A ‘smart flap’ print concept has pitched Druckerei Konstanz in southern Germany into award contention again this year.

The Südkurier Medienhaus newspaper printing business is a frequent winner for its creative ideas and newspaper supplements. In 2011 it won a German Printing Industry innovation awards 2011 for a brochure for a Swiss bag manufacturer, and the following year a Jobguide supplement won silver for Südkurier.

This year, a Smart-Flap supplement for a car dealership is a finalist in the PrintStars contest for its side-indices concept. The plant has been promoting its ‘smart’ credentials, the initials standing for ecological, flexible, innovative, sustainable, vividly colored, detailed, fast, service-orientated and unique.

Nine new products – printed on a waterless KBA press – include Smart-News, Smart-Out and Smart-Flap. The latter has index tabs, unusual for a newsprint supplement. By processing two webs in different special widths and a staggered fold, the first four pages are narrower than the following pages.

The two visible three-centimetre-wide tabs on the right-hand edge offer categorisation and additional ad options. Web widths of 590 mm and 560mm  were used instead of 630 mm in straight production, requiring only a software change at the reelstands.

Autowelt Schuler sales manager Daniel Beyer described the product as “a bull’s eye” for the dealership: “We have received a great deal of interest as a result of the Smart-Flap and have used it as a basis for boosting our talks and sales campaigns.

“We have also received positive feedback from our business partners, trader colleagues and from VW marketing.”

(with KBA PR service)