Times Of India

Logistics Project

Semester II

PGDM (12-14) Div B

Karishma Vora PG12072

Lekha Badlani PG12083

Divya Rajani PG12086

Pooja Malde PG12096

Sargam Mehta PG12099

Vaidehi Pariks PG12104

Introduction to The Times of IndiaAbout The Times of India

The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper.

According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has the largest circulation among all

English-language newspapers in the world, across all formats (broadsheet, tabloid,

compact, Berliner and online).

In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million) it was

certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (India) as the world's largest selling English-

language daily, ranking it as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the

world.

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2012, the Times of India is the most

widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of 76.43

lakhs (7.643 million).

This ranks the Times of India as the top English daily in India by

readership.

It is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

which is owned by the Sahu Jain family.

The Times Group is the largest media services in India. It reaches out from:

11 publishing centres

15 printing centres

55 sales offices

Over 7000 employees

5 dailies including two of the largest in the country with approximately 4.3 million

copies circulated daily

2 lead magazines

29 niche magazines

Reaching 2468 cities and towns

32 Radio Stations. Its major brands include:

The Times of India, India’s largest English daily.

The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily, and the world’s

second largest after The Wall Street Journal.

Maharashtra Times, India’s largest Marathi daily and Maharashtra’s No.1

Newspaper.

Nav Bharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and Bombay.

Mumbai Mirror India’s largest circulated compact newspaper.

Pune Mirror.

Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore’s first morning compact daily.

The Times of India – Kannada

Times Group’s subsidiary companies include:

Times Infotainment Media Limited (TIML)

Entertainment Network India Limited(ENIL) that together control:

Radio Mirchi - National network of Private FM stations.

360 Degrees - Event Management.

Times Outdoors - Outdoor Advertising & Billboard Marketing.

Mirchi Movies Limited - Movie production, Entertainment.

Times Internet Limited (TIL), which has:

IndiaTimes portal

Times of Money - an online payments portal specializing in remitting money to India and

other parts of the world.

Times Global Broadcasting Limited - This was a Joint Venture with Reuters until Reuters

exited. The company heads:

o Times Now - A News Channel

o ZOOm - A Lifestyle Channel

Times Business Solutions controls:

TBSL - corporate website of TBSL.

Times Jobs - A jobs portal.

SimplyMarry - A matrimonial portal. (Earlier known as TimesMatri).

Magic Bricks - A real estate portal.

Yolist - Free classifieds portal.

Ads2Book - Online classifieds booking system for print publications.

World Wide Media - A magazine joint venture between BCCL and BBC magazines. WWM

heads:

Filmfare

Filmfare Awards

Femina

Femina Miss India A Beauty Pageant

Top Gear India

Hello

BBC Good Homes

Grazia

TIML Golden Square Limited which purchased Virgin Radio (soon to be called Absolute

Radio)in the United Kingdom. This company is a direct subsidiary of BCCL (not through

TIML or ENIL).

History of Times of India

The Times of India was founded on 3 November 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal

of Commerce in Bombay, during the British Raj.

In 1861, the Bombay Times was renamed as The Times of India after amalgamation of

three more newspapers.

After India's independence the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous

industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of

the Kunal Jain group from Bijnore, Uttar Pradesh.

The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

This company, along with its other group companies, known as The Times Group, also

publishes The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror, Bangalore Mirror,

Ahmedabad Mirror, the Nav Bharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), The

Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet) and Ei Samay (a Bengali

daily).

The paper's main rivals in India are Hindustan Times and The Hindu, which hold second

and third position by circulation.

Overview of the Logistical Procedure of The Times Of IndiaThe Time Line of the Logistical Procedure

The process starts by data collection from the various journalists that work from various

parts of the city and for different sections of the newspaper and different supplements of

the newspaper.

12:00 pm : City Specific News is collected from the various journalists

The various writers and columnists send their write ups and the proof reading are done.

02:00 pm : The Bombay Times is printed and ready along with the other

supplements

For the main issue the head offices in Mumbai need to co-ordinate with the other head

offices all over India.

