Stefan Segger has everything to smile about, with press orders flowing in what he quietly calls "the situation presented by general market developments".

He was speaking as a group of newspaper printers in Switzerland announced their decision to install a three-tower Koenig & Bauer Commander CL press to replace an older one made by a competitor.

Customer Somedia Partner - which comprises independent media companies Somedia, Sarganserländer Druck and Vaduzer Medienhaus - will commission the press at a new print centre in Haag in St Gallen Rhine Valley in the second quarter of 2021, where it will print more than 120,000 daily and weekly newspapers a day.

Segger - who is sales director at Koenig & Bauer Digital & Webfed - says the manufacturer is delighted to see the belief and investment in print. "We are also very satisfied with the level of orders we have received for newspaper presses," he says, mentioning "further projects in the pipeline".

"Above all, the products currently in high demand when making new investments are flexible, practice-oriented and automated presses."

"We wanted to, and indeed needed to, invest in a new press. The discussions were straightforward and focussed on partnership from the very beginning," said Somedia Partner managing director Urs Zieri.

The three publishing companies produce eight regional daily titles, including the Südostschweiz, the Sarganserländer and the Liechtensteiner Vaterland. At the weekend, the almost 50 employees at the print centre also produce two weeklies, the Liewo and the Schweiz am Wochenende.

Press features include three four-high towers, a KF 5 jaw folder, a section stitcher and three Pastomat reelstands with a stripping station and Patras A paper-reel transport system.

Pictured after contract signing (back row, left to right): Stefan Segger, Urs Zieri, Bruno Rothmund (press manager), Peter Rickenmann (managing director, Koenig & Bauer); (front row) Günter Noll (Koenig & Bauer Digital & Webfed), and Somedia Partner supervisory board president Paul Frei