"Two years ago, we made a strategic decision to update our 30 year old press. manroland was selected because the ROLAND 900 is a mature platform with proven support. Along with the press, we decided to upgrade our prepress and bring it in-house. Those decisions were critical to our growth during the recession." said Ken Petty General Manager. "We were able to drive costs down and improve our response times to customers as the market turned very competitive."

Indiana Carton specializes in cartons for baked goods in restaurants and supermarkets for various products such as bagels, donuts, pies, pastries, and cookies. With the press able to accurately repeat color reproduction from run to run, the company saves time and working capital by running jobs in smaller "just-in-time" quantities. The fast makeready, even on a large format press, saves on set-up costs as well. Indiana Cartion's inhouse design staff provides clients with creative ideas for new packages and ensures a smooth transition to the manufacturing operation.

Ken Petty credits manroland's training program with getting the staff at Indiana Carton up to speed quickly and keeping a consistent high level of performance. The training program started with PowerPrinter training at the manroland Print Technology Center in Westmont, IL. Once the press was installed, a manroland trainer worked with the operators and maintenance personnel onsite at Indiana Carton. Advanced and follow up training sessions were completed this spring. "The trainer was patient and professional with both our experienced operators and new operators.", Petty explained. "We made a 30 year jump in technology, and the operators needed to learn the advanced automation on the press along with some new printing techniques. The operators now have a high degree of confidence in CIP3 data and the self-learning function in manroland's PressManager system for color control."

Training also included the proper maintenance and troubleshooting. The company purchased manroland's Telepresence option which allows remote diagnostics and analysis of the performance of the press. "There have only been a few problems, but each time we've engaged Telepresence the in-house maintenance staff has been able to get the press up and running quickly ,without waiting for a technician to be onsite," said Matt Braun, manroland's Director of National Service.

The company has also added a Sentinel ink distribution system and a Flo-Clear fountain solution filter to the press. They used the manroland Thermal Analysis program to search for potential problem hot spots on the press and to monitor life cycle of the pump systems. Staying to a well developed plan Indiana Carton selected printcom , to protect the moving press parts from excessive wear, with premium guaranteed printcom oils and lubricants.

Petty summarized by saying, "We made a good choice investing with manroland as a business partner."