Offset Printing
MAN Lithoman III for Concentra Grafic, Belgium
Thursday 22. January 2009 - Leading Belgium printing group, Concentra Grafic has ordered a MAN Lithoman III from the Dutch web specialists, Graphic Web Systems B.V.
The 32pp short grain press is configured with four print units and a flying imprint unit for improved target marketing of advertising products.
The press will be delivered by GWS in the near future with commissioning into commercial print planned for the late spring. The Lithoman replaces a 32pp long grain press that will be decommissioned once the new press is in production. The GWS sister company, Graphic Web Services B.V. will be responsible for the maintenance of the Lithoman.
Both companies are examining the possibilities to completely outsource the technical department of CG to GWS.
General information Concentra Grafic NV
CG is the printing arm of the Limburg based, Concentra multimedia group. Founded over 125 years ago, Concentra publishes some of Belgiums leading regional newspapers including Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen.
At the Paal-Beringen plant, the company runs four modern KBA Commander presses, each of which is capable of producing up to 96pp tabloid in full colour. In total the plant produces over 4, 5 million newspapers each week. As well as their own titles, Concentra also prints the international editions of Metro, Wall Street Journal Europe and Bild
At the heatset facility in Hasselt, the Lithoman lll will join 64pp and 16pp presses. This business targets the retail and magazine markets. In an average week, over 22 million 16 page sections are printed, of which over 50% is exported to the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The facility is proud of its achievement in being awarded the Bronze European Printer of the Year Sappi Award and the international IFRA Color Quality Award for the fifth time in a row.
Management control of the heatset and coldset operations is being enhanced with an investment in MIS/ERP software from Technique, which will improve the order processing and tracking systems.
Combined the printing facilities of Concentra contributed over 82 million Euro to group turnover in 2008 and used 70.000 tons of paper.
In September 2008 Concentra Grafics green credentials were recognised with the award of the FSC certificate. The FSC label of the Forest Stewardship Council identifies wooden and paper products which originated from sustainable forestry stock and is supported worldwide by environmental organizations such as WWF and Greenpeace.