Algeria Introduces Advanced Technology for Textbook Printing

Algeria’s Office National des Publications Scolaires (ONPS), one of the country’s largest textbook producers have currently installed the highly-vertsatile EUROMAN printing machine, a product of Manroland, German manufacturers of newspaper web offset presses, commercial web offset presses, and sheetfed offset presses.

The highly versatile machine gives double-circumference commercial printers a solid start in heatset production, combining efficiency, flexibility, and productivity, while maintaining high-quality and cutting-edge technology with a capacity of producing about half a million books per day, as the machine’s rotation rate reaches 37,500 times round the clock with a capacity to print 48 pages for a single volume or book.

During an inspection visit, Minister of National Education Abdelhakim Belabed was briefed on the specifics of this machine which would improve the speed and quality of book printing, especially as it is capable of printing 35,000 copies per hour, equivalent to half a million copies per day.

Incidentally, during a recent cabinet meeting, Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune also instructed the government to take necessary steps to develop ONPS as a pivotal tool for promoting printing and publishing in Braille.

The Education Minister was all in praise for the work done on printing books in Braille, stressing that they translate “the state’s commitment towards the blind segment.”

The minister added that a portion of the book printed in Braille will be devoted to the Qur’an and the Hadith which will be distributed free to the visually impaired and called for a “commitment to the deadline set for printing these books, taking into account the quality and quantity.”