With their huge circulations and relatively small pagination, it's no wonder 4-1 is the press format of choice for newspapers in India and particularly the southwest coastal state of Kerala.
The double-width, one-around design increases press productivity without compromising the flexibility to increase pagination by two-page (broadsheet) increments. While output might be the same as a 2-2 press, flexibility is greater and fewer plates are needed.
The concept was one that Heidelberg retrieved from the Harris technology cupboard - along with sleeve blankets and pinless folders - during its brief flirtation (and bid for dominance) in the newspaper segment. But the engineering execution didn't come easily, even with the resolution of some technical issues with the use in some cases of a two-around blanket cylinder with the one-around plates.
The initial outcome for India was the expenditure of a lot of foreign currency, especially difficult when exchange rates were volatile - many presses in this format have been imported from makers including manroland, Mitsubishi, TKS and Goss - but the last five years have seen local maker Manugraph's entry into the market.
November's order by Malayala Manorama for two more Manugraph Smartline 4-1 presses and extra towers to extend the five it already has, confirms the show of faith the Kerala daily made in 2011. It's no secret that installation of the first 4-1 Manugraph was not without teething issues, but once these were resolved, the publisher installed four more, which are reported to be delivering good quality and low waste. The lower price of the Indian-made Smartline - and the opportunity to support local manufacturing - apparently makes it an attractive proposition, despite a lower rated speed (70,000 cph compared to the 75,000 cph of its Japanese Mitsubishis).
Malayala Manorama hasn't stopped ordering kit from overseas; just over a couple of months ago, it signed for two more Mitsubishi DiamondSpirit-SA presses, again adding to the five it ordered in 2013.
The 130-year-old daily newspaper - one of the world's largest - prints more than 2.3 million copies from 18 print centres, 11 of them in Kerala on India's southwest coast.
In the competitive Kerala market, rival daily Mathrubhumi is also printing on imported 4-1 presses, in this case from another Japanese maker, TKS. Times of India publisher Bennett, Coleman & Co is also a major user of imported 4-1 machinery, graduating from manroland's Regioman to the "made for India" 4-1 variant of its Cromoman, originally a single-width design.
The ceremony this month to confirm the Malayala Manorama order was a significant one: Manugraph will install two new four-and-a-half-tower presses - each with one 2:3:3 jaw folder - and add an extra tower to four of the five Smartline presses already installed. Above all for Manugraph, it's a milestone in the history of a hardworking and still predominantly family-owned business in a globally-challenged industry.
Peter Coleman