WAN-IFRA Posts Blog/Virtual Study Tour of Japan

By: E&P Staff Over three days in late March, the WAN-IFRA Study Tour of Japan visited four cities to see five printing plants and a paper mill. For those unable to join the tour, the international newspaper organization offers a blog/virtual tour here, with words and images provided by Manfred Werfel, executive director of newspaper production, and Sergio de Oliveira, the senior program manager who guided the tour.

Participants observed presses running at 100,000 copies an hour, hybrid printing, printing of the world's largest-circulation newspaper and digital newspaper presses.

The production executives visited Yomiuri Shimbun, which circulates more than 10 million copies for its morning edition alone. They then traveled to Kyoto Shimbun, which relies on the 100,000-cph TKS Century press.

Visitors to the blog/tour site also can see printing plants that can consume as much as 2,200 tons of newsprint per day and the technical capabilities of papers like Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which handles two daily editions totaling more than 4.5 million copies, with half the pages in full color.

WAN-IFRA study yours showcase solutions from newspapers and media companies around the world. For details on upcoming tours, check the calendar at www.wan-ifra.org/events.