manroland US and web-to-print specialist, RedTie Limited announce the formation of a strategic partnership. The new partnership aims to build awareness of considerable benefits with an effective web-to-print solution for commercial printers.

RedTie Limited, based in the United Kingdom and with offices in New York, provides web-to-print solutions for print service providers worldwide.  The company's flagship offering, RTTemplate (RTT), a user-friendly solution for ordering marketing materials, print collateral and merchandise online, is in use by companies worldwide.  RedTie's newest offering, Red2Go, offers a pay-as-you go module to its customers, with training available through the new RedTie Academy. RedTie's solutions are sold directly and through worldwide partners, including manroland. 

Vince Lapinski, CEO states, "The announcement of this strategic partnership is great news for manroland North America, and fits well with our overall strategy for Graph Expo 2010, which is to reinforce our position as the strategic partner of choice for printers. This year, the manroland booth (#858) is dedicated to profiling how manroland can help printers to increase their range of services through the intelligent use of Value Added Print (VAP)."

Says Marian Stefani, managing director, RedTie: "So much of the story when it comes to web-to-print is about education - helping printers to understand how a technology like this can work hard for them and generate profit, not just through creating greater efficiencies, but by providing them with a competitive advantage.

Technology today has to do more than just create efficiencies. It's got to add real value and make money for the printer."

Stefani continues, "Working strategically with a respected major press manufacturer, like manroland, will enable us to take the web-to-print message to the 'printing masses' in the commercial printing sector. To date, web-to-print has been more commonly associated with digital printing. However, as RedTie's web-to-print solution is production- independent, its applications also sit very comfortably in the litho world. To be able to announce a strategic partnership with manroland at the show sets a great platform for success at Graph Expo."

"I think the combined power of our web-to-print solution nd one of the world's leading litho press manufacturers can only be good for printers, as together we will be able to educate the market on the real potential web-to-print has to open up strong, new revenue streams for printers."

Vince Lapinski adds that the motivation behind the strategic relationship is simple: "We are always looking for exciting, innovative companies to partner with. In RedTie we have found a company that shares the same aims and principles that we do – the desire to put profit back in the hands of printers, and the drive to provide them with the best possible tools to achieve this. I am impressed with the dedication and professionalism of the RedTie team. They have an excellent business growth strategy and offer genuine 'hands-on' assistance to customers to help them grow their businesses. We are looking forward to working with them over the coming months as this partnership is rolled out into the US market."

Concludes Lapinski: "The industry as a whole needs to take a radical look at the way it positions itself and the services it offers to ensure it can meet the needs of customers in the future. We all know it's not only about ink on paper anymore. It's about the added value attached to it, and most importantly of all, the value customers place on it. The new world is a complex mix of multi-channel communications and marketing, and print and printers must add genuine value at the strategic level to complete and find their rightful place in this process. Both manroland and RedTie are completely dedicated to helping printers achieve this."