02:30 pm : Discussions with National Bureau- Delhi

A dummy page layout is made to see the layout of the articles and advertisements and the

space allocations

04:30-05:00 pm: Dummy paper is ready

Daily in the evening a discussion is held with the editors of the National Bureau on the

National News

06:00 to 08:00 pm : Editorial meetings with National Bureau- Delhi on National

news - via phone and video conferencing.

By late evening the layout of the main Times Of India is to be readied.

08:00 pm : TOI Page plan is ready

Latest time for submitting the final layout of the Times of India to be submitted

11:45 pm max: Paper submitted for printing

Printing

12:00 pm : Printing of supplements

03:00 pm : Bombay Times printing starts

11:00pm - 02:00 am : Printing

Transport

10:30 pm : Drivers report to Kandivali and Airoli

12:00 am : Papers leave TOI printing Centres

04:30 am : Papers reach last vendor

05:00 am : Vendors distribute to sub vendors

5:00 am : Sub vendors arrange the papers and insert the supplements or final

delivery

06:00-06:30 am : Delivery boys collect the papers and start delivering

07:00 am : Final delivery

Vendors

03:00 -04:00 am : The vendors collect some bundles from Dadar Station and some

quantities are delivered to them at their stalls by the Time of India’s tempos.

06:30 am : delivery to the households in and around Lilavati Hospital.

Data collection Time Line

12:00 pm: Rough list of city specific articles is prepared

The journalists mail their articles to the editors. The articles include exclusive interviews and

news pieces by the journalist as well as the news collected on the instructions of the editor.

The articles for the next day’s edition are selected based on their criticality. Some of the

articles may be rejected due to invalidity while the others may be pushed forward to another

day. Certain articles are paid articles. The paid articles are given preference over the other

articles.

2:00 pm: Bombay Times and other supplements are ready

Papers such as Times Life, Educational Times, Times Ascent, Times Classified, Times

Wellness, etc are mostly ready 2-3 days before their printing. Bombay Times is ready by

2:00pm. Some of the Bombay Times articles may be ready even two-three days in advance

while the others need to be submitted by 12pm max.

2:30 pm: Discussions with National Bureau- Delhi

The Mumbai team of TOI has discussions with the National Bureau of TOI. The two teams

share city specific news as well as news of National importance. The inclusion and exclusion

of articles in the following day’s papers (TOI, Economic Times, Navbharat Times, etc) is

also discussed.

4:30-5 pm: Dummy paper is ready

A dummy layout of the news paper is made. The general Ad- Article ratio is 50:50 but

normally there are more ads as TOI’s revenue is generated through ads.

The advertisements must be dummied first according to their sizes and page preference. The

area for articles is then allotted.

6 to 8 pm: Editorial meetings with National Bureau- Delhi on National news - via phone

and video conferencing.

Editorial meetings are held with National Bureau, Delhi via phone and video conferencing.

The final list of articles to be included in the papers is decided.

8 pm: TOI Page plan is ready

The chosen articles are filled in the space of the finalised Dummy paper layout. The headline

size of the articles is also based on the layout.

Probably all the stories selected may not fit in the layout, the editor once again has to make

some choices, and adjust to fit. If a story is too long you can jump to another page, adjust

headline size (to an extent), redo layout, cut story. If too short, you can adjust headline, redo

layout or, if it's only a matter of a column inch or so, just leave it.

Example List of stories:

City Commission, 25 col in.

NDSU commencement speaker, 20 col in.

Liquor licence approvals, 14 col in.

Fargo road construction, 10 col in.

Proposed tuition cut, 10 col in.

St. John Lutheran Church fundraiser, 9 col in.

Flood threat, 8 col in.

House fire, 4 col in.

Fishing derby, 3 col in.

Art show, 2 col in.

11:45 pm max: Paper submitted for printing

The 1st edition of the paper is sent for printing by 11:45 pm max. 15 to 20 mins grace in case

of contingency.

In case of breaking news, earthquakes, World cup finals etc submission time for that

particular page is 2:30.

The Single * edition is the last printed edition.

