The Hindu new ppi Media customer

On October 12, 2009, Kasturi & Sons Ltd. (The Hindu) commissioned ppi Media, a subsidiary of manroland AG, at the IFRA Expo 2009 to automate its newspaper production.

The contract includes the installation of the PlanPag software for production planning as well as AdPag for the pagination of classified pages, and AdMan for ad production. ppi’s solutions will be integrated in the CCI Newsdesk editorial system, the ad order entry system developed by The Hindu itself, and IBM’s Nica Content Management System. Both the high degree of automation in newspaper production using ppi Media’s software as well as the company’s many years of experience on the Indian market were important reasons for The Hindu to place this order with the German company. Furthermore, ppi’s expertise in integrating other suppliers’ products enables such projects to be carried out in a quick and uncomplicated manner. Installation and integration of these ppi systems at The Hindu will begin in the second quarter of 2010 and end on schedule by the end of 2010.

Strengthening and expanding the market position
The Hindu is using these new ppi solutions to pursue very ambitious targets: it is among the 50 largest daily newspapers in the world. On a national level, The Hindu takes second place among the English-language daily newspapers. “We want to strengthen our position on the market and expand. Cutting-edge production and a high degree of automation are the basic requirements for achieving this objective,” said Kasturi Balaji, Director at Kasturi & Sons Ltd. For ppi Media, this order is an important step into the Indian newspaper market. “We’re very pleased about The Hindu’s decision in favor of more automation, highest quality and ppi Media,” said Norbert Ohl, COO of ppi Media, during the signing of the contract in Vienna.

About The Hindu
The Hindu was founded in 1878. With a circulation of 1.4 million and a range of 4.6 million readers, it is the second largest English-language daily newspaper in India. It is published by Kasturi & Sons Ltd. Another example of the publisher’s success is Business Line, which is the number two financial daily in India. For years, The Hindu has been setting high standards in the printing industry: its editions are regarded as benchmarks for high-quality print in India, its journalistic work as reputable, authentic and credible. The Hindu, with its headquarters in Chennai (formerly Madras) employs 3,500 people. The daily newspaper is produced at 13 locations on a total of 15 presses.

manroland AG is the world’s second largest printing systems manufacturer and the world’s market leader in web offset. The group with its production facilities in Offenbach, Augsburg and Plauen employs almost 8,700 people and has annual sales of some Euro 1,7 billion with an export share of 80 percent.

Webfed and sheetfed offset presses provide tailor-made solutions for publishing, commercial, and packaging printing – from brochures to newspapers with circulations running into the millions. A worldwide network of about 100 sales and service centers markets manroland’s products as well as process compliant system components and pressroom products.

Web offset presses for newspapers and high-quality commercial printing of brochures, catalogs, magazines, supplements and books are manufactured in the Augsburg facility (founded 1845). They are designed to meet the continually increasing demands on print quality and performance coming from printing and publishing companies all over the world. manroland’s Plauen facility (founded 1896) is renowned for newspaper presses and paper supply systems. The sheetfed press product range built in Offenbach and Mainhausen (founded 1871) comprises system families in small, medium, large and extra-large formats for commercial printing, posters, books and packaging. Some models are available with the revolutionary direct drive system. manroland offers added value with PRINTVALUE.

manroland offers also designing, planning, building, equipping and commissioning sheetfed and web offset printing plants – from prepress through printing right up to finishing. manroland is a provider of customized 24/7 service and (remote) maintenance packages plus integrated services and training measures (printservices). The portfolio includes a certified range of pressroom products (printcom), software products, and workflow management systems (printnet). The group provides consultancy services covering all aspects of investment and building planning, organization, management, systems engineering and process optimization (printadvice).