The Billboard AG Group in Sofia, Bulgaria, banks on efficiency and innovative technology. Therefore it's only logical that the first ROLAND 700 DirectDrive in the Balkan States is now in production at the group's new printing plant in Varna.

With the recent installation of a ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, Billboard founder and owner Vassil Genchev has further increased his sheetfed offset printing capacity: "We constantly do our utmost to meet the requirements of the marketplace and the wishes of our customers. This is why we invest in state-of-the-art equipment." Proof of this can be seen at the production locations Sofia and Varna: a ROLAND 200, a ROLAND 500 and three ROLAND 700 HiPrint presses have already been running there for some time. The group also has a considerable amount of the latest technology in digital printing, prepress and finishing.

New production line with a ROLAND DirectDrive
These days Billboard print products such as calendars, magazines, flyers and brochures are shipped by express services from the city of Varna to Eastern Bulgaria and Romania. Besides the new ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, the production line consists of a CTP platesetter, modern folding, stitching, gluing and binding machines, as well as an embossing press. Run lengths under 1,000 copies and more than 40 job changeovers per day are among the demands placed on the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive. It has been in production since last May, so how does Vassil Genchev rate its performance? "The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive is ideal for our job structure. We were already very efficient before but we are now even more so in the short-run job segment thanks to the fast makereadies. Our customers are extremely pleased with the print production that meets the highest European standards."

Billboard AG facts and figures
Billboard has become a major player with manroland technology and the group has an impressive history. Vassil Genchev founded Billboard AG in 2001 and the name gives it away – at that time the company was only engaged in large-format digital printing but two years later added offset printing. Today the Billboard Group has four production locations – in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas – and employs more than 350 people. The five companies that comprise the group not only offer print services, they also deal in equipment and materials for digital printing.