It was against this backdrop that, in 2011, the company launched the biggest investment programme in its history and updated all its technology. With a circulation of some 53,000 copies, the regional titles Giessener Allgemeine Zeitung and Wetterauer Zeitung together reach around 185,000 readers on weekdays. What’s more, various advertising freesheets and outside products such as taz and Kicker, with more than 1,000,000 copies a week, are printed by MDV in Giessen.


At the core of the investment programme is the Commander CT newspaper press from KBA which, with an output of up to 100,000 copies, sets the pace for the upstream and downstream processes. “To pass the efficiency gains from the new press through to the loading docks, we had to renew the mailroom, too”, says MDV Technical Manager Otmar Buss. Ultimately, it’s in the mailroom that the net output of the production chain is determined.

At the same time, the company has taken steps to print further newspaper titles and semi-commercial products under contract. In order to create the best possible scenario in this respect, the press hall and mailroom have been decoupled by means of a DiscPool 2 so that both sectors can operate independently of each other. The DiscPool 2 is a dynamic buffer storage that can wind and unwind products with one and the same station. It thus provides greater flexibility when used in connection with the MSD inserting drum. For the production of semi-commercial products, a StreamStitch inline stitching system and an SNT-50 trimming drum were also integrated in the mailroom line. As a result, for example publishers’ supplements can be enhanced by adding a cover. In future, the company would also like to offer these options to customers in the contract printing sector.