VUM Plant Manager Eric Elyn is very satisfied with the NewsLiner-A inserting system from Muller Martini.

With about half a million copies sold, Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij (VUM Media) is the largest newspaper manufacturer in Belgium. In the Groot-Bijgaarden plant, VUM produces seven days a week, sometimes 24-hours per day.The most important products are the three newspaper titles, Het Nieuwsblad (circulation of 220,000 copies per day), Het Volk (90,000), Vers l’Avenir (115,000) and De Standaard (100,000) with a total of 45 different regional editions. In addition, there are the internationally renowned Daily Star, Daily Mirror and Daily Express, as well as numerous (tabloid) commercials and two weekly magazines Visie (1.2 million copies, 20 editions) and Passe Partout (4.2 million copies/week).

NewsLiner-A for More Flexibility
With 45 different regional editions daily, one can easily imagine how important a quick changeover and selectable newspaper make-up are for VUM. Both are strengths of the NewsLiner-A inserting system.“It wasn’t only the high speed of the NewsLiner that impressed us,” stresses Eric Elyn.“The high production efficiency and the great reliability of the system were also decisive points in our choosing another NewsLiner line for the installation.”

In addition, the great flexibility and the option for targeted newspaper make-up was also favorable for the NewsLiner-A.“The inserting business has gained increasing importance in Belgium” Eric Elyn points out.“After all, we already put two million insertion products into the newspapers every week. These can be magazines, newspaper supplements or commercial products, from 2-page A6 products all the way up to 80-page A3 products."

Continual Expansion with Muller Martini Equipment
To date, VUM owns four NewsGrip lines, four FlexiRoll buffers, thirteen CS-70 compensating stackers and four Fontana palletizing systems from Muller Martini. The installation of the first NewsLiner-A line in Belgium was added about three years ago.“A decision that we have not come to regret,” reinforces Plant Manager Eric Elyn. The good experiences that VUM had in the previous three years with the high performance inserting system from Muller Martini also played an important role in the replacement investment at hand.

In the fall of 2006, two older inserting systems of the type ETR-M were replaced by a new NewsLiner-A type inserting line. In addition, two FlexiRoll buffers, two FlexiRoll unwinding stations, four additional CS-70 compensating stackers and the first two NewsPal palletizing systems in Belgium were also installed. This system sets a new standard in the newspaper industry with a production speed of up to 50 bundles per minute."We are already excited about the commissioning of the new system,” comments Eric Elyn.“It will let us expand our capacity, further increase flexibility…and we will also have more space in the plant.”