Druckhaus Ulm-Oberschwaben (DUO) has invested in two COLORMAN autoprint presslines for its printing centers in Ulm and Weingarten, Germany, each consisting of two presses. DUO is pushing the envelope as far as delivery time is concerned: ordered in August, the first pressline is scheduled for installation at the end of March 2011.

The DUO management team is convinced about the superior technology of the new COLORMAN autoprint and as a result decided in summer 2010 to renew all its rotary presses. The four new presses will successively replace seven old ones by late 2013. This ambitious project stands or falls by the automation equipment that is available today: DUO is making a technological leap forward, especially with electronics and control.

Without interrupting production, the plan calls for the new presslines to be installed one after the other in the existing buildings where competitor and GEOMAN presslines from manroland are running at present. The existing newspaper webs will be removed from the pressrooms at Ulm and Weingarten successively and the four new COLORMAN autoprint presses installed during this time without readers and advertising customers noticing the changeover. In other words: even during the replacement phase, the newspapers have to be produced. A modern-day miracle? No, nothing other than professional teamwork on the part of the companies and people involved.

Druckhaus Ulm-Oberschwaben, abbreviated to DUO, was founded in 1992 by the publishing companies Schwäbische Zeitung in Leutkirch and Südwest Presse in Ulm, both of whom hold 50 percent of the shares. With 22 local editions and a paid circulation of around 180,000 copies (as of 2nd quarter 2010), the Schwäbische Zeitung is the biggest regional subscription newspaper in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The Südwest Presse has 14 regional editions, also serving parts of Bavaria, and a circulation of more than 300,000 copies (as of 2nd quarter 2010). This adds up to the impressive number of 36 editions with between 820 and 38,000 copies that will be produced by the COLORMAN autoprint and APL robots in future. The media houses will continue publishing various official gazettes plus regional freesheets and magazines.