A project that has captured the attention of printers across North America in 2009 is manroland's new White Papers series. The five reports on a variety of crucial industry topics obviously struck a chord as thousands were attracted to the company's web site and downloaded the reports. The fifth and latest subject addresses the venerable 40-inch sheetfed press.

Authored by manroland executives Al Reijmer and Hal Stratton, "New Math and the Future of the 40-inch Press", covers a lot of ground. Reijmer, VP of Sales for the Western region and Stratton, Director of Applied Technologies and Strategic Relations, examine the history of the press and challenge readers with today's realities. In looking at trends in press population, press lengths and their impact, they offer insights on the payback of capital invested, new productivity, efficiencies and other advances, and do the math to help determine a sound investment decision for a range of print operations.

"Making Quality Pay", by Roland Warmuth, provides an interesting twist on a classic topic. The paper explores the numerous variables that can impact quality, as well as the print production process and press features to increase Quality that can lead to a positive ROI. Other White Papers in the series include Michael Mugavero's take on "Assessing the Added Value of Large Format Sheetfed Production", Jon Surch's "Life Cycle Management: A New Profit Center for Pressrooms", and Kai Schuler's "Project Management".