The LITHOMAN at 40, the ROTOMAN at 30 This year two MAN Roland printing press series are celebrating auspicious birthdays: in 1962 the first LITHOMAN commenced operations at the Mohndruck company of Gütersloh, and in 1972 the first ROTOMAN was unveiled at the DRUPA trade fair. The first system was installed later that year at the Norddruck company of Darmstadt. Given today’s intense, demanding industry market, these are two very good reasons for the Augsburg printing press manufacturer to proudly celebrate – particularly since both press series are still best-selling customer favourites.   It all started with 30,000 cylinder rotations Comparing operating performance then and now is fascinating: the first ROTOMAN ran at 30,000 cylinder rotations per hour. Today the ROTOMAN operates at up to 70,000 rotations, or more than twice the speed of the first system. A comparison of LITHOMAN performance is also impressive: in 1962 the system operated at 30,000 cylinder rotations per hour, but today that figure is up to 42,500 rotations in long-grain format, and in short-grain format up to 55,000 rotations. The first LITHOMAN forty years ago meant the birth of a new generation of web offset printing presses. This series continues its outstanding world-wide success as new, advanced versions continue to evolve. Today, more than 330 LITHOMAN systems with approximately 1320 printing units are operating around the world. LITHOMAN now active in the world of gravure applications The LITHOMAN series is distinguished by its double cylinder circumference with four pages and web speeds of up to 15 meters per second. The system's high performance and web widths of up to 1980 millimeters allows it to tap new job opportunities that were previously the realm of gravure printing. The LITHOMAN in the 32-page or 48-page configuration is outstanding for inline finishing jobs of varying product numbers and for DIN A4 products. The 32-page LITHOMAN offers unmatched productivity and page flexibility, while the 48-page LITHOMAN S with sleeve technology offers all the advantages of short-grain production for web widths up to 1905 millimeters. The 32-, 48-, or 64-page LITHOMAN in long-grain format is primarily used by companies that print large numbers of magazines and catalogs in standard formats. ROTOMAN: the high-performance system for all-round printing The ROTOMAN, for 16-page web offset printing, is the high-performance all-round system capable of printing 50,000 copies or 880,000 DIN A4 pages per hour. The system guarantees efficient production thanks to its high degree of automation and fast job changes with minimal make-ready times. Today, more than 400 ROTOMAN systems with approximately 1900 printing units are in operation around the world. The youngest member of the ROTOMAN family operates at 70,000 cylinder rotations per hour and features Power Plate Loading (PPL) for automated plate change, and PECOM control, presetting, and production data evaluation. The ROTOMAN, in the basic version a 16-page 4/4 color configuration, offers significant advantages when it comes to classic commercial printing. The system is excellent for printing catalogs, special interest products, and widely distributed direct mailing products. Thanks to the ROTOMAN’s high degree of automation, short make-readies, and low waste, production is extremely efficient for both large and small production runs.