Critical Factors

• Quality of articles

The language used in the news pieces needs to be of a certain standard. It has to be grammatically correct with no spelling mistakes. It should convey the correct message and be easy to comprehend. The information provided in the news pieces needs to be accurate.

The editor checks the articles thoroughly for any mistakes before it goes for printing.

• Reliability of Information

The information published should be accurate and the source should be reliable. If the information in incorrect the paper could face serious damages like loss of reputation, court cases, etc. The reliability of the information needs to be checked.

• Journalist

The credibility of the journalist is very important.

• Editor’s discretion

The editor has to make the decision on the articles to be published in the next day’s paper. He makes the decision as per his own discretion.

• Language

The language used should be grammatically correct. No abusive words should be used. There should be no statements that would offend any religious group or a particular sect.

• Advertisements

The cost of each TOI paper is Rs 36 approx but it is sold as Rs 2.50. TOI generates its revenue via advertisements. The placement of advertisements is done first.

The ads should not be offensive.

• Breaking News

In case of any last minute breaking news right before printing a 15 to 20 minutes grace is given. In some cases the time limit is extended upto 2:30 am for the last edition. Eg: World Cup, Death of a politician, etc.

Printing

The Manufacturing Process

TypesettingThe composing room receives the story in an electronic format, with the computer text file

already translated with typeset codes. In a typeset file, the characters are of the same "type"—

style, size, and width—as they appear on the pages of the newspaper.

Modern technology has replaced the Linotype process through a method called

phototypesetting. The first step in this process is the transfer of the dummy to the page layout

section of the newspaper. There, an operator transfers the instructions on the dummy into a

rough page prototype. A printed version may be looked over and adjusted several times by

one of the reporters whose story is featured as well as by the copy editor. If another breaking

story comes in, this page layout can be altered in a matter of minutes.

Image transferenceThe final version of the page is then approved by the editor on duty—sometimes a night

editor in the case of a paper that is slated for a morning edition—and sent over to a process

department. There, the page is taken in its computer format and transferred via laser beams

onto film in an image setter apparatus. The operator then takes the film to a processor in

another section of the paper, who develops it and adjusts it for its final look. Photographs are

scanned into another computer terminal and inserted into the page layout. The pages that are

set to be printed together are then taped down onto a device called a "stripper," and an editor

checks them over once more for errors. The strippers are then put into frames on light-

sensitive film, and the image of each page is burned onto the film. The film of each page is

inserted into a laser reader, a large facsimile machine that scans the page and digitally

transfers the images to the printing center of the newspaper.

At the printing center, typically a large plant separate from the newspaper's editorial offices

and centrally located to facilitate

City wide distribution, the pages

arrive at the laser room and are put

through a laser writer, another

scanning device that makes a negative

image of them. In the negative image

of the page, the text is white while the

blank spaces are black. The final

images of each page are further

adjusted. This last-minute adjustment

may involve fine-tuning of the colored

sections and retouching photographs.

Printing

The aluminium plates of each

page next move on to the

actual printing press, an

enormous machine often two

stories high. When the press is

running, the noise in the

building is deafening and

employees must wear earplugs.

The most common method of

printing newspapers is called

web offset. The "web" refers to the large sheets of blank newsprint that are inserted in rolls,

sometimes weighing over a ton, into the actual printing press. The reels of newsprint are

loaded in at the bottom floor of the press. The rolls are inserted onto a reel stand, which has

three components: the first reel brings a roll of paper up to the press, a second is loaded and

ready to replace the first roll when it runs out, and a third reel stays empty and ready to be fed

with another when the first reel is almost finished. Each roll of blank newsprint has double-

sided tape at its edges, so that when one roll runs out in the press, another smoothly takes up

where the other left off without interrupting the printing process.

The plate cylinders then press the image of the page onto a blanket cylinder, leaving a version

of the page's image on the cylinder's soft material. When the paper runs through the press, the

blanket cylinder presses the image onto it. The chemical reaction of the ink, which contains

oil, and the squirting of jets of water into the process result in the actual newspaper page of

black or colored images on a white back-ground. Since oil and water do not mix, the areas

where ink should adhere to the page are black or colored, and water washes away the parts

where ink is not needed. This is why this printing process is referred to as "offset."

