Installation progress presented at the IfraExpo in Leipzig
At this year's IfraExpo in Leipzig (October 13 to 16, 2003),
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be demonstrating
the full range of cutting-edge, highly-efficient newspaper
production technology. Launched in 2000, the Mainstream is a
newspaper rotary press in 1x4 format with gapless blanket which has
become a solid feature of the newspaper industry. According to
Werner Albrecht, who is in charge of newspaper business and web
offset printing at Heidelberg, the press has won itself a key
position in its sector since it was unveiled at drupa 2000.
This is illustrated by the progress being achieved by the
rotary presses which are already in operation and the number of new
installations which are in the pipeline. For example, production is
just commencing at La Dépêche du Midi, a publishing group
based in Toulouse, France. The two Mainstream systems - the
second will come online in a few days time - are the first
presses of this type to be built in Europe at Heidelberg's
Montataire plant in France. The two presses built for La
Dépêche du Midi are in Berlin format with a cutoff length
of 470 mm and a web width of 1,280 mm. Each has 32 printing units
in four printing stations.
The publishing group in Toulouse produces the daily newspaper
La Dépêche du Midi, which has an average circulation of
250,000 copies. It also produces five more regional titles,
including the local dailies Le Petit Bleu d'Agen and La Nouvelle
République des Pyrénées, the regional weekly paper
ÔToulouse and a national weekly specialist newspaper called Le
Midi Olympique. The group also has a major publishing subsidiary
which produces free newspapers (Publi-Toulouse, circulation 300,000
copies).
Three more Mainstream configurations, this time for the
French newspaper Le Progrès de Lyon, are also in the final
stages of production in Montataire. The Lyons daily newspaper Le
Progrès is part of the holding company Delaroche which belongs
in turn to Socpresse, a division of the Hersant Group. Delaroche
monitors Hersant's newspaper activities in the Rhône-Alpes
and Burgundy regions of France. Hersant, one of France's
leading publishing groups, has more than a 20 percent share of the
newspaper market and owns approx. 80 titles in France and Belgium
including the national daily Le Figaro. Le Progrès employs
1,200 staff and has annual sales of 150 million Euro. The paper
sells almost 300,000 copies on weekdays and 400,000 copies on
Sundays, and is just about to replace its 30 year-old presses with
the new generation rotary presses from Heidelberg.
Two of the Mainstreams, comprising 64 printing units between
them, will be installed in Chassieu just outside Lyons, while the
third press - which has 26 printing units - is destined
for Saint-Etienne.
Assembly work for Le Dauphine Libéré is also
underway at the moment. Le Dauphiné Libéré sells
almost 300,000 copies across the Rhône-Alpes region and part
of Provence. The regional paper wants to replace its existing
newspaper presses in Veurey Voroize near Grenoble with two new
cutting-edge rotary presses. The Mainstream rotary presses for Le
Dauphiné Libéré will feature a cutoff length of 500
mm and a web width of 1480 mm, which will allow the newspaper to
reduce its finished format from 410 mm x 590 mm to 370 mm x 500 mm.
The two new presses are destined for the Veurey site. They are of
identical configuration with 7 webs, 31 printing units, 3 folding
formers, a JF-255 jaw folder and 7 Contiweb FD splicers. The new
presses can handle up to 56 pages, including 20 4-color pages, or
48 pages with 24 4-color pages. They can produce three different
separate signatures simultaneously. On-site installation is
expected to commence in early 2004.
Two configurations are also in the production or start-up
phase in North America at the moment - two Mainstreams for the
Transcontinental Group (Canada) and a press for the Roanoke Times
(Virginia, USA).
IDAB WAMAC, the leading provider of mailroom systems and part
of the Heidelberg Group, is currently installing a major order
worth 10 million Euro for French publishing group Delaroche.
Delaroche S.A. is the holding company for newspaper publishing
group Socpresse in the Rhone-Alpes-Burgundy region. Printing
operations in Grenoble, Saint Etienne and Chassieu near Lyon are
being modernized, and this should help the company to meet the
constantly expanding needs of the market. "In IDAB WAMAC,
we've found a partner which has made a good name for itself in the
mailroom sector, particularly in Asia and Europe ", says Dr.
Jürgen Rautert, who is in charge of Postpress at Heidelberg.
Image:
Production on the Mainstream configuration began in fall 2003
at La Dépêche du Midi, a publishing group based in
Toulouse, France.
For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Hans-Dieter Siegfried
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 63
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail:
hans-dieter.siegfried@heidelberg.com