A new production facility that can simultaneously run up to 24 pages in colour now prints editions of The Hindu and BusinessLine from Kochi. The Diamond Spirit equipment made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was formally operationalised on Saturday night.
The world-class system can handle 75,000 copies an hour in broadsheet size, making for faster and better printing.
This press, with Japanese shaftless technology, incorporates features such as closed loop ink density control with automatic pre-settings. It can print four-page wide super panorama image – a feature that could offer advertisers also a new option. It features automatic colour register control from QI Press Controls, The Netherlands. A modern Ferag mailroom system complements the printing unit.
The Kochi edition of The Hindu , launched in 2000, was being printed from the newspaper’s premises at Vyttila in Kochi City — from where the editorial, advertising, circulation and administrative divisions of the Group will continue to function. The new printing site is at Vettickal, near Mulanthuruthy, 20 km away in Ernakulam district.
The new location is expected to improve connectivity with the larger region that the edition serves, and thus help ease the supply and distribution process.
This is the third printing unit of Kasturi & Sons Limited in Kerala. The others are in Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram, serving respectively the southern and northern parts of the State.
The press in Kochi has been operationalised a day after The Hindu , founded in 1878, turned 135 on September 20.
