinisch format in addition to the Berlin format – including also various weekly publications of the Madsack Group in the future. "As a traditional contract printer, we want to position ourselves even more strongly as a service providers for smaller and medium-sized newspaper publishing houses," says General Manager Werner Rohrsen, explaining the major investment. In November 2016, test runs will commence; the start of production is scheduled for January 1, 2017.

Two Saddle Stitchers for the Guardian Newspaper Group
Muller Martini was also able to raise its glasses at the fair booth with Brett Lawrence, Director of Production Newspapers of Guardian News & Media Limited in London, for whom the World Publishing Expo "is a one-stop shop, where I can see everything at one site." And in this one-stop shop, Brett Lawrence also embarked on a shopping spree, so to speak. The reason is that the English newspaper group is installing in its mailrooms in London and Manchester two Primera saddle stitchers with a folder feeder and a flat pile feeder. To better utilize the rotations, two insert magazines for the Guardian and Observer newspapers contracted out externally in the past and with a circulation of approximately 500,000 each are to be printed in house in the future. According to Brett Lawrence, the two Primera systems were chosen not least "because Muller Martini did an outstanding job when retrofitting our mailroom in Manchester. That strengthened our confidence in Muller Martini considerably."

As regards the retrofit buzzword: at the World Publishing Expo in Hamburg, Muller Martini also showed how the economic life-time of the mailroom systems can be extended by applying clever life cycle management and making manageable investments (upgrades/updates/training sessions).

(http://www.mullermartini.com)