Demands for more colour capacity in weekend titles and growing Sunday newspaper sales are behind a Sri Lankan publisher’s press upgrade.
Wijeya Newspapers is to install a new six-tower Goss Magnum at one of two print facilities Colombo in April. Production director P.S. Wijewardene says the investment is part of a company-wide quality improvement programme, representing a “real opportunity” for the publisher.
“With political developments in the country, new reader regions have opened up to us in the last few years, meaning that run lengths have increased and brought with them significant growth potential,” he says.
“As readers continue to become more discerning, the ability to maximize this potential in coming years will require versatile, multipurpose production systems incorporating a variety of progressive technologies. For this reason, we have decided the time is right to take a step up in capabilities with this latest press investment.”
The new single-width, single-circumference press will be configured as six four-high towers, six zero-speed reelstands and a 1:3:3 half-page jaw folder. It will have a 546 mm cut-off and operate at speeds up to 45,000 cph. Features include shaftless drives, motorised ink keys, spraybar dampening and blanket washers.
Wijewardene says it is expected to increase capacity at the plant by 30 per cent. “In addition to an increased demand for Sunday newspapers, our customers are becoming more quality conscious, so we were looking to upgrade our capabilities with advanced technology,” he explains.
Established in 1979 by chairman R.S. Wijewardene, the company claims to be the country’s biggest newspaper group by turnover. Its portfolio includes a number of national independent newspapers, among them Sinhalese title the Daily Lankadeepa.
The Sunday Lankadeepa – described as the ‘crown jewels’ of the group – achieved the country’s highest net sales. Other daily titles include Daily Mirror, Daily FT and the Sunday Times, as well as Adha, a national Sinhalese daily paper targeted at young people to encourage new readers.
Weeklies and glossy magazines are also published in the three main languages of Sinhala, Tamil and English.