It was early December in Augsburg, and the delegation from the Finnish publishing house Kaleva was obviously at ease. The icy temperatures were reminiscent of the visitors' home in Oulu, the northernmost major city in the European Union. For all parties involved, however, the ice started to thaw during the contract signing for a COLORMAN autoprint.

manroland and Kaleva, publisher of the daily newspaper of the same name, were both able to celebrate the COLORMAN autoprint press. Jukka Haapalainen, managing director of Kaleva, stated: "The purchase of this printing press will mark the largest single investment in the history of our company. Our goal is to improve our offering for our subscribers and our advertising customers." The COLORMAN autoprint, with four printing towers, two folders, and four reel splicers, is to be housed in a new building together with plate making and finishing starting in 2012. The new COLORMAN will replace a 23-year-old competitor press that currently prints 80,000 copies of Kaleva on a daily basis, as well as additional free sheets and contract print products in runs of up to 100,000 copies. The customer has already invested in printcom products from manroland, including dampening solution additive and blankets.

Jukka Hurskainen, technical director at Kaleva, is pleased with the advantages for production: "We will be able to print many different newspaper editions, such as those with regional content, with far greater ease in the future." In addition, the mailroom will be updated with new equipment. Supplements and sections can be inserted more easily into the newspaper after the production run. The COLORMAN autoprint will print broadsheet newspapers like Kaleva but also those in the smaller tabloid format. In the future, the complete production run of the 64-page Kaleva will be accomplished in less than two hours, one hour less than before. Jukka Hurskainen is very positive about the decision: "manroland was the only press manufacturer who could provide satellite printing units with such a high printing quality while also meeting our demands for production capacity – all combined with a high level of automation and an excellent folder. This is not only an investment in a printing system but also the start of a long, reliable partnership."