From manual to modern: How Forum Communications Company transformed its print production

Over the past two years, Forum Communications Company (FCC) has transitioned from a manual print workflow to a fully automated one with Roxen - boosting efficiency, reducing costs, and enabling its local newspapers to focus on what matters most: delivering quality journalism for their readers.

“I would 100% recommend Roxen. It is easy to use and ties everything together – editorial content, advertising material, graphics, images, special features – everything is in the same platform, accessible to everyone,” says Michelle McNulty, Senior Project Manager at FCC.

Family-owned FCC operates across digital and print media, broadcasting, video production, advertising, and trade magazines – all with a strong focus on local news. The company has been around for over 140 years and today has 200,000 subscribers for its 23 daily and weekly newspapers covering the Midwest.

The change at FCC has been transformative. Instead of a fragmented, manual process spread across multiple systems and local workstations, FCC’s journalists and editors now share a centralized platform built on a high degree of automation. Preparing an article for print – complete with images and graphics – now takes just a few clicks.

“With the latest Roxen update, automation has taken another big step forward. The total number of manual keystrokes made by our coworkers every day has been reduced by 35%. That’s a huge save in time and energy,” says McNulty. “Roxen isn’t just a vendor. They listen, adapt and continuously improve their solution based on our needs. It’s a real partnership that helps us evolve our business and ultimately benefits all their customers,” she adds.

For Roxen, FCC’s implementation stands out not only for its scale but also for the complexity of the workflows involved. The company produces a huge number of pages every day and manages an intricate, multi-location workflow – making automation both a challenge and a necessity.

“We are playing the long game here and we are confident that there is a place for print press for years to come. Our mission is to streamline production in order to maintain the integrity of the newsroom. We are planning for the future, and we believe that Roxen is a part of that,” says Kirsten Stromsodt, Senior Editor at FCC.