manroland web systems brochure - December 2015

Fastest to the finishing line Project partner

Fastest to the finishing line Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Alex Neagu

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manroland web systems

Will digital printing sound the knell for web offset? Not in our time, says Daniel Raffler, EVP of communications, HR, legal and business development and Dieter Betzmeier EVP for technology & projects at manroland web systems, which is positioning itself for the media demands of customers facing new financial, technological and social challenges

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2011

was the commercial printing industry’s annus horribilis. Look at some figures: in 2006 the global market for offset printing equipment was about €2.2 billion. In 2011, following the collapse of the financial market this plummeted to €700 million (subsequently losing a further 20 percent each year). Large publishing and printing houses stopped buying new equipment. The drop was too sharp for the machine manufacturers, and forced one of the best respected of them all, Augsburg-based manroland AG, formerly known as MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG, into receivership.

The company had been part of the MAN group until 2006, when the Munich truck-maker sold its controlling interest to the Allianz private equity group which rebranded it as manroland AG. Following the winding up of the company in November 2011, however, it was quickly restructured. The sheet fed business unit was sold separately, while the web offset division was purchased by the diversified Possehl Group and relaunched as manroland web systems GmbH. “Since then we have followed the route of continuous adjustment to the market environment and have been very successful in that environment,” Daniel Raffler avers.

In the contracted but still competitive environment the company is definitely doing well, commanding a market share in excess of 40 percent of the global market for web offset

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printing press equipment as of November 2015.

Significantly, every single deal that manroland had on its order book at liquidation was reratified by the customers when the new company was formed. “We think we have the broadest product portfolio, whether for newspaper printing presses or commercial processes like magazines, directories and advertising materials,� he explains.

In the restructuring manroland web systems became a much leaner and tightly focused organisation. Upper management tiers were reduced drastically, and the workforce rationalised. Last year, a satellite office at Plauen in Saxony was integrated with the Augsburg site which now employs around 1,100 people, with a further 150 in sales and service offices round the world.

1,250 Number of staff employed by manroland web systems

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INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

MANROLAND WEB

LEADER S YWE S TARE EM S IN TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION BRINGING THE FUTURE TODAY

ELETTRA is a leading international manufacturer on the graphic industry field since more than 20 years. ELETTRA aims is to open its products portfolio “using” all the technical knowledge, the R&D efforts and its organization to support your Company in the selection of the best product when approaching the market for any requirements. Thanks

to its experience and resources we can quickly develop specific system solutions to suit the market and meet market expectations to the highest level. These are among the motivations that have carried Customers, OEMs and some of the most important and relevant International Groups to decide in favor of the ELETTRA systems.

ELETTRA has successfully developed efficient and environmentally friendly cleaning solutions based on plant oil-based fatty alcohols and fatty acids in place of the traditional mineral based solvents. The experience and the technology applied to develop these products has enabled us to gain specific skills in the processes of microemulsions formation. We are able to design and develop equipment for

the production of microemulsions starting from water and plant based oils (sunflower oil, palm oil, rapeseed oil, etc.) with excellent results of efficiency and reliability even in the most difficult applications normally used in the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industry as well as in the food sector. Important results have also been reached in turbines for cogeneration

MAIN PRODUCTS: CLEANING SYSTEMS Design and implementation of cleaning systems in the graphic industry (Offset and Flexo), and specific automatic cleaning systems applicable in many other fields; SOLVENTS Design and manufacture of solvents based upon plant based oils that can be used both for the graphic industry as well as in other sectors; EQUIPMENT FOR THE FORMATION OF MICROEMULTIONS Design and development of equipment for the formation of microemulsions for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industry; WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEMS USING DAF TECHNOLOGY (DISSOLVED AIR FLOTATION) Design and development of water purification systems using DAF technology (Dissolved air Flotation). A proven and effective physical/chemical technology for treating a variety of industrial wastewater.

MECHANICAL HIGH-PRESSURE HOMOGENIZER Design and manufacture of mechanical high-pressure homogenizer. An effective and efficient technology for homogenizing and mixing mixtures of powders/liquids, sludge, oils, water etc etc. Possible applications are : mixing for the production of nano-materials, paints & pigments, food & beverage, cosmetics, chemicals and fuels.

