Xerox also showed newspaper printing on its toner-based high-speed continuous-feed colour press, but it did not print on newsprint stock. Kodak, to my knowledge, did not show newspaper printing on its Versamark presses at Drupa, but it does regularly demonstrate this application on the machine at newspaper events. Kodak has also linked up with Manroland to add inkjet heads to newspapers presses for personalised data on offset printing and Agfa is also offering the Dotrix for the printing of newspapers.

But what exactly is the application for digital printing of newspapers? Digital newspaper printing is not a new concept. Océ has been working in this area since 2001 when the company established its business development programme for the newspaper market, the Océ Digital Newspaper Network (DNN).

The programme’s objective was to open this new market for digital print providers, get additional print volumes onto Océ presses and, of course, sell kit. For this, it has developed the following new business models, which are the sectors that all suppliers are now following in the hope of selling digital colour presses for newspaper applications.

Decentralised newspaper production – This is the only real model that is in operation today. Océ’s DNN is currently producing a large number of daily newspapers around the world at six different sites using Océ monochrome continuous feed presses. The sites are in Sydney, Singapore, Zurich, London, New York and Los Angeles and print titles like the New York Times, The Guardian, the Nikkei, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Globe and Mail and many others. This current decentralised newspaper printing market is for ex-pat, tourist or business community newspapers. In Portugal the VASP organisation uses a Xerox monochrome continuous-feed press to print similar types of newspapers.

The problem with printing in monochrome is that the publications are predominantly colour newpapers and advertisers don’t appreciate seeing their full-colour ads printed in mono. However, the digital colour alternatives currently available also seem to have failed to impress publishers and their advertisers.

Additional special editions – This is a special market that can also be linked with personalisation. An example is the German Handelsblatt News Abend, a digital magazine-format publication produced at multiple sites providing publications for first-class passengers on high-speed trains and Air Berlin national flights.
 
Newspaper micro-zoning – Newspapers are looking for ways to compete in advertising against new forms of media and see the opportunity of producing highly targeted zoned newspaper sections carrying very focused advertising and editorial features. Digital printing will allow such very short run sections to be produced and combined with the offset newspaper sections in the mailroom.

Personalisation – This will take the technologies already operating in digital printing, such as data mining and variable-data printing, to make highly personalised newspaper sections with decentralised production, additional special editions and micro-zoning.
 
The current situation as I understand it is that as yet, no newspaper publisher has ordered a digital continuous-feed high-speed press in either monochrome or colour. All the DNN printing is done on Océ presses at print providers.

Printing of newspapers on high-speed digital presses is definitely something to watch out for as newspapers worldwide are currently looking at this technology to assess whether their business could profit from it.

Digital printing of newspapers is potentially a major application for the future, but the business applications have yet to be proven. I recommend keeping a sharp eye on the developments in this area. 

Andrew Tribute is a journalist and consultant in digital pre-press and pre-media technology. Visit: www.attributes.co.uk