The Aachen Media Group will cease printing its daily newspaper, the "Aachener Zeitung," and its advertising supplement, the "Aachener Zeitung am Sonntag," at its Aachen location starting in the middle of next year. Production will be relocated to other printing sites in the region. Euregio Druck GmbH (printing plant) and Aachener Presseversand GmbH (distribution center), both part of the Aachen Media Group, are expected to cease operations in June. According to the companies, approximately 50 employees, as well as additional temporary workers, will be affected.
"The declining circulation figures for print products over many years, coupled with the equally long-standing increase in production and distribution costs, no longer allow for the economically viable operation of our facilities," explained Andreas Müller, Managing Director of Medienhaus Aachen GmbH, to the employees of the affected companies. The Aachen printing plant had tried until the very last minute to secure its future by taking on external printing contracts for daily newspapers, advertising supplements, and advertising inserts. Andreas Müller added, "Ultimately, despite our excellent technical equipment and highly qualified staff, we were unable to compete with the competition." The existing print volume of the company's own daily newspapers only allows for a little over three hours of machine utilization per day. With such low utilization, continuing printing operations in Aachen is no longer economically viable.
The "Aachener Zeitung" will henceforth be produced at the printing center of Coldset Printing Partners in Paal-Beringen, Limburg (Belgium), about a 60-minute drive from Aachen. Like the "Aachener Zeitung," Coldset Printing Partners belongs to the European Mediahuis Group. The advertising supplement "Aachener Zeitung am Sonntag" will be printed at Weiss-Druck in Monschau. In the past, half of the circulation of the free weekly newspapers from the Aachen media group was already produced there.
According to the media group's management, they will try to find alternative employment for at least some of the affected employees at affiliated and partner companies.
The relocation of the printing sites will not affect subscriptions to the "Aachener Zeitung" or the delivery of the "Aachener Zeitung am Sonntag." The newspapers will be delivered within the usual time frame.