Next, the large sheets of printed newsprint move on to another large piece of machinery

called a folder. There, the pages are cut individually and folded in order. This entire printing

process can move as fast as 60,000 copies per hour. Quality control technicians and

supervisors take random copies and scan them for printing malfunctions in color, order, and

readability. Next, a conveyer belt moves the papers into a mail room section of the plant,

where they are stacked into quires, or bundles of 24. The quires then move to another section

where a machine wraps them in plastic. The bundles are now ready to be loaded onto delivery

trucks for distribution.

The TOI has 26 printing centres

The times of India is printed from the following places:

-Ahemdabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad,

Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Patna, Pune,

Ranchi, Surat.

Printing Of TOI

The distribution process in times of India takes place on 2 phases one for the up country

edition and other for the city called the mid night edition, the up country editions are first

printed and distributed because they have to reach a longer distance. The upcountry edition is

circulated to the outskirts of Mumbai and the city edition is circulated within Mumbai. The

concept is that the longest distance gets the first printed copy and the nearest distance gets the

last printed copies. The reporters collect the information all round the day and then they are

edited and made ready for printing. Dummy paper of TOI is ready at around 4.30-5 pm. The

TOI page plan is ready by 8pm. The early edition or the up country edition is edited at around

10.00pm and the printing starts at 11.00pm and the mid night edition starts printing by

12.00am, thus the news are updated till 12.00am for the midnight edition.

Bombay Times

2:00 pm : Bombay Times is ready and other supplements are ready.

Based on the number of advertisement and articles and news, space is allocated accordingly and a dummy paper is prepared. The printing starts at 3pm

Stop Printing: In case of breaking news or changes in the articles.

Special Papers TOI for schools: TOI has a tie up with various schools. They print special editions

Economic Times for Colleges: TOI has a tie up with various colleges to whom they

supply the special Economic Times edition.

Cost of 1 TOI paper with supplements is Rs 32

Critical factors

1. Printing Order: Sequence of Printing

1. Bombay Times

2. Times life, Education, etc.

3. Maharashtra Times

4. Nav Bharat Times

5. Economic Times

6. Times Of India is printed last- There is a different TOI for every area.

The last news piece is taken at 12:00 pm.

2. Inventory

The traditional inbound raw material supply chain opportunity for a newspaper is limited.

While value and potentially a cash infusion can be gained from a hard look at necessary

inventory in-house, most newspapers prefer a “better safe than sorry” approach to raw

material inventory management. Inbound transportation of newsprint and ink is largely

governed by broad purchasing contracts and commodity pricing. These channels are best left

flexible to leverage base product pricing, as this pricing gain exceeds any potential for

savings from an optimized inbound supply chain.

3. Speed of printing

In general, the critical time for press operations is the fixed run time. Papers per hour output

is limited by the speed of a press and the number of presses. The number and type of press is

difficult and costly to alter. Remaining opportunities inside press operations involve

eliminating any barriers to maximum sustainable speed. The value of each stop and start,

each edition change, or once weekly collect run, should be assessed versus its total cost to the

supply chain.

Total copies printed in Mumbai 44,00,000 approx

Speed of printing is 1,50,000 copies per hour.

4. Quality control of newsprint and ink (Types Of Papers):

Standard News Print: TOI, BT

Salmon Print: Economic Times.

Glaze newsprint: It is imported and very costly. This type of newsprint is used for

Brand Equity and Times Life.

NIPA news print: Earlier every newspaper Co had to buy NIPA newsprint from the

government. But that print was not good as it would get smudged and would cause a lot of

wastage. Now the newsprint is imported from Switzerland and Finland.Earlier Lino Machines

were used, they required typing blocks, etc. Now TOI uses the latest technology. It is the

same used as The New York Times. When the new machines were imported they used US

English and a lot of errors would be made due to that but now they use UK English. The new

age is transmitted to Kandivali and Airoli.

Airoli Plant: Barcoding of newspapers for different areas is done. There is Automatic

insertion of supplements.

State of art printing press

German Machines are used for printing

Ink: Foreign newsprint.

