The Dépêche du Midi group, a French newspaper publisher, purchased two Mainstream web offset presses from Heidelberg, the companies recently announced. The two tubular blanket newspaper presses will be installed in Toulouse, France, in 2003.

The Dépêche du Midi group, a family run company with a turnover of $136.63 million, is headed by Jean-Michel Baylet and operates chiefly in the newspaper sector, publishing the daily Dépêche du Midi, which has an average print run of 250,000 copies. The Dépêche also publishes five other regional titles, including Le Petit Bleu d’Agen and La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées, as well as free newspapers, such as Publi Toulouse and regional weeklies including Le Midi Olympique. The French group also owns major shares in the television and travel sectors.

The two Mainstream presses will each have four towers and one folder, and will be installed side by side.
Photo courtesy of Heidelberg

The two newspaper presses with tubular blankets will replace three Heidelberg Harris N-1650 presses purchased by the Dépêche du Midi at the end of the 1970s.

“We wanted more color in our publications, as well as greater flexibility in the number of sections to answer the market requirements,” said Baylet. “The Mainstream also gives us the possibility to handle multiple editions with a better productivity.”

Launched in May 2000, the Mainstream is a 1-by-4 double-width, straight format press based on Sunday technology. The gapless blankets allow it to maintain the dynamic stability necessary to run at a speed of 80,000 copies per hour with a 1:1 plate to blanket cylinder ratio. This productivity allows the printer to respond to the reduced print windows demanded of publishers today. The 1-by-4 configuration also allows the layout versatility of two page jumps and sections with unequal page counts.

The Mainstreams at La Dépêche du Midi have identical configurations, with four towers, 32 inkers, seven Contiweb FD splicers and a JF-255 folder, in a 19-inch cut-off and 51-inch web width. Commissioning of the presses is planned for summer 2003.

“We are happy to be able to consolidate our partnership with the Dépêche du Midi group and are convinced of the ability of our Mainstreams to provide them with the flexibility, productivity and color print quality necessary to take up the challenges they have set themselves,” said Jacques Navarre, senior vice president of the Newspaper Product Center.

The sale of the Mainstream presses to the Dépêche du Midi brings the number of Mainstream presses sold throughout the world since Drupa 2000 to 14, or 473 inking systems.