E-mail 6 elettra.commerciale@elettra.lc.it Website www.elettra.lc.it ELETTRA S.r.l.,Via De Gasperi, 2 – 23887 Olgiate Molgora (LC) – Italy

manroland web systems

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Anticipating that the global market will stabilise at around €350 million, production capacity has been configured to meet manroland web systems’ share of that market. “This is a technology driven market,” says Dieter Betzmeier.

“All our innovations are directed towards cost saving and productivity gain for our customer – speed, uptime and production flexibility. For example newspaper presses used to run at night but today the machine must run round the clock, printing many products of which the daily newspaper is just one, with just minutes to change the setup and plates for the next job.

Our success in the market is due to our guiding philosophy at manroland web systems. We are a business partner to our customers and we listen to what they need to make them profitable.”

manroland is a business partner to its customers

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manroland web systems There’s a tendency these days to regard web offset printing as old technology, basically unchanged since Gutenberg ran off his first poem at Mainz in 1450. It is true that the challenge of online publishing will have to be taken seriously. “There is a big trend among publishers to invest in the new media channels, although most of them get their money and profits from printed papers and magazines.” And printed paper is getting smarter by the year.

Hybrid solutions from technology partners like Kodak, whose Prosper S30 imprinting systems is mounted on Axel Springer’s manroland COLORMAN offset presses

Increase your profit delta.line – the complete solution

• delta.d/sd

dampening solution circulation

• delta.spray

spray dampening systems

• delta.f

dampening solution crossflow filtration

• ink.supply

central ink supply systems

technology and services technotrans AG Robert-Linnemann-Straße 17 48336 Sassenberg

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Phone +49(0)2583-301-1000 info@technotrans.com www.technotrans.com

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to imprint variable components such as consecutive lottery numbers, variable QR codes, and changing artwork at full production speed, are just one example.

This kind of technology is of greater practical use to manroland web systems customers than ‘pure’ digital printing systems being developed by inkjet printing firms. Inkjet printing is limited in speed, and so far can only manage three or four metres a second. The S30 head has a print width of 10.6cm and a printing speed of up to 900 metres per minute. That’s 15 metres per second (m/s), keeping up with manroland presses that get through a 3.5 tonne roll of paper in 12 minutes at up to 17 m/s. There’s a big gap for the digital printers to bridge the cost per copy delta, says Betzmeier, “but they will probably do it one day!”

Offset can reach higher speeds because it relies on ink transfer while digital methods rely on droplets being ‘fired’ at the paper – the higher the speed the greater the droplet disturbance. As a result, conventional offset fulfils the requirements for volume production, digital printing provides

“All our innovations are directed towards cost saving and productivity gain for our customer – speed, uptime and production flexibility” – Dieter Betzmeier, Executive Vice President Technology & Projects

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manroland web systems

€250m the amount of revenue generated by manroland web systems

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the answer for more individualised and personalised products and hybrid solutions by manroland web systems combine both worlds.

But speed is just one parameter. Once printed most jobs have to be folded, and this is the number one differentiator in manroland’s IP portfolio according to Daniel Raffler. “Nobody else addresses integrated workflow to the same extent: to run a newspaper line at 55,000 copies per hour is one thing, to fold the finished product at that speed is another!”

Digital printers have not addressed the question of in-line folding, and it is a big gap in a new market, one that manroland web systems is now filling. “Some customers want to print straight from digital files, and now they can do that, but they want the same finished end product, he explains. “We have been developing new products over the last three

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years, successfully I am happy to say. Up to now we have sold some 20 folding lines that can be integrated with a digital printing press using our core competence in folding knowhow.”

The multivariable FoldLine for the production of digital newspapers, books and any type of commercial product and the FormerLine for book production are compatible with any manufacturer’s equipment, he adds.

While manroland web systems returned a profit in 2012 and 2013, the radical restricting of 2014 resulted in a small loss, however this year it’s heading for EBT in the region of €4 million and the order book is full.

The dual strategy, says Daniel Raffler, is to guard the company’s number one slot in newspaper and commercial web offset while continuing to penetrate the new digital printing market.

manroland’s office building

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manroland web systems GmbH Alois-Senefelder-Allee 1, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany Tel: +49 (0)821 424-0 info@manroland-web.com www. manroland-web.com