With their first KBA Commander CL scoring an innovation award soon after it went live, French media group Sipa-Ouest-France has ordered another.

The 4x1 press was commissioned at France's largest newspaper group last northern autumn, earning the publisher a Trophées de l'Innovation Presse prize for best print innovation of 2014 in November.

Now an almost identical Commander CL is on order for installation in the northern spring of 2016. Ouest-France prints in Rennes - currently with five presses - and in La Chevrolière near Nantes (two presses).

Printing plant director Emile Hédan Printing says with pressure on printed newspapers from digital media, the group felt it had to renew its press fleet: "We have to continue to modernise our printing plants due to the media shift and prepare them for the future by increasing full colour capacity, efficiency and economy.

"In order to do this we need tailor-made presses in terms of automation and kit that delivers a high level of print quality, reliability and production flexibility."

The two new Commander presses in Rennes will replace three Miller Nohab presses installed in 1978. Ouest-France says its 32 million Euros-investment ($36m) will pay off in less than five years.

The presses produce 48-page broadsheets (with 40 in full colour) in a 350 x 500 mm format at 84,000 cph. Both 4/1 presses have five four-high towers and one mono unit, a KF 5 jaw folder with ribbon stitcher and six Pastomat reelstands. Further kit includes RollerTronic roller locks, ink feed and ink unit washing systems, automatic colour and cut-off register controls, and semiautomatic plate changing systems.

The Commander CL 4/1 will be controlled by ErgoTronic consoles incorporating the automation modules KBA EasyStart for automatic press start-up and EasyClean-up for automatic press run-down. An interface will allow integration into the existing job scheduling and press preset system.

Sipa-Ouest-France group - which has annual sales of more than a billion Euros ($1.39 billion) in 2013 - publishes the daily Ouest-France. Founded in 1944, it has a daily circulation of around 800,000 copies and 53 editions and is printed in Rennes and sold in the Brittany, Pays de Loire and Lower Normandy in western France, as well as Paris.

The group's total regional circulation of about a million copies includes Sunday Dimanche Ouest-France and regional titles Presse de la Manche, Le Courrier de l'Ouest, Presse-Océan and Le Maine Libre.

Additionally, the Publihebdos division publishes 79 weeklies in seven regions with a total circulation of over 830,000 copies, and has an interest in free newspaper 20 Minutes France.

Pictured: Emile Hédan (right) collects the prize for best print innovation