"Have you tried to ride a horse up a steep hill while fastening the saddle?

We can say that we at Isafoldarprentsmidja have been doing just that for the last year or so.

In Iceland there are three newspapers published country-wide. Morgunbladid, Fréttabladid and DV. We have been printing Fréttabladid, the only free newspaper, since the beginning of 2001. It was at first printed on an old Goss Community press, never exceeding 24 pages and 65.000 copies. The paper was delivered free to all houses in the Reykjavík (capital) area.

In July 2002 new owners took over Fréttabladid and in August they contacted us and laid down their plans. They were going to increase the circulation to 86.000 copies and the number of pages to 32. To do that they needed better print quality, faster printing and more reliability and they wanted it before 15th November 2002. Right after that meeting we contacted Graphic Web Systems (GWS), with whom we had done good business in the past. A meeting was scheduled with GWS in Holland. There we met with Frank van Dijk, Eric van Kessel and Ron de Jong. The conclusion of that meeting was that the only possibility to meet the requirements was to split the job into two phases. Phase one was to buy a MAN Roland Uniset 60, 16 page tower, folder and a reel splice, which had been used for training in the USA. Phase two was to buy a new 16 page tower and a reel stand. The plan was to print on the first tower and insert 16 pages into 16 pages until the second tower would be up and running late 2003.

At the end of September 2002 a contract was signed with GWS and MAN Roland and on 15th November the first tower was up and running. The "Mission Impossible" was concluded by the combined efforts of the very capable employees of GWS, MAN Roland and Isafoldarprentsmidja.

In the meantime, GWS sold our old Goss Community press.

But the horse was just starting to move. In December 2002 the circulation of Fréttabladid went straight up to 86.000 copies and was often more than 32 pages. It even went up to 64 pages, which meant 4x16 page print runs and insert. The workload was total madness.

We soon realised that we could not wait for the second tower to be produced. A meeting was held in Plauen, Germany, with MAN Roland and GWS. This meeting was led by Eberhard Leucht the executive sales manager of MAN Roland. The conclusion was to purchase a 16 page tower and a reel stand from a shipment which had been delayed for some reasons. The biggest problem was that the software in this tower was a newer version than in the first tower we bought, therefore, MAN Roland had to make a software link between those two towers. Other mechanical modifications were also necessary. All this was done while installing the new tower which was concluded successfully in June 2003. We have to bear in mind that we were printing on the first tower 6 days a week while the installation team was connecting the two towers together. This shows the competence of the team.

But we had not reached the top. Fréttabladid grew to 103.000 copies, was printed 7 days a week instead of 6 and 5 days a week it exceeded 32 pages. And on 13th November 2003 we started printing the second newspaper DV and today we are printing two of the three largest newspapers in Iceland.

On 12th November 2003 we bought the third 16 page tower and a reel stand to be able to print 48 pages in one run and to deliver 96 pages with one insert. That tower we got from the same shipment as the second tower. Our aim was to have it up and running within 10 weeks, that is at the end of January 2004. This plan was interrupted again by the fast growing Fréttabladid. We could not start installing because in December the paper was never under 48 pages and went up to 96 pages 3x32 pages (double insert). We had to wait until after Christmas to start installation. Now the installation is going well and we hope to start printing on the third tower by the end of February 2004.

In a case like this all parties concerned must be willing to do their best to solve all problems that turn up. It was necessary to shorten all delivery times. All this while being in full production on the already installed parts of the machine.

It is our belief that this would not have been possible without the open-minded, inventive and supportive management of GWS and MAN Roland and their willingness and ability to find solutions to difficult problems. And last but not least the competence of the installation team, Sander van Ravestein, Carlo van Peer and John van der Heijden from GWS and Wolfgang Gross from MAN Roland, who are hard working, experienced and resourceful, all characteristics needed in demanding circumstances.

We don’t know whether we have reached the top, but the saddle is quite firm and if we need to get even higher up the hill, we will know where to look for help."


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