Starting in late 2015, the Imprimerie de l'Avesnois/Digitaprint printing house in northern France will digitally produce the weekly newspaper L´Observateur.

This will allow the regional newspaper to present local contents that are more relevant to its readers as well as advertising offers tailored to local retail zones. manroland web systems is in charge of the workflow integration and the inline folder finishing with FoldLine – from the printed web directly to the finished newspaper.

This new production line will allow Imprimerie de l’Avesnois/Digitaprint headquartered in Avesnes-sur-Help to become a pioneer among printing houses and print service providers across Europe. The new digital printing workflow includes a digital rotary press, a Kodak Prosper 6000 C, which will commence operation in fall 2015, ensuring the production of several local newspapers. These include in particular publications by the Publishing Group Sogemedia, along with a few publications by its project partner: Le Journal de la Haute Marne, La Semaine de l’Allier, and Liberté Hebdo. 

For the finishing, the printing company has invested in a FoldLine with the integration software “WorkflowBridge” with an integrated RIMA stacker. 

Alwin Stadler, Vice President Digital Printing at manroland web systems, explains why the introduction of digital printing is a model for success: “The customer appreciates our finishing systems with an industrial dimension. We are glad that such a renowned printing and publishing group as Sogmedia will apply our FoldLine and WorkflowBridge to realign its operations. This shows what our finishing solutions can accomplish for digital printing lines.” The Imprimerie de l'Avesnois previously produced its local weekly newspapers on a Harris coldset rotary press. 

Hyperlocal: the new key to success
The strategic significance of the investment to the printing sector is underlined by the fact that Hubert Pedurand advised the Imprimerie de l'Avesnois. The UNIIC (L’Union Nationale des Industries de l'Impression et de la Communication) and its research department INIGRAPH are greatly committed to the implementation of future-ready technologies. H. Pedurand outlines his vision: “The aim is to introduce innovations that will overcome the limitations of the printing sector. These include a drop in newspaper circulations, limited customer orientation, a lack of creativity, and disruptions of the production chain. It is important to give print products a new future.” 

Given their strong local focus, the Observateur, and all local weekly newspapers aim to be as close as possible to readers and advertisers. This is where digital production comes in to create more sophisticated and customized newspapers. 

Gilles Mevel, Managing Director of Imprimerie de l’Avesnois/Digitaprint describes the expectations of digital workflow and FoldLine: "The aim of our customers is to offer hyper-local editorial contents and advertising tailored to their target groups. This business model offers the printing sector a new chance. It will gradually evolve in the direction of customized printing products. Within this process, FoldLine ensures an efficient newspaper production process. Flexible ranges and formats that are fully integrated into the workflow will allow us to print quickly and efficiently in the future.” 

For the Sogemedia group, this substantial investment in its subsidiary in charge of printing constitutes the industrial implementation of a corporate project termed Transmutation. Its major goal is the complete modernization of its editorial and commercial offers and thus the entire range of work processes and means of production.
Jean-Pierre Vittu de Kerraoul, president of the Sogemedia group, points out: "The drop in circulation of print products is not primarily based on paper as a medium, but on the lack of editorial significance. The possibilities offered by digitalization open up wonderful new opportunities for printing, provided that it can control the variables in such a way that the customers receive their individual newspapers “on demand”.

Our challenge is to produce a newspaper for everyone that is still tailored to each individual reader."