Newssolutions encompasses the media group’s printing and logistics operations, including the Newsprinters sites at Broxbourne, Knowsley and Eurocentral in Motherwell.
Tracey Hart, commercial director for operations, said that Newssolutions wanted to “challenge perceptions” about the quality of coldset.
“We are not simply a newspaper printer and we want to go out to the trade with these facilities,” she said.
Newsprinters managing director Steve Whitehead said the firm had made a significant investment in improving the quality of its coldset output.
“One of the drawbacks of coldset has been the number of variables. We have worked really hard to standardise across the three sites and remove as many variables as we can, so we can print a lot sharper and with very little variance,” he explained.
This has involved investing in closed-loop colour controls and automatic density controls to optimise ink/water balance, as well as working closely with consumables suppliers.
Whitehead and Hart cited the Sun’s weekend TV Magazine, which is produced at Knowsley, as an example of the quality that could be achieved.
Spread from the Sun's TV Magazine
“We can also print a quality coldset inner and add a glossy cover. Some publishers might want to look at that if they are thinking what can they do because of what’s happened at Polestar,” Hart added.
Knowsley runs five Manroland Colorman XXL triple-width newspaper presses. The Sun's TV Magazine is printed on 52gsm improved newsprint 68 from three suppliers: Norske Skog, Stora Enso and Palm Paper.
The stitched title was previously printed gravure.
“We’ve got to the point where we believe the quality is up to that of rotogravure or heatset web offset on improved newsprint,” Whitehead stated.
“We also have a good history of our parent company investing in our print sites, for example our inkjet equipment is also available to provide added-value for third-party clients.”
Although the formats available are fixed around broadsheet, tabloid and ‘American broadsheet’, which Newsprinters produces for the Wall Street Journal, Hart said that potential financial savings could still prove attractive for publishers.
“If the right customer comes along we will look at other finishing options such as trimming. We are open to those conversations,” she added.
Newsprinters can handle stitching, polywrapping and distribution from the Knowsley site, and could also potentially team up with nearby gravure print partner Prinovis to offer extra services.
