manroland AG, one of the world’s leading suppliers of offset printing systems, and Océ Printing Systems GmbH, the world’s leading manufacturer of digital high-performance continuous feed printing systems, have reached an understanding on global cooperation in the area of inkjet-based digital printing solutions for the graphic arts industry.

From 2011, manroland and Océ will be the first on the market to offer total digital printing solutions aimed at the graphic arts industry – all of these being solutions that will include consulting, systems, services and materials provided by a single source. The companies will supply solutions that cover all of the manufacturing steps within the graphic arts industry by combining print data management and digital and offset printing as well as post processing.

The main beneficiaries of the cooperation will be printing operations: These can select optimum future-oriented technology and workflow solutions after being jointly advised by manroland and Océ. Both companies complement each other ideally and are thus able to obtain competitive advantages from this cooperation. manroland will make its entry into digital printing and build up its own digital printing competence step-by-step. Océ will receive access to new customer segments and will therefore have the opportunity to considerably extend its market share in the graphic arts industry.

Inkjet production systems are increasingly being used as a supplement to offset printing for small runs and just-in-time production with medium quality demands. Here they offer cost advantages and permit, in conjunction with appropriate post processing, fast throughput times. Areas of application include books, advertising inserts, catalogs, and brochures.

Leading in webfed offset printing, manroland possesses profound expertise in the development and manufacturing of high-productivity offset technologies as well as in the associated post processing and finishing systems. Océ, as the number one in digital full-color continuous feed printing, has experience in the fields of system integration, workflow management, and variable high-performance data printing. Until now, customers were forced to marry these differing technologies together themselves. Therefore solutions that were ideal both from the technological and business perspective were not possible. manroland provides Océ access to the graphic arts industry through its distribution network.

“This cooperation opens up a very promising growth market for us, one that is positioned very close to the core capabilities of manroland. Digital printing already has a market share that cannot be underestimated. The print volume in digital printing is growing dynamically, particularly for short runs. Many of our customers are investing in digital printing. This is the first concrete step in opening up new growth opportunities for manroland and in securing a lucrative field of business for the long term, because the area of digital printing is a business that increasingly supplements industrial printing,” says Gerd Finkbeiner, CEO of manroland.

“As the market leader in digital continuous feed printing, Océ has for many years been successful across the globe in company-related high-speed transaction printing. We are also very well positioned in the direct mail sector. With our new high productive full-color inkjet printing systems we have for the first time the possibility of decisively increasing our market coverage in the offset market. In only two years we have become the market leader in digital continuous feed production color printing in our traditional markets. In the coming years, we will utilize our leading position in Europe and North America to expand our business, particularly in Asia and Eastern Europe. The strategic alliance with manroland offers us the ideal opportunity to firmly establish Océ inkjet technology in the graphic arts industry,” notes Sebastian Landesberger, globally responsible for the Strategic Business Unit Océ Production Printing.