09.03.11 - A trimming drum – initially the SNT-U and more recently the SNT-50 – brings a welcome boost to the autonomy of the Centre d'Impression Edipresse s.a. (CIE). Several daily, weekly and regional newspapers are produced in Bussigny. Then there are Télé Top Matin and Guide TV Loisir, two of the most widely read TV listings in French-speaking Switzerland, which are inserted into Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche and the Saturday edition of 24 heures and Tribune de Genéve.

Until the autumn of 2009, these magazines were printed externally and then wound onto MultiDisc ready for the inserting process at CIE via the MultiSertDrum. An SNT-U was installed in November, and since then production of the weekend supplements was entirely in-house, thus bringing down costs, eliminating transport steps and shortening distances. Which means that CIE saved time, gained flexibility in production planning, and also improved the utilization level of its own equipment. “Now, we had the entire production process from A to Z under our full control”, says Damien Appetito. The Postpress Processing Manager was pleased about the huge gain in decision and planning freedom.

When Ferag announced the new series of the tried-and-tested trimming drum, the management team at CIE expressed great interest. At that time, the system was still in the development phase. So Ferag first of all installed an SNT-U, which has now been replaced by the SNT-50. Damien Appetito is more than satisfied with commissioning, adding: “We are very happy with our participation in this pilot project.” The changeover was problem-free, and since then the lines have been producing at a constant performance between 40,000 and 45,000* copies per hour.

The fact that supplements are produced on the company’s own premises meant a change from heatset to coldset printing, and thus from coated paper to newsprint. In order to continue offering a convincing product to advertising customers, CIE have opted for newsprint with a higher grade of white, and also rely on the high printing quality of the modern newspaper printing machine. The result is not so much an inferior as a different quality.


* 1:1 production with allocation of one copy to each pocket.
In 2:1mode the output increases to a maximum 100,000 copies per hour.