Koninklijke BDU Uitgevers B.V. publishes Barneveldse Krant, the Netherlands’ smallest independent local daily newspaper, along with around 30 more weekly local freesheets and other periodicals. For outside customers, BDU Media handles advertising acquisition and end-to-end production of their titles. Koninklijke BDU Grafisch Bedrijf B.V. is an affiliate company that prints a total of 160 magazines, as well as newspaper editions for outside customers including Reformatorisch Dagblad with a circulation of 60,000. BDU Print thus has its finger directly on the pulse of the market and knows exactly the offering required to attract demand as a print service provider. This knowledge is paying off.

Another decision in favour of Ferag
Back in 2013, Koninklijke BDU Grafisch Bedrijf expanded its coldset printing plant with a highly flexible KBA Commander CT that would create capability for future extension of the product portfolio (see Info Box “A question of format”). The Commander CT delivers its print output to a Ferag mailroom that was newly installed at the time.

Extremely positive experience subsequently with the TPC (TopPerformanceClamp) conveyor chain and three MultiStack compensating stackers with SmartStrap strapping in operation there prompted Koninklijke BDU Grafisch Bedrijf to invest in Ferag technology yet again: in the summer of 2016, Ferag sales partner Veer Motion Solutions installed a TPC downstream of the older Manroland Regioman as well. Joined by two further MultiStack compensating stackers and the PKT bundle evacuation line, the TPC superseded equipment from another manufacturer that was getting on in years.

Processing at full press speed
The direct catalyst for placing this new order with Ferag was the acquisition of larger contracts from newspaper publishers in the Benelux region, with the resulting need for more efficient bundling and distribution. The Regioman line prints up to 60,000 newspaper copies per hour in tabloid format and can now be evacuated at full production speed with two copies in each TPC clamp. From there the newspapers are packaged into neat, plastic film-wrapped bundles.

With the second printing and processing line now also able to reliably handle demanding production jobs involving numerous small bundles, BDU was last year in position to add to its own 30 local newspapers by acquiring 47 more newspaper titles hitherto published by Telegraf Media Groep. This means extremely good utilization of capacity at Koninklijke BDU Grafisch Bedrijf, which has become a showcase model for successful focus on end-to-end production of weekly local newspapers.

“Neatly formed bundles”
In any case, plant manager Hans Daniels is full of praise for the new mailroom technology’s efficiency and the product quality it turns out: “We really like what we have been seeing from Ferag systems since 2013,” he says. They have worked “quietly and reliably”, resulting in “neatly formed bundles and tidily stacked pallets”.

A question of format
The Netherlands is the place to appreciate the pace and extent of change in printed daily newspapers. Newspaper and magazine printing company BDU Print in Barneveld invested in new production technology in 2013 because management saw the future of newspapers not least as a question of format. The new press was configured from the outset for half-size maximum format (“tabloid”, 289 × 415 mm). Half-tabloid products (207 × 289 mm) are what BDU Print calls “magazines”, while the corresponding quarter-format with tabs (final format 144 × 207 mm but configured as half-format in the machine) is fittingly called “BDU tablet” on account of its size: about the same as an iPad tablet screen. BDU Print can glue tabloid formats lengthwise, which makes possible the two-page jump. A section stitcher in turn enables inline stitched “magazine” formats. Two different product types (tabloid together with magazine or tablet) can be produced and delivered at once in a single print run.

About BDU
Koninklijke Barneveldse Drukkerij en Uitgeverij had its “royal” status bestowed in 1996. The company has been in existence for more than 146 years, with a majority of shares in family hands and 25 percent held by staff. Efficient workflow and rapid set-up times are important success factors, given the large volume of short-run newspaper and magazine production. The location between Utrecht, Apeldoorn and Arnhem provides ready access to anywhere in the Netherlands.
(http://www.bdu.nl)

(http://www.ferag.ch)