MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG, world market leader for web-fed printing systems, now has a stake in Pape + Partner Media GmbH (PPI), software house in Hamburg, Germany. Effective January 1st 2002, MAN Roland acquired a controlling interest in the leading producer of software for automated newspaper production. The board chairman of MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG, Gerd Finkbeiner, and PPI managing director Norbert Ohl emphasize that with this decision the long-standing successful cooperation of the two companies is to be continued, and given a broader and stronger basis. Pooling of competence and experience "After careful consideration in both companies," states Mr Finkbeiner, "we are taking this step in reaction to a changing market situation. For today's printing industry, high-quality machinery alone is not enough - above all, it also needs a higher performance in workflow. With PPI we gain a software enterprise of prominent stature in the world market, which perfectly complements MAN Roland with its highly efficient and integrative IT solutions." PPI remains fully autonomous in management Like Finkbeiner, Ohl also underlines the immense advantages of MAN Roland's participation: "The dense sales network of MAN Roland not only opens up new markets and market segments for us but at the same time also steps up our support performance – especially in our classic area of business, the industrial production of newspapers." MAN Roland's financial participation, Norbert Ohl is sure, "enables PPI to continue its success and ensure it lastingly." PPI Media GmbH with its two managing directors, Norbert Ohl and Martin Ruhle, will retain its full management autonomy. PrintNet for integrated and open overall solutions So far, PPI has been a specialist for software solutions in newspaper workflow. Now the activities are to be extended to cover all printing and publishing companies. With PrintNet, the comprehensive software package for printing companies, PPI Media and MAN Roland want to overcome isolated applications in the printing industry, replacing them with integrated and open overall solutions. An unbroken, holistic workflow that networks all business processes of administration, production and distribution is the objective the partners intend to realize. The PPI and MAN Roland PrintNet is to accomplish the following: 1. Networking processes of administration with those of production so as to form an integrated CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) solution. An electronic job slip will automate the entire workflow, from order receipt to computer-supported product and production description through to printing and finishing. 2. Networking printing companies, their partner companies, customers and suppliers. For this, PPI together with MAN Roland will for the first time offer a portal solution with which the business processes between such partners can be carried out via the Internet. 3. Enabling the integration of production systems of other manufacturers into the PrintNet workflow (prepress, printing and finishing). In this field, the two partners will further advance their competence as integrator into an open-system workflow. MAN Roland and PPI Media see the PrintNet development as an optimum way to satisfy even better the following customer wishes: faster job completion, greater utilization of rationalization potentials, and a marked step-up in the performance and capacity of the individual systems by their networking.