Ferag Mailroom System In Newspaper's New Plant

North Wales Newspapers, one of the largest, privately owned newspaper groups in the UK is to install a four-line Ferag mailroom at its new GBP16 million print facility in Flintshire, North Wales.

North Wales Newspapers, one of the largest, privately owned newspaper groups in the UK is to install a four-line Ferag mailroom at its new GBP16 million print facility on the Deeside Industrial Estate in Flintshire, North Wales.

The last remaining Welsh family-owned newspaper printing business in Wales, North Wales Newspapers' new Deeside venture has been financed by the company's own resources but it is being supported by the Welsh Assembly Government through a Regional Selective Assistance grant as part of its economic development strategy - A Winning Wales.

The Ferag lines will be fed by a new KBA Commander 85 press, which can run at up to a claimed 85,000 copies per hour.

From the two press folders, the product will be picked up by two UTR Universal conveyor systems, featuring Ferag's gripper for made-to-measure conveying, and forwarded to four Multistack stackers, which can each generate up to 40 bundles per minute, said the company.

Maximum flexibility has been built into the system as both conveyors will be able to feed any combination of the four stackers.

Each line will also have a topsheet real-time label printer and applicator with Linemaster control and incorporate bundle underwrapping and a Smartstrap machine for in-line cross-strapping.

The four lines, two of which will also include filmwrapping, will then deliver the bundled product to a PKT despatch conveyor and then in to delivery vans via boom loaders.

Commenting on why the company selected Ferag AG, Kevin McNulty, managing director of North Wales Newspapers, said: "We began the search for a supplier some time ago, but the main process came down to a fairly intensive evaluation over six months.

We originally looked at four mailroom providers, but quickly reduced those to three.

We then visited customer sites of each supplier to see their equipment running live and to get a better feel for how each works with customers." He added: "Finally we met with each team to discuss equipment specifications, support levels and working practices.

We don't embark on a project of this scale very often, so it was imperative to find a supplier who could offer us a level of help and support we were comfortable with.

In the end, Ferag won the order because the company could provide the simplest turnkey solution that matched our exact needs and it was able to offer us the level of support we wanted." With the new building being completed in the next month, installation of the mailroom equipment will begin in early March, at around the same time as the press installation starts and it is anticipated that the plant will be fully operational by late summer.

McNulty continued: "We're very excited about the new production site.

Our existing press facilities are aging, which has meant that we haven't been as competitive as we would have liked and the quality of our product has similarly been of a lower standard than desired.

The new print facility will allow us to completely redress those issues and to offer customers colour on every page, which we also haven't been able to do for readers and advertisers to date.

What's more, being so close to the North West motorway hub, the new plant will be ideally positioned for contract printing customers." Commenting more specifically on the new mailroom, McNulty believes that the superior quality of the Ferag equipment will have a significant impact on North Wales Newspapers' ability to deliver a high quality product.

He explained: "We expect the Ferag system to take the well printed product and process it in the quickest and most efficient way.

The inclusion of additional functionality in the mailroom will also give us a lot more flexibility and help to reduce waste.

For example, there are many instances when we deliver newspapers to multiple delivery points, so by polywrapping the newspapers, we can make sure that they remain in the same state as they come off the press and that they're not ravaged by the weather." Marcus Evans, managing director of WRH Marketing UK, said: "We're delighted that North Wales Newspapers have selected Ferag and WRH Marketing UK to supply and service its new mailroom and we're confident of meeting their expectations to ensure that they, in turn, can meet the service expectations of their customers." Kevin McNulty agreed that the relationship has certainly got off to a great start: "Thanks to the excellent support from both Ferag and WRH Marketing UK, who have worked very closely with our staff and attended many meetings, the planning for the installation of the mailroom has gone very smoothly and we're hopeful that the installation itself will be equally problem-free." North Wales Newspapers publishes daily, weekly and monthly titles, including the three-edition daily Evening Leader, to approximately a million readers per week.

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