Everything on the manroland stand at IPEX in Birmingham revolved around the needs of the printing industry: production flexibility, differentiation possibilities, reduced investment and operating costs, automation features and sustainable production.

"We showed without any doubt that we are a high-performance and energetic company that, with groundbreaking technology and services expertise, sets the benchmark for customer orientation," is how CEO Gerd Finkbeiner summarizes the IPEX successes. "We are very pleased to report new projects and orders from the advertising, packaging, commercial printing and newspaper segments."

Good sales brighten up the mood
manroland sold almost 250 sheetfed printing units to customers all over the world at IPEX in Birmingham, the second-biggest international printing industry trade show. The company sees this as a clear indication that, even when the crisis is not yet completely overcome, it is at least receding. The high quality of the project discussions in the webfed press sector was very encouraging. In the PRINTVALUE sector, the printservices and printcom portfolios in particular aroused great interest. Gerd Finkbeiner: "With a host of innovations and further developments, we demonstrated benefits for our customers and their customers. We did everything possible to strengthen the profile and image of print. It is motivating for manroland that the results of the show are well above our expectations."

New trade show concept well received
Marketing Vice President Thomas Hauser adds more: "At last we have managed to turn the mood around to positive once again as opposed to the negative mood that has persisted almost since the last drupa. It is a great success for manroland that our customers really liked our new trade show approach." For example, Alex Commins, Managing Director of Colorpak Limited in Braeside, Victoria, Australia, had this to say: "manroland's approach to IPEX this year was a refreshing change which has allowed them to focus on all aspects of printing and demonstrate the full capabilities of their machines. There was a great range of applications and products on show and I thought the 3D presentation was excellent. This industry is about more than just presses, so it was good to be able to sit down with our friends at manroland and discuss the opportunities available to us to help grow our business."

Trevor Coote, Prepress/Print Manager, Nampak Cartons UK: "We had a very enjoyable and informative day with manroland and the hospitality was first class. We were all very impressed with the demonstration and the technology and ethos behind the manroland stand."

Harry Skidmore, Managing Director of Easibind International Ltd. in Derbyshire, England, expressed similar sentiments: "I admire and am completely behind manroland's decision to focus on Value Added Printing and applications at IPEX. In my view, the value of seeing heavy metal at a show is limited now; it's more about understanding what manufacturers are offering to help enhance their customers' performance, efficiency and competitive advantage in the market. This requires spending time with your customer and discussing their exact needs, not pointing at a machine. It was a bold step on their part to break the mould but it is the right one, and I applaud them for it."

Supporting program in Offenbach
Almost every day during IPEX, manroland offered additional Technology Forums in Offenbach. The topics ranged from small format to large format, from printing light-weight paper to applying cold foil, from automation with autoprint to efficiency enhancement with HiColor. During these one-day events, customers and suppliers learned about the latest developments in theory and practice, as well as trends and innovations. A special highlight was the Large Format Technology Forum where manroland presented a world's first: a format 8 perfecting press. Customers from fourteen countries attended the event combined with their travel to or from IPEX.

Communication Center for customers and the industry
Gerd Finkbeiner sums up: "As we had hoped, our IPEX stand was an attractive Communication Center for our customers and the industry as a whole. Today I particularly wish to thank my entire team, at IPEX, at home base and all over the world, for their great commitment, their energy and their desire to perform. Also for being prepared to get right behind a new and completely unusual stand concept and fill it with so much élan. This spirit of optimism accompanied us on our return from IPEX."