manroland GB has today announced details of the latest additions to its printservices range of customer support and press maintenance services. New services include a free of charge Technical Support Desk, a quality assured Used Machinery Division; the markets most competitive oil testing, changing and supply service; bespoke press servicing packages and a members' club for owners of its ROLAND 200, B2 press - the "ROLAND 200 Club".

Says Peter Redmond, Service Director, manroland GB: "In what is widely expected to be a challenging market for most manufacturing industries, service and support is an area where suppliers can add real value to their existing customers as well as assuring new ones that they are entering into a business relationship with a committed partner. For too long the industry model for service and support has been largely a reactive approach. However, manroland leads the market in its role as a proactive, true service partner - providing analysis and support services to ensure customers remain competitive and are
getting the most out of their press technology."

manroland's free Technical Support Desk provides customers access to telephone support from manroland specialists during office hours. The service provides assistance in solving electronic, electrical, mechanical and printing issues quickly and efficiently and, for more complex faults, the manroland TelePresence service can set up an online link with customers' systems to analyse, locate and resolve problems. Round the clock access to the Technical Support Desk is available to subscribers to manroland's ProServ support package, as is manroland's TelePresence, Overall Equipment Efficiency, press productivity monitoring and advice service.

Join the club Following considerable success with similar initiatives in its web press division, manroland printservices & sheetfed division are launching the "ROLAND 200 Club". ROLAND 200 owners who sign up to the club will receive a 10 percent discount on servicing and 15 percent on spare parts and, according to Mr Redmond, will also benefit from an extra channel of communication with manroland technical experts. "Increased communication between manroland and customers benefits everyone, particularly with regards to developing best practice advice or gathering market intelligence for future product and service improvements," says Peter. "We hope the 200 Club will encourage an increased sense of community for 200 owners and reward what is one of our largest and most loyal customer bases."

Quality assured

manroland's quality assured Used Machinery Division is to be rolled out in conjunction with Used Machinery expert Mark Stribley. This area of business aims to increase investment options for printers and will also include a comprehensive online press valuation tool to provide printers with a near-instant estimate of their current press. According to Mr Redmond, as the original manufacturer, manroland is able to base its assessments of press performance and condition on information simply not available to most third parties: "As a press manufacturer, our well established infrastructure means we're able to forecast the cost of delivering on each project more accurately than third parties and provide a more reliable and thorough service. Each install will be approached in much the same way as we would a new press investment - on a project basis with customer consultation throughout."

Oiling the wheels of industry

manroland is now also providing an oil testing, changing and supply service at the most competitive rates in the market, as well as tailoring individual servicing arrangements for customers in order to minimise disruption while carrying out essential checks and maintenance. "Not many printers can do without their press for a week while it's being serviced, so manroland will be working with customers to fit in essential routine maintenance around their business operations. This could mean working through the press in stages, dedicating one day at a time, for example, to each area, at times convenient to them, or offering 'Half day health checks'," concludes Mr Redmond.