(November 03, 2008) The Premier Polygraphic Kombinat (PPK) has opened Russia's most modern printing center. In the course of the opening ceremony a second LITHOMAN and ROTOMAN were put into production. This leading Russian printing concern now has eight manroland presses. In addition, the press manufacturer was the technical general contractor for building the new printing facility in Moscow.

PPK and manroland have enjoyed a successful business partnership for many years. PPK's machine park now boasts two each LITHOMAN, ROTOMAN and UNISET-Hybrid web offset presses plus two ROLAND 700 sheetfed presses. This proven partnership was the reason why PPK placed its trust in manroland as technical general contractor for the new printing plant. manroland was responsible for supplying the entire printing equipment – from prepress through to finishing. Dr. Frank Tietsche, Regional Sales Manager Web Presses at manroland, stresses the significance of the order: "The PPK project is one of the most important in our history, especially because of the system character of the first stage where we not only delivered all the production equipment but also supported PPK with project implementation and planning. The experience gained by helping to shape the most modern printing center in Russia is of inestimable value to manroland. A world class object has been created here."

Ongoing top-level cooperation

Another decisive factor for engaging manroland as technical general contractor was the company's involvement in PrintCity, a strategic alliance that unites the international expertise of independent companies in the printing and media industry. PPK General Director Alexander N. Fokin: "The PrintCity concept was presented at drupa 2000 and, as the PPK project was getting started in 2002 and 2003, we were very impressed by this alliance. manroland has an open mind regarding the selection of sub-suppliers for prepress and postpress equipment. This flexibility was very important for us. In the end, the PrintCity concept had a considerable influence on the course of the entire project." Also after the plant has started up, the cooperation between PPK and manroland is to continue with service, process optimization, and joint marketing activities.