Leading ERP systems: Sap. At any given time they can track down copies in any

area.

5. Power supply

Another critical factor is power supply. They have to ensure that there is proper power supply

to manufacture papers. In case of power supply cuts they have to maintain generators. But it

takes time to start the generators and continue with the printing process. It will delay the

supply of newspaper to vendors. Hence they have to maintain batteries which could be

inserted immediately after power supply cuts. They have to ensure that batteries are kept

charged.

PACKAGINGAnalysis of the ideal packaging operations for any newspaper involves balancing packaging

and distribution operations for maximum gain to the system. While time critical operations

can yield the most noticeable impact, workflow for both packaging and distribution can also

be improved by proper integration of pre-packaged product into the entire supply chain

workflow.

Packaging operations are the keystone to an efficient newspaper supply chain. Balancing

circulation and human resource strategy with the processes and equipment necessary to meet

the defined goals for today’s marketplace can yield substantial gains in efficiency, accuracy,

and cost.

DISTRIBUTION

Responsibility for getting the newspaper from the press to the reader falls to the distribution division.

Large newspapers publish two, three or even four editions, all of which must be ready to leave the

newspaper plant at a certain time. The main aim is that the papers need to reach every household

before everyone wakes up.

Distribution is an essential element in the newspaper industry as the life time of newspapers are very

short and thus a selection of proper channel and appropriate intermediaries is very important.

The newspaper distributor has the rights to distribute the newspaper in his area. The revenue of the

newspaper distributor is based on a commission on the sale of every newspaper. The circulation is

normally through salesmen appointed and salaried by the distributors, who in turn pass it on to

hawkers.

Hawkers, vendors and book stall owners are the last link of the supply chain before newspaper

reaches readers. The hawkers' remuneration is also normally based on the commission system and is

generally the highest in the entire supply chain.

The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days (typically Sunday), is

called the newspaper’s circulation and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates.

Circulation is not necessarily the same as copies sold, since some copies or newspapers are distributed

without cost. Readership figures may be higher than circulation figures because many copies are read

by more than one person, although this is offset by the number of copies distributed but not read

(especially for those distributed free)

The distribution channel plays a key role in the newspaper industry, the newspapers have a very short

life time and hence it is highly essential to choose a proper distribution channel. The distribution

channel adopted in the newspaper industry is not the same as the distribution channel adopted for

other products, we have seen in the previous section how the normal products are distributed and now

let’s see the distribution pattern followed by the times of India. The normal distribution channel has

intermediaries like wholesaler, retailer, agent etc. But you won’t find them in the case of a distribution

channel of newspapers. The reason is that the wholesaler stocks the products for some time and then

passes the products to the next intermediary. In the case of newspapers, if the newspapers are stored

and delivered then they become useless, as the paper reaches late to the customer and by the time

paper reaches the customer the customer will get the news from various other sources

Vendors receive the papers latest by 4.30am and send it to sub vendors by 5.00 am.

REGISTERED VENDOR SUB VENDOR

Between 6-6.30, the Delivery boy collects papers from the sub vendor and delivers them to the customers

Transportation

The Times of India has a simple and efficient transportation system for distribution of its

newspapers.

The newspapers are distributed as per FIFO-First in First out method.

Times of India uses 300 trucks for transporting newspapers.

The process of transportation begins at 10:30pm each night.

10.30pm- The transporters have to report at Kandivali and Airoli. If the drivers don’t

report by 10:30, they are tracked down and if they can’t be located or they can’t make

it for any reason then TOI has vehicles and drivers on the standby.

12.00am- Papers leave TOI printing centres. They are first sent to far off places- Pune

and Nashik and then to Mumbai City. The newspapers that have to be sent to far of

places are printed first & the ones that are to be sent to Mumbai and Nashik are

transported first. The Maharashtra and The Nav Bharat Times are printed in Mumbai

they have opened a new printing press in Pune for Pune times, Pune Mirror, Times of

India

The loaders which are used to load the newspapers into the vehicles depend on the

size of vehicles. Enough place is made for the loader to move inside the truck.

