Westmont, Illinois - Vince Lapinski, the new CEO of MAN Roland Inc., has hit the ground running with solutions designed to help North American printers be more successful in the marketplace. “Success in the graphic arts advances one step at a time,” he said. “That's why MAN Roland takes our customers beyond the technology to bring them solutions that move them forward in terms of productivity and profits.” Lapinski pointed out that MAN Roland pioneered the idea of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) in the graphic arts, introducing the concept for both web offset and sheetfed press facilities over a decade ago: “CIM has proven to be the most effective way for printers to reduce costs, widen their profit margins and win new business with unique applications. That's why virtually every MAN Roland press - web and sheetfed - offers CIM connectivity with our printnet press operating, automating and networking system. And we'll be launching additional innovations this year that tap the power of automation to make printing more productive.” Inline Everything MAN Roland's latest automated advancements involve the development of inline innovations that let printers automatically complete additional tasks while a job prints. The company calls it “inline everything” and the practice eliminates the need for moving a job to offline systems for further processing. That streamlines production and contains costs. The integrated systems in MAN Roland's inline line-up include: - InlineFoiler PRINDOR, which won a 2006 PIA/GATF InterTech Award for integrating foiling into the printing process. The system can be retrofitted on current ROLAND 700 41-inch presses. - InlineInspector can detect even the smallest flaw on a printed sheet as it is speeding through the press. - InlineSorter sends the defective sheets spotted by InlineInspector to a reject bin without slowing the press. That results in unprecedented inline quality control. - InlineObserver deploys a series of cameras inside the press so operators can monitor sheet flow and make adjustments on the fly. That saves set-up time and reduces waste. - InlineSheeter enables MAN Roland sheetfed machines to print directly from web reels. That increases the press' versatility while reducing paper and substrate costs. “By adding more inline functions to our presses, we can equip printers to add more value to every job they print,” noted Lapinski. “That makes our customers more productive in the pressroom and more popular in the marketplace.” Going Long and Wide Lapinski also outlined other ways to help his customers expand the range of products and services they can provide to their customers and prospects. “Our long perfectors equip sheetfed facilities to profitably compete for high volume jobs,” he noted. “The speed of our automated makereadies, our fast run rates, and the precision of our perfecting devices gives our customers the advantage in this area.” MAN Roland also is advancing its XXL - extra extra large - web and sheetfed presses. “Producing more saleable product with every impression brings economies of scale to printers who use our growing family of wide format presses,” Lapinski said. “XXL formats also open the opportunity for printers to produce new products for their customers.” The MAN Roland CEO added that MAN Roland is positioned to help its customers optimize the performance of their MAN Roland presses with the variety of solutions that can be customized to meet each and every printer's needs. For example, virtually all MAN Roland sheetfed presses can handle the thicker substrates that cartons and boxes require, equipping commercial facilities to enter the package printing market. Lapinski further stated that the automated advancements on new generation MAN Roland web presses make them productive for shorter runs, while the company's XXL models lead the industry in high volume production - all to broaden the range of applications for printers and their customers. “MAN Roland is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial web and newspaper web presses,” Lapinski said. “These are applications that demand the utmost speed and the highest quality results - maximum uptime and minimum costs. We respond with applied innovations that lead the industry in productivity, durability and flexibility - all to help our customers increase their profitability.” Presses, Processes & People Lapinski also emphasized that his company's plans for this year and for the future, reach beyond presses to encompass the processes that put them to work and the people who run them: “We developed printcom and printservices to cover all of our customers' operational contingencies. These programs provide maintenance, consumables, and service packages that have been optimized specifically for MAN Roland presses. Our team of experts listens to the customer and designs the solution that will best meet that printer's needs.” MAN Roland will continue to expand the solutions and range of support printservices and printcom offer. “A printer's needs are always changing, so we're making sure our support programs, such as upgrades and press optimization, are always ahead of the curve,” Lapinski observed. “MAN Roland has the solutions in place to provide our customers what they want, including increased efficiency and profitability.” Coming Soon Lapinski shared that MAN Roland has some exciting announcements, which will be revealed over the coming months. “Our customers can anticipate that we will provide the next generation of innovations to meet their growing demands,” he declared. “Printers need a leader in this industry who isn't afraid to raise the technology benchmark and help printers differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.” While details on specific launches will be revealed in the months ahead, the new MAN Roland CEO pointed out that printers should time their capital investments to coincide with the needs of their customers. “Anytime is a good time to invest in MAN Roland technology because our presses have the ability to generate new business for printers who run them,” he said. ”This will be a great year for our customers, as well as for those who join our MAN Roland family in the months ahead.”