The Swedish printing group V-TAB is keeping pace with changes in the printing industry across the Scandinavian country. The production sites have had to constantly adapt to market requirements in recent years, which is always linked to changes in production possibilities. V-TAB enjoys an active partnership with Ferag – the preferred partner for mailroom technology.
V-TAB is Sweden’s largest printing group and focuses primarily on newspaper production. Hived off from the Stampen media group – one of the country’s most important publishing groups – V-TAB is active in central Sweden in the area between the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg. Following the closure of the printing plant in Västerås in January 2020 and others in Örebro and Norrtälje, V-TAB now produces at four sites:
– Coldset newspapers in Södertälje and Landvetter
– Coldset commercial orders in Norrahammar (near Jönköping)
– Heatset products in Vimmerby
The most important orders processed at the Landvetter plant just outside the greater Gothenburg area are the daily newspaper Göteborgs-Posten and a batch of the nationally distributed daily newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet. On average, around 400- 450 000 copies are printed here every 24 hours. This includes several inserts and customer magazines, which are primarily printed during the day shift.
StreamFold on the move
V-TAB prints on three lines in Landvetter, both in broadsheet and tabloid format. Two Manroland Colorman units and a Commander from Koenig & Bauer are installed in the press room for this purpose, with a total of nine towers and three folders. Two of the lines are already capable of producing a third fold, while the site in Landvetter is also home to a Ferag SNT trimming drum.
When the time came to dismantle the mailroom in Västerås, V-TAB took advantage of the services offered by Ferag. While some modules were sold to companies in Norway, the StreamFold module was moved to Landvetter instead. This was because the relocation of the majority of orders from Västerås to Landvetter also affected production of the free weekly newspaper Mitt-i, which will now be printed at the plant on the west coast despite being distributed solely in the greater Stockholm area.
Mitt-i has a print run of over 560 000 copies and is distributed to all homes each Monday by the Swedish postal service. The number of pages varies between 20 and 64. The print run is produced on Saturday and Sunday in Landvetter, then transported overnight in two batches to the capital for distribution the next day. One of the requirements of the Swedish postal service is that the newspapers should fit into mailboxes easily by adding a third fold. Therefore, the StreamFold triple folding module from Ferag also had to make the trip from Västerås to Landvetter.
Ferag – a one-stop shop for technical adjustments
According to Dan Eriksson – the technical manager responsible for all sites – Ferag is an extremely capable partner when it comes to mailroom technology. Both V-TAB and Ferag alike know the technology installed at all sites inside out, not to mention the respective production requirements and what the modular Ferag machines are capable of. This is essential in order to ensure ongoing adaptations and new combinations.
Ferag has been an engineering partner at V-TAB for quite some time now, and not only helps to find new locations for operating the machines, but also professionally dismantles and relocates the technology before installing it again in its new surroundings. In doing so, Ferag modules from different generations often also have to be calibrated with one another in terms of their software.
In Landvetter, it was not only possible to find the ideal place for the StreamFold module in the mailroom – the conveyors, channels and transfer points were also adapted accordingly. Everything had to take place according to a tight schedule, as the V-TAB plant in Landvetter now operates overnight on all weekdays using all folder deliveries and mailroom lines. It was possible to deliver the first edition of Mitt-i produced in Landvetter as early as 9-mars 2020.
