Vision
The World Printers Forum within WAN-IFRA aims to be the central point of the international news media print community, including printers, materials suppliers and equipment manufacturers for the print production value chain from prepress to press and to product finishing and delivery.
It addresses all print related questions. Its objective is to encourage innovation and productivity as well as product development that can be instrumental for publishers to exploit future oriented news media products. It promotes the power of print and the sustainability of print production.
The World Printers Forum aims to become the worldwide reference for newspaper print production with regard to
- International exchange
- Research and innovation
- Standardisation of processes and materials
- Print strategy development for publishers and printers
The World Printers Forum partners with other organisations working for the same objectives.
Mission
The World Printers Forum is the print community within the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. It advises WAN-IFRA in all aspects of the printed newspaper. Newspaper production is defined as the business of production planning, prepress data handling and processing, press and mailroom operations including connected topics in terms of management and technical implementation.
The World Printers Forum is open to all WAN-IFRA members who are interested in the future of the newspaper printing business and print related areas.
The World Printers Forum promotes
- Improving productivity and profitability
- Research and innovation
- Sustainability
- Standardisation
- Benchmarking
- Power of print
Objectives of the World Printers Forum are
- Exploring customer expectations in communication with publishers and customers
- Strategy development for the newspaper printing business, including new and emerging business models
- International exchange of experience regarding business optimisation and innovation in product development, marketing, sales and technology
The World Printers Forum achieves its objectives by organising
- Temporary and permanent working groups
- Research projects, reports and guidelines
- Standardisation and certification projects in technology and business processes
- Benchmarking projects
- An annual “World Printers Forum Conference”
- Advising WAN-IFRA regarding production related events
- Maintaining a blog for discussion, working group interaction and community engagement
- Promotion of “Unique Selling Propositions” of print in an increasingly digital media environment.
Organisation
The World Printers Forum (WPF) is an integral part of WAN-IFRA.
Membership is individual. Everyone who is employed by a WAN-IFRA member company or organisation can register online and free of charge as a member of the World Printers Forum. Membership is open to WAN-IFRA members who are interested in the future development of newspaper production technology, organisation and business and who want to influence this development.
Members can propose working items and candidates for the Board of the World Printers Forum. They can participate in working groups of the World Printers Forum.
Members meet once a year at the “World Printers Forum Conference”, which is organised in conjunction with the World Publishing Expo. The Conference receives the report of the board and discusses the state of the international newspaper print business as well as new projects and working items.
The current Technical Committees “Materials & Environment” and “Production” will be terminated, their members will join the World Printers Forum instead.
WAN-IFRA will initially nominate a Board of the World Printers Forum. The Board consists of eleven members, six from printers and publishers, five from supplier companies.
The Board advises WAN-IFRA in all questions of newspaper production and steers the projects of the World Printers Forum.
The Board elects a chair, a vice-chair and a secretary. The Board meets regularly two times per year.
Every two years half of the Board members will change to ensure the participation of a sufficient number of members and the representation of different viewpoints in the organisation.
