Alexandre Leroy is the director of Loire Impression. The company was created in 1996 and is based in Saumur in the Maine-et-Loire region of France. It has about twenty employees. Impacted like all companies by the health crisis, the printing works chose to use this time to accelerate its ambition. This concerns in particular two aspects: eco-production and automation.
Accelerating the transition to eco-production
Labelled EnVol and Imprim'vert, the printing company wants to accelerate the transition to eco-production, in particular by obtaining the ISO 14001 standard, certification relating to environmental management, which certifies the processes implemented in this area by the company.
"?Cette approach is made possible by the learning device. It's difficult for a 20-person printing company to hire an environmental or QHSE manager, but we benefit from the skills of a Master's degree student on environmental and development issues durable?" explains Alexandre Leroy.
Automation of production flows
At the same time, the printing plant is continuing to invest in automating the production flow. This involves upgrading the ERP software and automating the prepress workflow. The printer also renewed its digital printing capacity in 2019 with the purchase of a Ricoh press.
"?L 'idea is not to free from employment, but to free from temps?", says Alexandre Leroy. "?En In addition to being a guarantee of productivity, quality, and a response to changing demand, automation makes it possible to eliminate redundant tasks and offer different teams more time to devote to customers.?»
The company is also developing on small processing equipment to carry out in-house all requests for short runs, personalisation, variable data, etc. Loire Impression, which is positioned on medium and small runs, is equipped with two Komori half-format offset presses.
No moving, but recruiting
Located in a region with a strong tourist, cultural and gastronomic economy, the company works with both the public and industrial sectors. Although it has had to postpone a relocation project that was well advanced before the crisis began, it has not given up recruiting. Loire Impression continues to forge ahead and is optimistic.
" ?Nous have found that there is a fair amount of incentives for learning and at the same time an increase in unsolicited applications. This led us to recruit work-study students for specific assignments in sustainable development, communication and digital marketing, as well as in graphic design.?»
