From the beginning of the containment, Société d'impression du Boulonnais (SIB) lost about 70% of its business. " ?Les main distributors of free press and leaflets Mediapost and Adrexo immediately ceased their activity. 70% of ours was stopped net. I think we'll have 20% of our business in moins?" said Marc Leroy, the company's CEO, on a daily basis The Voice of the North .
Based in Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas-de-Calais region of France, SIB is one of the largest offset printing plants in northern France, employing around 200 staff and generating sales of just over ?33 million (2018).
Not a single closing day
Despite this considerable drop in activity, the printing works remained open throughout the period of containment with a reduced workforce and the adoption of distancing measures and teleworking.
Like many companies in the sector, the printing company offers, in addition to its usual range of products, solutions adapted to the health crisis: informative displays in all formats, signs, adhesive pictograms, personalised and non-slip floor marking, etc
A commercial printer in web, sheet-fed with integrated finishing and routing, SIB has grown in 40 years (it was founded in 1974) from 6 to 200 employees. Its machinery includes several M600 and Koenig & Bauer rotary presses.
In 2018 the company invested in a Compacta 818 from Koenig & Bauer, which will be used to print high-volume, high-pagination products (up to 45?000 copies with a maximum of 72 pages per hour).