Small vehicles need 1 loader

Medium size vehicles need 2-3 loaders

Big vehicles need 4-5 loaders.

There are 3 types of routes used to transport vehicles.

Primary route

Secondary route

Tertiary route.

The various modes of transport used are-

Trucks

Jeeps

Auto rickshaws

Cycles

Carrying Capacity of the vehicles- The vehicles are not filled to their full capacity

i.e. in cubic volumes, as the papers need to be dropped along the way. The papers are

arranged in accordance with the orders placed. It is generally filled upto 80% of its

capacity (20%less than full capacity).

Pick up vehicles used by Times of India are 1.5 tons, Mini Truck are Tata 407- 2.5

tons, Canters used are 3.5 tons, and trucks are 6-9 tons. These trucks are those that are

used for long distance transportation to Pune.

Payment of transporters is according to contractual terms and conditions. They are

paid on a per km basis.

The last vendor receives the papers latest by 4:30 am.

Criticality factors in transportation -

The common problem Times of India faces is that the transporters are not on time or

they may not be able to make it due to various reasons on that particular day. In that

case –

The drivers are tracked down. In case they cannot be located then there are

other drivers on standby.

They also impose penalties based on the delay of delivery of these papers in

the distribution centre.

Breakdown of vehicles.

Spare vehicles to tackle this problem. Also spare parts Eg: - Tyres to deal with such

emergency problems. Regular checks from the side of the transporter to avoid such

problems. Good servicing and maintenance of the vehicles is done.

In case the fuel is over which is a rare case, spare fuel to ensure that the vehicle

reaches the nearest petrol pump is kept.

In the monsoons they leave slightly before time.

Vendors

The vendors are the company’s sole touch point to the customers. The important dealers from

the company’s perspective are the vendors who typically have a committed demand based on

the number of customers they serve. The company expects the following from these vendors

To deliver the newspapers on time to the customers.

To ensure that they do not overcharge the customers making it expensive for the

customers.

To ensure that any supplement/promotional material being sent along with the newspaper

by the company is being delivered to the customers without any pilferage (e.g. at times

newspaper stick samples of products on pages in their advertiser’s promotion campaigns).

Papers reach all the vendors latest by 4:30 am. The vendors then distribute it to the sub-

vendors and the delivery boys deliver the papers from house to house. Vendors start

distributing to sub vendors at 5:00 am and subsequently sub vendors arrange the papers and

insert the supplements for final delivery. Between 6-6:30 am delivery boys collect the papers

and start delivering. By 7 am the final delivery is done.

Types of Vendors -

Registered Vendors: The newspapers are supplied to them in Multiples of 100. Supplements

are added by Vendors. Vendors buy a fixed, large amount of newspapers daily and pay in

cash on a day-to-day basis.

Sub vendors: The newspaper is supplied to them in amounts less than 100. 30-60 copies are

supplied to roadside vendors. Hawkers typically buy a small quantity (around 100

newspapers) and may not be regulars. On paying cash at a cash counter, they can collect the

newspapers. There is no arrangement to take back the unsold stock.

Delivery Boys: School children. They deliver papers to earn pocket money. It does not

hamper their studies or school as they are done delivering by 8 pm max.

The vendor we visited was Sunil. He provided us with the following information

He supplies newspapers to 50 buildings in the Lilawati hospital area.

He collects all the newspapers from Dadar at 5:30 am. TOI is dropped by a Tempo of

its own company at the stall between 3:00-4:00 am.

From 5:30-6:30 am he inserts the supplements.

He receives 350 copies of TOI, 100 copies of Economic times and sells 50 of them at

the stall and 300 are distributed in the buildings.

If there is less manpower then he himself distributes the copies in the buildings.

The last copy is delivered latest by 7:30 am.

In the rains for protection plastic covers are provided by the company.

Monthly magazines are ordered only when they get over.

Any extra monthly magazines are returned back at the Times of India office.

Criticality Factors

Lack of manpower is a major problem that vendor faces. The vendor sunil in this case

himself distributes the papers from door to door.

In the rains the papers may get wet and thus TOI provides plastic covers to protect the

newspapers.